Had a bass (a cheap Eko with flats on it) since my early childhood, but never got into it. So, drums and guitar for me for many years. Then, early RHCP records came about, I upgraded to an Ibanez with rounds, and pretty soon learned that the heaviness I had been looking for did not come from guitars...
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How did you start playing bass
- Thread starter MichelD
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- how playing playing bass start
Nobody was willing to help me move the Hammond i wanted.
Last year of secondary school (Ireland's version of high school), myself and a couple of friends spent mostly listening to records instead of studying for our final exams.
Our music teacher decided to run an end of year concert, with the proviso that only those who got good results would get to the stage!
And so a band was born.
Two of the guys already had guitars, another was convinced, despite never having hit a drum, that he was a natural drummer (he was right!), and I, never having played guitar and coming to the realisation that bass didn't involve learning all them pesky chords, got myself a bass. I'd always loved that deeper tone and seemed to have a pretty good sense of timing so it seemed the obvious thing to do.
We did maybe three rehearsals, played a well-received set, and stayed together as a band for a couple of years after.
Our music teacher decided to run an end of year concert, with the proviso that only those who got good results would get to the stage!
And so a band was born.
Two of the guys already had guitars, another was convinced, despite never having hit a drum, that he was a natural drummer (he was right!), and I, never having played guitar and coming to the realisation that bass didn't involve learning all them pesky chords, got myself a bass. I'd always loved that deeper tone and seemed to have a pretty good sense of timing so it seemed the obvious thing to do.
We did maybe three rehearsals, played a well-received set, and stayed together as a band for a couple of years after.
Dudes in grade 9 needed a bass player... 'Baba O'Riley' was the first song I learned on bass. I was 14 years old.
I played rhythm guitar in a band when I was 15 years old. We couldn't find a bassist and I loved the bass lines on nearly every rock song (circa 1973). So I traded in my hollowbody guitar for an Aria Beatle bass and a Guya bass combo amp....been playing bass ever since!
12 years old. Summer of '84. My older brother convinced the high school band teacher to let him bring the Gibson Grabber Bass and HUGE Peavey bass amp home for the summer. Well, he was an active teenager with a life and I was a punk kid with nothing to do so I picked it up and began messing around with it. I ended up learning most of REO Speedwagon's "Wheels are Turnin" and Journey's "Escape" albums by the end of the summer thus creating a life-long passion in the process. Bought a Cort Steinberger copy from the Montgomery Wards catalog a year later and haven't looked back.
I play guitar, but started bass with sgt pepper album and led zeppelin.
By accident (miscommunication). Back in the summer of '08 I was 13 going on 14 and begged my parents for a guitar. I really wanted an electric guitar so I could be a rock star since I was getting big into classic rock and metal. I got an acoustic instead and did not take to it well at the time (no finger strength). Being naive about guitars I didn't realize guitar chords is what made music and I just wanted to shred away. My dad thought a bass guitar would be easier to learn since it only has 4 strings (lol) and I wouldn't have to struggle with chords. Come Christmas '08 I thought for sure my folks got me an electric and instead got me a Hartke-XK 4 bass. I wasn't too thrilled about it but I thought eh why not? Later that spring in '09 I got my first amp, gear, and song book started teaching myself how to play and the rest is history.
In the early summer of 1965, a new band was formed and was playing Thursday evening gigs in an outdoor dance area behind a local drive-in.
The drummer and bassist were both several years older than the two guitarists and singer so by the end of June, the bass player decided that he didn’t enjoy playing rock n roll and let the band know that he would be quitting as soon as they found a replacement. This was a big problem since this was in a small town in northern Michigan there were no bass players available.
I’d moved to the town a few months earlier and my cousin, who was dating one of the guitarists, mentioned that she thought that I knew how to play a guitar so I was asked if I'd consider playing the bass in the band.
I had never even touched a bass but figured that it couldn't be that difficult to play so... the bassist loaned me his sunburst Jazz Bass and Bassman amp and I played my first gig three days later.
After using his gear for three Thursdays, one of the guitarists drove me to Detroit (I was only 15 and didn’t have a drivers license yet) where I purchased my own Olympic White Jazz Bass and Bassman amp.
The drummer and bassist were both several years older than the two guitarists and singer so by the end of June, the bass player decided that he didn’t enjoy playing rock n roll and let the band know that he would be quitting as soon as they found a replacement. This was a big problem since this was in a small town in northern Michigan there were no bass players available.
