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How many started playing the bass without playing guitar first?

#105
Hi,

I started taking lessons on accordion when I was seven. Then seven years of piano lessons, and during that time picked up guitar, clarinet, tuba, bass guitar, other brass and woodwinds. I just played everything I could get my hands on in every ensemble that I had time for, marching band, pep band, jazz band, concert band, clarinet quartet, orchestra, garage bands, bar bands, etc, as a theory and composition major for a couple of years in college. I played piano in my Dad's church when I was ten, in 1967. I played my first real gig, a high school dance in 1969, on guitar. I went on to play bass in the Air Force Band. I am first and foremost a bassist.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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#106
I played string bass in the school orchestra beginning in 5th grade up through high school graduation. When I was in high school, I thought that the bass guitar was the coolest thing and saved up my money to by a used Silvertone bass and a brand new Peavey amp. After another year, I bought a brand new P-bass and have kept it thumping for the last 40 years or so. I toyed around on the guitar for awhile and then a few years ago, got serious about learning how to play the guitar better.
 
#107
I play some guitar but have hardly touched my guitars in 15 years, probably more. I didn't start really getting serious with bass until about 4-5 years ago when I started taking lessons at he ripe old age of 47-ish. In between then and the time I stopped playing guitar I didn't really do much besides goof around on bass. So I know some guitar and I can sort of follow our guitar players' left hands to figure out the chords they're playing. I'm still not great at doing that in order to improvise on the spot and figure out a song, but I'm getting better at it. I suppose that's a useful skill to have so I don't mind when they throw out a song I've never played before. Luckily they don't seem to mind too much so I get some regular opportunities to practice it. :D

My son (an amazing trumpet player) will be home from college next week and he mentioned to me that he might be interested in messing around on guitar over the summer. So I just had one of my acoustics freshly set up and replaced the ~20 year old strings with some new ones. Before he gets back I should take it out and see how much I've forgotten over the years. Not that I knew much to begin with. :facepalm:

But I'd say that knowing some guitar has helped me as a bass player. For that mater, so did the drum lessons I took many years ago when I was in junior high.
 
#110
I started on upright bass in school orchestra and picked up an electric bass a couple of years later.
It was another 2 years before I got a guitar...a crappy one so I didn't like playing it much.
Another 15 years passed before I finally got a decent guitar. And I stuck with that first bass for almost 30 years before I got another one. Then, one day they invented the wheel.
(that's an "I'm old-get off my lawn" joke)

PS: I still have that first crappy guitar. It's a Kay...the pickguard is painted on...lol
 
#111
Bass guitar only, started when I was around 12, some friends had a band that needed a bassist and I was the biggest guy they knew. Not really sure if I chose it or it chose me, but I'm still happy 37 years later. I did eventually pick up upright, but not guitar - tried a few times, but it's too small for me.
 
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#112
Sadly, I started on guitar. Learning all those chord fingerings was too much for me, so I switched to bass. Eventually, I learned the arpeggios for all those chords, anyway, so you just can't escape it.
 
#117
I started playing cornet in grade school (4th grade). A friend started playing guitar in high school, and between our fresh/soph years talked me into buying a bass so we could start a band. I learned to play bass by watching him play the guitar parts. I did start playing guitar as well a couple years later (and nearly everything else I could get my hands on since then).
 
#118
I started right on bass. I didn't even know what a bass was until one day I was looking through either Circus or Hit Parader (hey, I was 14 and it was 1987, cut me some slack!) and I saw a picture of Stryper. They were all yellow and blacked out and holding their instruments. Okay, let's see here. Big hair, check. Guitar, check. Another guitar, check. Dude with drum sticks, check. Wait, there's another guitar but it looks bigger than the other two and only has 4 strings. What in the heck is that?! My friend Andy who owned an electric guitar (not sure if he really could play it though) explained to me that the 4-string guitar was a BASS guitar. A what?! That's all it took. I was hooked.

My mom rented (and later) bought a bass for me (Peavey Foundation for the first six years) and the rest as they say is history. I still dig Tim Gaines (Stryper bassist), by the way. Cool guy and very good bassist.
 
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#120
BoatyMcBoatface said:
Hi,

I just started playing the bass about a month ago. I'm having an absolute blast, but there's so much to learn. On the other hand, if there wasn't so much to learn, I don't think it'd be nearly as much fun.

I never learned how to play the guitar, so picking up on where the chord changes are in a song is a little harder for me than I like to admit. (Great, so admit it in a HUGE public forum. Well, as they say, the first step is admitting you have a problem.)

Anyway, as the thread title says, how many of you started playing the bass without playing guitar first? Was it easy for you to pick up on chord changes?

If you played guitar first before picking up the bass, did you find that it helped? Were there any guitar playing habits you wished you hadn't brought to playing the bass?

Thanks for any insight!

- Melissa
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough as a kid I believed I wanted to be a drummer. Was playing in the school marching AND concert bands. I was pretty accomplished, highly motivated and had a great work ethic. Was gifted a Pearl Drum Set for X-Mas in 1975 and was on my way. I remember how my parents would always kid me about whenever we would go to a ballgame or some function (my dad was a Marine) where the National Anthem was played.....I always sang the bassline part and not the melody on most every song I heard. Anyways, when I was in the eighth grade I went to see a concert that featured the Brothers Johnson as the opening act. It was like being hit by a bolt of lightning! I came home from that show with my head spinning and knew from that day on I REALLY wanted to play bass. It would be 4 years later before I acquired my own bass, but I made it happen. Have never had any interest in playing guitar although I LOVE listening to and watching players who are proficient at it.
 

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