If you weren't a Bass Player...

[Knavery]

After getting burnt out playing in bands and gigging some years back I taught myself finger picking acoustic guitar. Got really good at it but realized I was sitting home by myself LOL. That transitioned into a great acoustic duo with my wife.

A

That's pretty damn good. I never heard the original, but I really enjoy it. Reminds me a bit of Leo Kottke.

 

[CallMeAl]

What other instrument would you play?

for me it would be the drums.... when I was 10 my parents suggested I learn the cello - which I did for 6 years along with the clarinet, but when I was 13 I met a boy at my high school who played the drums and that was it...

I remember going home from school that day and saying to my parents at dinner time "I'm gonna learn to play the drums"! - my dad replied "not in this house you're not"! and that was it - my dreams of becoming the next Keith Moon or John Bonham were quickly extinguished.

my friend at school sat me at the drums one day and said your right hand goes here, left hand here and you use your feet to control the kick drum and hi-hats... and it just somehow came naturally to me and I found I could play the drums, but I knew my dad and no actually meant no.... so when I was 15 I picked up the only bass at school (it was right handed and I'm a leftie) and because I could read music I just figured out the notes and began to teach myself to play right handed.

I got my first bass when I was 17/18 and began to leach myself to play U2 songs (this was the 1980's) but when I tried to learn other songs I found it difficult - then I learnt that U2 had 'tuned down' a half step on their first 3-4 albums and I had tuned my bass to the key of U2's first albums!

anyway I've been playing bass ever since and when I was about 22 my originals band broke up and I realised my dreams of playing at Wembley or Madison Square garden had all but diminished and I needed the day job to pay for rent / food..etc... I then joined my first covers band - we got paid 2 pizza's and a bottle of Jim Beam for our first gig and got paid $25 each for our next gig - I thought I had got it made!

I still play the drums if any of the drummers I play with will let me jump on their kit for a bit and I've always said to my wife that if we win the lottery I'll buy a big house in the countryside and buy a kick ass drum kit - like Alex Van Halen uses on the video for 'Jump'.

So if you weren't a bass player - what instrument would you play instead?

I started on trumpet, in middle school. In college music ed program I tried everything. Viola, flute, clarinet, trombone, piano... you name it. Taught myself drums, uke, guitar. I always thought I'd like drums best, but it just didnt click for me. I'm probably more skilled on trumpet, but after all my sampling, I find I just like playing bass the best.

 

[drumvsbass]

I'd be a bass player

 

[dalkowski]

I would play soundboard. If I can't play, then I'll make the people that DO play sound great.

 

[dbase]

If I wasn't a bass player, I'd be a porno star .. Wait, what? Wrong forum, my bad

 

[oldcatfish]

What other instrument would you play?

for me it would be the drums.... when I was 10 my parents suggested I learn the cello - which I did for 6 years along with the clarinet, but when I was 13 I met a boy at my high school who played the drums and that was it...

I remember going home from school that day and saying to my parents at dinner time "I'm gonna learn to play the drums"! - my dad replied "not in this house you're not"! and that was it - my dreams of becoming the next Keith Moon or John Bonham were quickly extinguished.

my friend at school sat me at the drums one day and said your right hand goes here, left hand here and you use your feet to control the kick drum and hi-hats... and it just somehow came naturally to me and I found I could play the drums, but I knew my dad and no actually meant no.... so when I was 15 I picked up the only bass at school (it was right handed and I'm a leftie) and because I could read music I just figured out the notes and began to teach myself to play right handed.

I got my first bass when I was 17/18 and began to leach myself to play U2 songs (this was the 1980's) but when I tried to learn other songs I found it difficult - then I learnt that U2 had 'tuned down' a half step on their first 3-4 albums and I had tuned my bass to the key of U2's first albums!

anyway I've been playing bass ever since and when I was about 22 my originals band broke up and I realised my dreams of playing at Wembley or Madison Square garden had all but diminished and I needed the day job to pay for rent / food..etc... I then joined my first covers band - we got paid 2 pizza's and a bottle of Jim Beam for our first gig and got paid $25 each for our next gig - I thought I had got it made!

I still play the drums if any of the drummers I play with will let me jump on their kit for a bit and I've always said to my wife that if we win the lottery I'll buy a big house in the countryside and buy a kick ass drum kit - like Alex Van Halen uses on the video for 'Jump'.