I’d moved to the town a few months earlier and my cousin, who was dating one of the guitarists, mentioned that she thought that I knew how to play a guitar so I was asked if I'd consider playing the bass in the band.
I had never even touched a bass but figured that it couldn't be that difficult to play so... the bassist loaned me his sunburst Jazz Bass and Bassman amp and I played my first gig three days later.
After using his gear for three Thursdays, one of the guitarists drove me to Detroit (I was only 15 and didn’t have a drivers license yet) where I purchased my own Olympic White Jazz Bass and Bassman amp.
14 years old, met a guitar player that had a thrash-hardcore metal band:
He: What bands you like
Me: Exodus, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc
He: Do you hate society
Me: Yeah, fking bastards
He: Do you know how to play bass
Me: No
He: Do you want to join my band
Me: Sure
That was 1986... I still don't know how to play bass.
He: What bands you like
Me: Exodus, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc
He: Do you hate society
Me: Yeah, fking bastards
He: Do you know how to play bass
Me: No
He: Do you want to join my band
Me: Sure
That was 1986... I still don't know how to play bass.
I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan & Paul McCarthy was the first bassplayer that was out front and singing in any band that had been on TV.
I told my mom That’s what I want to do.
And for the better part of 40 years that is exactly what I did and still do.
With a little help from my friends
Duke
I told my mom That’s what I want to do.
And for the better part of 40 years that is exactly what I did and still do.
With a little help from my friends
Duke
I played with a guitarist for a while who had lived in Windsor and said that the Detroit pawn shops in the 60s were the most amazing place to buy instruments. He had a '59 Gibson les Paul he bought there.
- Oct 18, 2012
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I was a guitar player in a band that didn't have a bass player. We had another guitarist and a drummer. Since we didn't have a bass player, I used to try to fill in some of the empty spaces in the songs. One night, the other guitarist mentioned that when I did fills, it sounded like I was playing bass lines. He suggested that I switch to bass. A couple of nights later, he mentioned it again. I went home and started playing bass lines on my guitar and realized that bass came very naturally to me so I became a bass player. That was 40 years ago. Bass has been my primary instrument ever since but I still play guitar and also play keys.
I got a used Cortez strat copy and Peavey Musician amp with my 8th grade graduation proceeds. A week later a neighborhood friend moved his drums into my basement. We had little to no idea what we were doing but were both determined to ROCK. A few months, (and a few visits from CPD), later, the drummer brought over a kid he knew that could actually play his guitar. Took the top two strings off, set the amp to 'clean' and became the bass player. Got a lousy JB copy from a friend soon after and was hooked.
Friends were starting a band and needed a bass player. They told me, "You'll do." That was 1981. When "Moving Pictures" was released I was hooked for good.
My best friend in High School got really good at playing his mom’s old Martin and I wanted to get a band going. I bought a $75 bass and started going to lessons. Six months later we tried jamming together, got a violin player and really started writing songs. The best drummer in school came by to watch us play in my basement and decided to join our band. We rocked out the local coffee shops. I was working at a gas station and saved up and bought a music man and a Ampeg B2 15” combo. We played all through college with my friend’s brother on vocals. I loved it and never stopped, even after we went our seperate ways.
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Pretty cool the way everyone's path is different, sometimes vastly different either coming from another instrument and level of ability from advanced like on sax for example to totally green.
Like the Phil Lesh story; he was classical trumpet player and avant garde composer. when the Grateful Dead was forming as the Warlocks at first, they couldn't stand their bass player because he couldn't play, so they fired him and as he was a friend and they knew he was a musician they just said "Phil, you play bass."
Not coming from a folk, country, blues or R&B background he brought a whole new thing to rock bass playing.
Trouble was their ex bass player's dad had financed the equipment and seized it so they had to get all new stuff. At least that's the story I heard.
Like the Phil Lesh story; he was classical trumpet player and avant garde composer. when the Grateful Dead was forming as the Warlocks at first, they couldn't stand their bass player because he couldn't play, so they fired him and as he was a friend and they knew he was a musician they just said "Phil, you play bass."
Not coming from a folk, country, blues or R&B background he brought a whole new thing to rock bass playing.
Trouble was their ex bass player's dad had financed the equipment and seized it so they had to get all new stuff. At least that's the story I heard.
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