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How did you start playing bass

#81
I was a on and off again guitar player for many years. So when I decided to switch to the bass wasn't a hard change. First in the last several years I played strictly finger picking and only used a pick on a handful of songs. So tackling the bass with fingers only was no surprise.

Then I was YouTube'n the crap out of bass. I bounced between so many videos that I was all over the place. On top of that I went to see my teacher that charted songs for me to practice.

At first I didn't get it. But as the months went buy my ear started to pick-up the bass in songs, I been hearing the patterns, able to keep time, and even know what count I am in a song w/out even counting.

I still YouTube and never used the book(s) I bought for bass. But I have a ton of charts (thanks to my music teacher) and that music aside, I tend to focus on songs that I find challenging and play the easy stuff that he always charts for me during the lessons.

I am also part of a regular jam session group.
 
#82
Like a lot of bass players, I started out taking guitar lessons, ( in the '60's ), and played guitar ( electric ), throughout high school and college. This was during the era of guitar heroes like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, etc. Guitar players were falling out of trees; it seemed like everyone played guitar, and I was struggling to keep up, let alone find a working gig. I noticed that bands were constantly looking for bass players. I got an offer to play bass in a working Blues band in 1971, and never looked back. Since I was always trying to figure out guitar parts, I had to start really listening to the bass in songs, and discovered that I found it a lot easier, and had a genuine talent for it, let alone a new found joy. Bass parts just seemed to jump out at me, and I quickly discovered the important relationship between the bass player and the drummer. I was having a lot more fun playing bass ! I still play guitar to this day but just at home, and I'm still not all that great at it !
 
#84
I started playing guitar when I was 5 but there was something about bass that I recognized. Even at 5 I understood what the bass was, although not fully. I was really into Star Wars and in 1979 it was still The movie to see.
I liked the Cantina band and was obsessed with the Bassoon that one of the players was playing.
A couple years later I saw this sunburst P bass hanging up in a music store in West Hartford CT. I was mesmerized by it and knew that one day I will have one. Than I got my first electric bass at age 11.
 
#85
In Jr. High, some friends who played guitar were trying to put a band together and needed a bass player. Since I was their friend and I was the tallest/biggest guy they knew, they asked me to play bass. Initially, I borrowed someone's brother's bass and amp, kind of figured out how to have it make sounds, and then copied the where the guitarist's placed their fingers on the lowest strings, tried to play in time with them. Eventually, I bought some books (this was well before the internet) and learned to play properly, but at the start, it was all about hanging with friends. Now, 35+ years later, I'm still at it.
 
#86
I was a cellist in middle school and had begun to experiment with upright bass. Buddies were putting together a band for the 1984 school talent show and needed a bass player.

I convinced my parents to buy me an electric bass and a cheap amp. The setlist for the talent show was:

"Against All Odds" by Phil Collins
"Endless Love" by Lionel Richie
and "Purple Rain".

The music selection was awful but we were being coached by a band director so it sounded good.

I played with those guys all through high school, probably 30 or 40 gigs, including a coveted appearance at the Austin Aqua Festival in 1986. Aqua Fest was the equivalent of the Austin City Limits Festival back when Austin wasn't the latest trend destination city. I continued to play with the drummer longer than that in the University of Texas jazz program in college.

Today the drummer is a first-call jazz player in Austin, and the singer is a Grammy-winning Tejano artist.

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We were playing Lionel Richie songs, so I figured an Ibanez Destroyer would be the right bass for the gig. Also, yes, we wore t-shirts to school that said how much we were able to bench press. The athletic department issued them, even.

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This is what happens when your high school band goes to Olan Mills.


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A few years later, I had discovered Mark King and my bass had moved up about 10 inches.

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The coveted Austin Aqua Fest gig in 1986. We played at a skating rink the next weekend, and it was a HUGE letdown.
 
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#87
I just wanted to be a rock star, like KISS, or Twisted Sister, or Quiet Riot, or Motley Crue, etc. I had a few friends that wanted the same thing, but all of them were either guitarists or drummers. They would tell me "You should play bass because we need one". I'd talk to more experience musicians in the area, and they would tell me "The world needs more bass players". So it seemed like the perfect ticket for me to join a band and become a rock star. I picked up on it fairly quickly (with the help of a teacher), and I was in high-demand...because I was the only one in that age-range. :D

Then I discovered Iron Maiden, then Rush, then David Lee Roth goes solo and introduces me to Billy Sheehan, and I suddenly feel the need to be a much better player. So I started putting more effort into it . I figured that I had a better shot at becoming a rock star if I was a better player.

A few years later, a newer friend of mine hands me a tape and tells me I need to listen to it. It was Jaco Pastorius' self-titled album. After listening to that album about 1,000 times, my desire to be a rock star faded, and I just wanted to be a bass player.

I genuinely love being a bass player.
 
#89
I heard the basslines to Roundabout and Into The Lens around the same time. Yes Drama was just released (1980) and my friend's brother had me listening to the Fragile and Drama albums. That Rickenbacker tone hooked me right away. I was already into Rush and other hard rock bands at the time and one year later (Oct. 1981) I received my first 4001 and started learning the stuff that was inspiring me.
 