So if you weren't a bass player - what instrument would you play instead?

Well...I do play multiple instruments. I started on guitar as a teen (took lessons), then in my 20's bought a keyboard/digital piano and taught myself a little bit. In my 30's I picked up a used bass as an impulse purchase and was really hooked....now I consider bass as my primary instrument, even though I already played guitar and piano. And I too was always fascinated with the drums, but didn't buy a set until I was in my 40's (in my 50's now). I can play all of those instruments competently enough now to gig with them, though I am certainly not that best at any of them (jack of all trades, master of none).
Recently, I purchased a violin/fiddle and started teaching myself that. It's the most difficult one for me, by far, but it is fun. Learning new instruments is something I do to keep my mind active and as a form of stress relief and relaxation.
My advice to you is to pick up an inexpensive drumset if you have always wanted to. They even have decent electronic kits that aren't too much money nowadays.

 

[FenderB]

What other instrument would you play?

for me it would be the drums.... when I was 10 my parents suggested I learn the cello - which I did for 6 years along with the clarinet, but when I was 13 I met a boy at my high school who played the drums and that was it...

I remember going home from school that day and saying to my parents at dinner time "I'm gonna learn to play the drums"! - my dad replied "not in this house you're not"! and that was it - my dreams of becoming the next Keith Moon or John Bonham were quickly extinguished.

my friend at school sat me at the drums one day and said your right hand goes here, left hand here and you use your feet to control the kick drum and hi-hats... and it just somehow came naturally to me and I found I could play the drums, but I knew my dad and no actually meant no.... so when I was 15 I picked up the only bass at school (it was right handed and I'm a leftie) and because I could read music I just figured out the notes and began to teach myself to play right handed.

I got my first bass when I was 17/18 and began to leach myself to play U2 songs (this was the 1980's) but when I tried to learn other songs I found it difficult - then I learnt that U2 had 'tuned down' a half step on their first 3-4 albums and I had tuned my bass to the key of U2's first albums!

anyway I've been playing bass ever since and when I was about 22 my originals band broke up and I realised my dreams of playing at Wembley or Madison Square garden had all but diminished and I needed the day job to pay for rent / food..etc... I then joined my first covers band - we got paid 2 pizza's and a bottle of Jim Beam for our first gig and got paid $25 each for our next gig - I thought I had got it made!

I still play the drums if any of the drummers I play with will let me jump on their kit for a bit and I've always said to my wife that if we win the lottery I'll buy a big house in the countryside and buy a kick ass drum kit - like Alex Van Halen uses on the video for 'Jump'.

So if you weren't a bass player - what instrument would you play instead?

You don't need a "kick ass" set of drums in order to sound good and have fun playing songs to. I have a $400.00 set of Pearl Vision drums and a $1500.00 set of Pearl Master Maple Complete. The Visions play as well as the Masters.

 

[40Hz]

Jazz sousaphone!

The Man!

 

[Gaolee]

You don't need a "kick ass" set of drums in order to sound good and have fun playing songs to. I have a $400.00 set of Pearl Vision drums and a $1500.00 set of Pearl Master Maple Complete. The Visions play as well as the Masters.

Exactly. My gigging drum kit, such that I gig, is a 1960s stencil kit that has Reuther badges. It was probably made by Pearl, but it's hard to tell. It was made back when Japanese and cheap went together, but this kit was made in Taiwan, meaning even Japanese wasn't cheap enough. It's got thin luan mahogany shells, and with the right heads and tuning, it sounds fantastic. I got it for $250 quite a few years ago. It's a little fragile, but I love it and play it all the time. I thought about buying a newer, sturdier, and somewhat fancier kit, but thoughts thoughts go away every time I sit down at the Reuther kit.

 

[wallawallabob]

Definitely harmonica.

 

[Ghook]

I started out really young with a Stella acoustic. I was drafted to play bass in my first band and did so for the others. After about 15 years of guitars and lap steel guitars I'm back on Bass. I would love to learn Keyboard, Hammond style, and picked up a Yamaha psr 363 to learn on. It's going pretty good. I think I could fake it enough to lay down some tracks along with guitar and bass. I'm too old to think band , but jamming or recording , heck yeah!

 

[Charlzm]

So if you weren't a bass player - what instrument would you play instead?

I wanted to play drums. Mom suggested I take classical guitar lessons with her guitar. After a year of playing guitar poorly, I switched to bass when a band was forming and had no bassist.

