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HOW'D YOU START?

O

OPBASSMAN1994

Jul 30, 2010
2,177
43
#1
So I've been reflecting, it being the 3 year anniversary of my picking up the instrument that has defined me since.
I thank God for my 13th birthday, and the dean bass I recieved. (I've still got that one! It's just fretless, missing a trussrod cover, and has two Christian fish decals on it. It sounds awesome for paul mccartney, sting, and even Gene simmons esque sound with a pick. I use it for my bands softer songs...)

It makes me remember when my best friend (the gutiarist for my band now) and another buddy came up to me asking about if I knew or wanted to learn how to play bass, so that they could start their band. I replied with something embarassing, and my guitarist won't let me live it down. I said "Naw I think I'll play the banjo..."

Needless to say. I did end up picking up the bass. And I've fallen in love with it. Iv'e spent countless hours playing. I've literally played till my fingers were about to bleed before, and I've learned almost every song I can think of that has a killer bassline. (Almost every well known Rush song, especially. Geddy Lee pwns!!!) I've gotten good enough to become one of my school's best. My band's getting pretty big in town. I've been asked for lessons. (Which I replied with a hearty "NO" to. I can't teach a kid what can only come from God given talent and a passion for the instrument. Plus, I'm my own worst critic. I still see thousands of miles to go, not being so good. I'm just one more talented musician that hopefully can make some great music in his lifetime, and then die clutching a Jazz bass, content with his lifelong dream.:D)

Anyway. That's my VH1 behind the music rant. So how did you guys come to play? What inspired you? Who is your bass playing idol? I think lots of people would like to hear from you about it!
 
#2
Started out playing acoustic guitar - had a friend who was a bassist and let me play bass through his SVT. Needless to say, I was hooked. We went out and caught a couple of Wooten Brothers shows with Keith Horne on bass and I saw the possibilities and I haven't turned back since...
 
#3
I was 14 years old and had always wanted to play "bass guitar".... then I met a kid through some other friends that had just gotten his first guitar and said I should buy a bass so we can start a band. A month later I got my Washburn Lyon P bass and wondered what the hell is this thing..... turns out I thought "bass" meant "basic".. what I really wanted to do was play rhythym guitar in a metal band. After a week of listening to the basslines of songs though I was hooked. That was 15 years ago.
 
#4
I was sixteen and hung around some guys who played bluegrass. Because I was always driving everyone around, it was brought up that I should learn bass. That's where I got my start, and haven't put it down since.

Oh, the mandolin player? His name was Adam Steffey. He went on to have a Gibson model named after him.
 
#7
Had 2 friends in HS that played Guitar, another friend was a drummer. I was playing Harmonica and jamming with them but something was missing. One day after working at a pizza parlor, I drove past a pawnshop as saw a 69 Gibson EBO in the window for $100, with the original hard case. It had no tone, basically just thumped, but I was hooked. (besides chicks loved guys in bands, you didn't have to be that good either) Still have the bass too :P
 
#8
I started playing cello in school when I was 10. When I turned 16, my mom asked me if I wanted to try the bass guitar. I said I did, and she bought me a metallic red Hondo flying V 4-string for my birthday. By the next year, I was no longer playing cello.

That was 17 years ago, and here I am.
 
#9
Hey, OPBASSMAN, this month is my three year anniversary too!

Although, I started at a much different point in my life (age 45). I played guitar since '78, and just picked up the bass to jam a long with my teenage son, who had surpassed my abilities on the six-string. But I quickly felt so much at home with the bass, it became almost an obsession trying to be a good player! The rest, they say is history...or will be as I progress! ;)
 
#10
Started on guitar at 11. Realized a few months later that the sound I was hearing in my head wasn't a guitar, it was a bass. Traded a "lawsuit" Ibanez for a friends dad's cheap plywood yardsale bass. Bet to crap Tiesco I think. I forget what it was. 31 years later, bass is my main instrument, but I do my best to always be learning something new, whether it be on bass or even a new instrument. My basement is my playroom/studio, right downstairs from the woodshop.
 
#12
When I was 13 my grandma gave me an acoustic guitar. Messed around on it for a while but it never really *felt* like it was for me. One day, a friend of my father gave my his old bass that had been sitting in a closet for years. There was no name on the headstock, it had 2 big silver humbuckers and 3 copper strings!

Man I loved that thing...played it till my fingers turned green (literally). My dad saw my interest and thankfully got me new strings and a Peavey amp. Took it to a friends house one day in the trunk of my moms car, it didn't have a case and my mom used to drive way too fast. Anyway it had got slammed around back there and the neck broke lol. I was devastated :bawl:

My parents felt so bad they bought me a brand new BC Rich about a week later (NJ series Bich). Totally awesome of them, I still thank them to this day :bassist:
 
#13
At about 11 I tried to learn guitar, but gave up. At 13 I moved, and had music classes as part of my regular school timetable. I wanted to carry on with guitar, but they said there was only this Stagg Jazz copy...

Two years later, my parents got me a Thunderbird for my 15th and a Precision for my 16th. My 17th's coming up in two weeks and I'm hoping a for some kind of amp based thing...
 
#14
Started on electric guitar around the start of high school, and after a year or two a friend's band needed a bassist. I stepped into the role as best I could. A few years after that band had broken up, I was doing home recording and needed a bass to fill out the songs I was working on, so I picked one up and haven't really put it down since.

In other words, I didn't so much find the bass, as it came and tracked me down.
 
#16
At 18, I bought a Hohner (I think) bass from the local music shop. I got totally ripped off. I'm not sure how much I paid but whatever it was it was too much. I was as poor as a church mouse so I doubt I paid $100 for it. It seemed like the action must have been nearly 1" high and the overall quality was North Korean war surplus. Tried to play along to some tunes on the radio with it (and nearly got tendonitis). I was so poor living on my own after highschool that I ended up trading that bass and a KORG synth to a fellow radio DJ for a box full of groceries. He got ripped off LOL!

I was in love with the bass but because of the musical demand around me in those days, I focused on the keyboard.

Fast foward 7 years, I found a new bass in a pawn shop that someone had never used and decided to sell. It was on the showroom floor less than one hour when I showed up. Got that $350 Peavey bass w/gig bag for $109. Put SD QuarterPounder pickups in it and Fender OEM pots. Had the tech at the local Fender shop set up the bridge, action, and nut (strobo-tuned). Tossed some flatwounds on it and BOOM! Low action, played smoothly, sounded great through an Ampeg B-100R.

Loved the bass since I was a kid and have never regretted getting into it. I still have that old Peavey. I've gigged on my Strat, played lots of gigs on the keys simply because keyboard players are hard to find around here, but I've always loved the bass more than those other two. :bassist:
 
#17
Started on banjo, then rhythm guitar. Started playing rhythm guitar in a Country band when I retired at 65. Been with them for 10 years and last year the bass asked if I would back him up on bass so he could play rhythm guitar and sing at one of our local nursing homes. So at 75 I bought a Yamaha 4 string and we sat together for an hour or so. He told me to play root five, and the rest is history. Tom and I have been playing at the nursing home each Thursday for about a year now. They enjoy what we do and always ask us to come back, which we do. Here is one of the covers we play I know, I know, but, they enjoy them.

Still playing rhythm guitar with the old band. The bass is something new and I'm enjoying the journey.

Coming from banjo, rhythm guitar, keyboard and clarinet the learning curve was not all that steep. Rhythm guitar and bass are the only instruments I play in public, the rest are just for fun here at home.
 

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