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how and why you started bass

#21
I never even knew that a bass guitar existed until one day when I was 12 I was plucking out the bass line to Stand By Me on my guitar. My teacher came up and handed me a funny looking 4 string electric guitar, it was big. He said, "Try that on here." I played that first G and was like "WOW!!!!" Been hooked ever since.
 
#23
for as long as i can remember i have had some kind of acoustic guitar (according to my mom someone gave me a little plastic guitar for my 1st birthday). I never got into guitar very much (until after starting bass) and one day just decided i wanted a bass. I played trombone so i had musical knowledge and all that but i'm really just lucky i have a great ear. A very close family friend happened to have a bass in his attic and heard me talking to my mom about how i wanted a bass. Later that week he brought it over for me. It was a Quest Black Magic bass (all black pbass copy). And off i went. Still have the bass too.
 
#24
In the summer of 1972 three friends were learning guitar and were jamming everyday. I noticed the cute girls that were hanging out and ask the guys if they would teach me guitar. They responded that if I bought a bass I could be in their band! The rest is history!!! Of course I'm the only one still playing and I didn't get the cute girl until 1988!:hyper:

Cheers,
Jim
 
#26
My grandpa had passed away and we were in my hometown that week. I was spending a lot of time with my cousin, because he and I were the closest to grandpa. He introduced me to guitar a few years earlier nd we were in his room and he was showing me some stuff then I looked at this Squier P bass and asked what kind of guitar it was. He tells me it's a bass he bought but couldn't play. It was out of tune and the strings were all rusty but I really had a feel for it. Two months later, had my first bass. I feel like my grandpa brought me to it.
 
#28
i played piano and guitar growing up. when i joined the middle school jazz band, i was also playing basslines on my guitar between songs. by the time i was 12 (7th grade), i had saved up enough money to buy my first bass. never looked back from there.
 
#29
Several things working together:

- Was interested in guitar but thought it had too many strings that were too close together

- Liked how you could feel and control notes better using fingers instead of picks (no offense to pick guys)

- Wanted to get a better idea of what the heck Claypool was doing

- The thump
 
#30
Started Choir in grade 1, Recorder grade 3-5. In grade 5, my teacher 'voluntold' me for the school strings and I was assigned a Cello. I picked up a lot of theory, learned the Bass scale, learned the low end role in a group, learned to listen, and trained my ear over that time. I played that for 4 years and fell out of making music for 10.

My dad got into guitar again after about a 15 yr break, formed a band with his old buddies and a bass was slowly integrated. The bass player does shift work, so many times they were without a player. I gradually filled his role on his gear (Yamaha BB450)and over a couple years of playing by ear, decided to get my own bass and learn from scratch. Here I am 6 years later and 3 basses deep.

Also, I find Bass really suits my personality ...
 
#31
When I was in high school, I had 4 friends who played in a band together. 2 guitarists, a bass player and drummer. I started playing guitar. The bass player and drummer moved and the band broke up. One of the guitar players and I started a band without a bass player. One night while we were playing, the other guitarist commented that every time I did any type of fill, it sounded like a bass run. Every time we played he kept mentioning it and suggested I play bass. One time while learning a new song, I was playing by myself and realized that he was right. I was playing the correct guitar parts but all of my fills were bass lines. I bought a bass and found that it came very naturally. That was 33 years ago. I still play guitar and learned keys about 10 years ago.
 
#32
In high school I played guitar in a band with some friends. I have always liked the low end better and always tried to recreate it on guitar by using heavy gauge strings and cutting the treble on my amps. Some buddies of mine have a band and needed a bass player. So I bought a bass 6 months ago and haven't looked back.
 
#33
An old girlfriend was once a wedding singer and I took up guitar as something to do with her. That relationship did not last but by then I had the goal of playing in church. A few years later, long after our bass player had left for school I was finally in a position time wise to play so I sat down in the bass players seat
 
#34
Wanted to play the Double Bass since the age of 3, forgot about it for 8 years, then at 11 decided to take up Bass Guitar. I am 14 now. Perhaps someday I will learn the Double Bass, but for now my classical instruments are all woodwind/vocal (Oboe/Recorder/Voice).

EDIT: Actually I started Bass at 12, not that anyone gives a ****.
 
#35
I started playing in church. My brother played bass at the time. He got grounded and one of his punishments was not playing in the band. I picked it up and started playing sitting beside the piano bench and watching the piano players(my dad) left hand. I had been playing piano since I was 5 so it was easy to pick up and I've been playing every since.
 
#36
I was playing drums, and I dabbled a little in guitar. I had a buddy who played guitar, and we would jam together. My friend Gerry was interested in playing bass, so I taught myself the songs on bass so I could show him, and that was we could all jam together. I joined another band in college as a drummer, and at the end of the 1st rehearsal I asked if I could play the sweet Rickenbacker that was sitting there. We played a couple of songs with me on bass, and they asked me to play bass for them instead, since they knew some other drummers, but no bass players. I learned about 40 songs for our 1st gig, and haven't looked back since. I can honestly say that my experience on drums helped me as a bass player.
 
#37
I started when I were but a wee lad of 14. Mostly it was because my best friends brother was a bass player in our towns best cover band. So I got a chance to watch them rehearse and later with my interest peaked he started showing me a few things then I just ran with it after that point. Still play the thunder stick and after 41 years I'm still learning how to be a good bass player the learning part never stops.
 
#39
when I was 15 ( 1987) one mate from school asked me if I would like to sing in his hardcore metal band, following is the conversation we had.

- Do you want to join our band, we need a singer.

- I dont sing at all.

- Do you hate society?

- Yes I do, cant stand those wimpies.

- You are in.

Eventually I took over the bass and played cover of Slayer, Sodom , Venom etc.
 
#40
I was playing guitar in my very first band when I was 13, and the bass player in that band also played guitar

...better than me! So on the harder (sic) songs, she would play guitar and I got forced (!) to learn bass. Wound up falling in love with the instrument, spent the next 6 or 7 years in a bipolar identity crisis switching back & forth between guitar & bass, & finally somewhere around sophomore year at college I realized that I tended to think more intuitively as a bassist so made the commitment to bass as my primary instrument.
 

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