Kinda wanted to play keys, too, once upon a time.

 

[neddyrow]

this would make a good poll....if you could list all the responses you most likely get.

i play DB and acoustic mostly but moving more towards BG. i would switch to percussion. i have a nice set of congas and bongos plus a cajon and a deluxe washboard. would love to just play percussion in an acoustic / electric rootsy band at small bars and coffee shops.

 

[MtManiac]

What other instrument would you play?

for me it would be the drums.... when I was 10 my parents suggested I learn the cello - which I did for 6 years along with the clarinet, but when I was 13 I met a boy at my high school who played the drums and that was it...

I remember going home from school that day and saying to my parents at dinner time "I'm gonna learn to play the drums"! - my dad replied "not in this house you're not"! and that was it - my dreams of becoming the next Keith Moon or John Bonham were quickly extinguished.

my friend at school sat me at the drums one day and said your right hand goes here, left hand here and you use your feet to control the kick drum and hi-hats... and it just somehow came naturally to me and I found I could play the drums, but I knew my dad and no actually meant no.... so when I was 15 I picked up the only bass at school (it was right handed and I'm a leftie) and because I could read music I just figured out the notes and began to teach myself to play right handed.

I got my first bass when I was 17/18 and began to leach myself to play U2 songs (this was the 1980's) but when I tried to learn other songs I found it difficult - then I learnt that U2 had 'tuned down' a half step on their first 3-4 albums and I had tuned my bass to the key of U2's first albums!

anyway I've been playing bass ever since and when I was about 22 my originals band broke up and I realised my dreams of playing at Wembley or Madison Square garden had all but diminished and I needed the day job to pay for rent / food..etc... I then joined my first covers band - we got paid 2 pizza's and a bottle of Jim Beam for our first gig and got paid $25 each for our next gig - I thought I had got it made!

I still play the drums if any of the drummers I play with will let me jump on their kit for a bit and I've always said to my wife that if we win the lottery I'll buy a big house in the countryside and buy a kick ass drum kit - like Alex Van Halen uses on the video for 'Jump'.

So if you weren't a bass player - what instrument would you play instead?

I was actually "supposed" to play trumpet. It was what I'd originally wanted to play, when I was 10-11. Then my parents wanted me in a different public school, and to do that, I had to be enrolled in a class that wasn't offered in the one I was entitled to go to, which really meant the new school's Strings/Orchestra program in music - they had a band class as well as a Strings class. So on instrument selection day, I walked straight to the upright basses and grabbed one, and held onto it until I deemed my selection was safely made. Being a 12 year old boy and in a new school I was very concerned with being considered wimpy or something, so definitely could not go for anything else in Strings, the only other choices being cello, viola, or violin. I of course learned that none of them are wimpy, so please nobody take offense, I was young. I started bass guitar on the side later that year, when I was 13, and did both all the way through high school, switching from Strings to Band in Grade 10. I have never since regretted picking up bass, but always wished I'd delved into trumpet as well at some point. I love Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and Dizzie Gillespie to this day.

 

[Paul M]

Not exactly relevant, but this thread reminds me of something Randy Bachman (The Guess Who & BTO) said in a documentary. "If I weren't a successful musician, I would be an unsuccessful musician."

 

[bassdude51]

Probably the tuba. At least I'd still be in the bass clef.

About 1:45 into this video..........tuba solo. An old skit from Second City TV.

 

[ThaCoast]

Drums, definitely. I bought a kit couple years back. If not, guitar is close second - i'd probably be a little better in lead playing. Then again i play punk music, nothing has to be complicated

 

[Gibby60]

If I were to devote as much time to another instrument as I have the bass, it would definitely be the Hammond B-3 organ. To my ears, the coolest sound besides the bass.

That's what I've done, I wanted to be able to play several instruments like my heroes. So I studied guitar for about five years. Guitar to keys is a pretty fast process if you play by ear. So now I'm a rythem guitar and keys guy. But I still do some work as a bassist.

 

[RustyAxe]

I play keys and guitar besides my bass playing......buuuut
I've always wanted to play pedal steel.
looks complicated as hell.. but sounds so damn cool!

Me too but at 65 years old I don’t expect to live long enough to be any good at it.

 

[PluffMudQueen]

Most likely guitar since that's what I started on. Possibly synth/keyboard after that.