#90
I had been playing acoustic and often amplified acoustic for a few years in HS when I had the opportunity to be involved in a group improvisation music class. Once I was enrolled it became apparent that there were a few significantly more talented electric guitarists in the group so I defaulted to electric bass. I learned the fundamentals of how to groove way back in HS. I did not seriously return to electic bass for about 30 years - spent my time playing lead guitar in jam bands learning a ton of bluegrass and fiddle tunes on mandolin and playing jazz on that belly-fiddle too.

When I was in my mid-40's a friend left an upright bass at my house. I started muckin' about on it and loved the tone and the bloom of the notes. I also loved learning to trust my own ears in order to properly intonate a fretless instrument. I refused to return this bass and I wound up buying it on reasonable payment terms.

Outside of my day job (which enables my music life) I play upright, 4, 5 and fretless bass in several bands as well as still pickin' the mandolin in swing and bluegrass bands..... The guitar is still central in my life as songwriting tool and I can rip leads and play fiddle tunes and jams on it too!

It's all music!
 
#92
I play piano since I was 6. When I turned 14, I became more and more interested with bass and wanted to get one. My parents went shopping with me, and we looked for some starter kit (instrument, amp and cable) for both bass and electric guitar. The guitar turned out to be a bit cheaper and I was feeling guilty to ask my parents for a pricy Xmas gift (I remember the guitar kit was 460$ and the bass kit was 520$). I then chose the guitar and started learning by myself. Later on, I bought a really good Fender Strat USA and a good Keayboard (Alesis QS8, for those familiar with it), ‘cause by the time, these were the instruments I knew how to play. But the bass always stuck with me, just in the back of my mind, making sure I would not forget the dream to get one. Then, the years went in a flash, finished my education, got married, got 4 kids and a house... Before I knew it I turned 40, and then midlife crisis struck : I decided the time was come to finally get that bass. Last may (2017) I bought a EBMM Bongo-5 2007 limited edition (see my avatar), it had been waiting for me all those years, since the shop where I bought it is the place where the bass was originally shipped by EBMM. My wife thinks I have been a bit impulsive with that project, but I disagree : it’s been 26 years in the making ! Now, I cannot touch the instrument without thinking « God, I love this one ! ». Feels great, sounds great, and I’m feeling dedicated to it. I’ll end up being good, but it’s still a long way to get there ! (Sorry, neighbors...).

Thanks to everyone on TalkBass, I learn a lot by reading your posts, questions and advices !
 
#93
Picked it up at age 45. I'd always been into rock n roll in a big way, growing up in the 60s and 70s, but had never learned an instrument. My son was taking guitar lessons at the time so I wanted something different and thought a bass would be "easier" (the joke was on me). I told my wife that my goal was to play in a band at my 50th birthday party.

Took lessons for 5 years, and about 6 months before my 50th, I hooked up with two other guitarists. We jammed and it was fun, and we found a keyboard player and a drummer. First gig: my 50th birthday party. We've been gigging regularly ever since (almost 9 years now).

Looking back, I realize picking the bass was the perfect match for my personality. My big regret is not starting when I was a kid. If I had, I might be halfway decent by now.

That said, I do love it and it's brought me tremendous pleasure.
 
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#95
I was abducted by time-travelling aliens, and taken back to the year 1219, in France. There, I was subjected to excruciating medical experiments, that peeled off much of my face, and replaced it with a leather colander. I spent 13 years in that agony, and for a reward, they married me to seven of the townswomen, a few of which had gout. This culminated in me becoming the master of puppies, and raising Spitz hounds until opera was invented. Due to this, uh, what was the question again?
 
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#97
When the orchestra teacher came around at the end of 3rd grade I knew immediately that the doublebass was what I wanted to play. Played it exclusively until 6th or 7th grade when my mom got me a MIM P-bass and a Gorilla KB-30 amp. Played that like an upright player (hand near the middle or neck and tone rolled off) and it was basically my only bass besides a school upright until I went to college in 2000. Then I ordered a fretless Carvin, discovered Talkbass, got GAS, started joining bands and the rest is history.

The Gorilla and the Carvin are long gone but I've still got that P-bass though everything but the wood has been upgraded.
 
#99
comatosedragon said:
I'm sorry, I didn't read all the responses to this thread (so someone may have already pointed this out), but one thing the OP said made me grab my hat and say "What?!?":



:bored::unsure: Then Why is she referred to as 'first wife' ? o_O
Click to expand...

Good point.
Maybe some TB'ers collect both wives and basses?
I suppose it's one way to live.
However, my wife has assured me that if I started collecting wives I'll soon be collecting disability.
 
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#100
My dad had a small office rented a few doors down from a music shop when I was a kid. Sometimes after school I would spend afternoons there, and would walk over to the guitar shop. I just remember staring at the gorgeous guitars and Basses hangin on the walls and the cool guys at the shop putting up with 10-year old me asking them hundreds of questions and letting me try out different instruments. In middle school I saved up my lawn mowing/weeding money and bought my first bass there. I remember it like it was yesterday.

*Edit* I should add I first started playing in church, in an elective workshop class at my school on stringed instruments, and in our lower-level jazz band.
 
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