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Name A Song That Started Your Bass Interest.

Not sure if these started or increased my bass interest, but I remember really liking the bass I heard on Stevie's "Superstition" ('72, when I was 11) and "I Wish" ('76). I started playing bass in '74. I really tuned in to the bass playing (Dee Murray) on Elton John's music during that period, too.
 
It wasnt any particular song that started my interest in bass. I wanted to play bass because everyone else played guitar, I knew a few drummers, but hardly any bass players. I wanted to fill that niche. Musically, I was listening to a lot of Janes Addiction & Primus at the time. So if I had to choose a song, I'd say JA's 'Three Days' the main bassline is my 'tuning up' riff.
 
I was a huge Beatles fan as a kid. I learned that the funny violin-shaped guitar that Paul played was responsible for those deep-sounding melodies.

Sunshine of Your Love. The opening two bars by Jack Bruce still gets to me!

Despite being a fan of Sir Paul, it wasn't until I sat down with a friend's bass and was able to figure out Jack Bruce's killer riff that I decided I should learn to play the instrument myself!
 
Rush "In The End" really piqued my interest. Well, all of Fly By Night, really.

I had been playing guitar before, and joined my first band to discover that they already had two guitarists, so they told me to bring my brother's bass and amp. After we had made it through Stairway to Heaven and Rock You Like a Hurricane, painfully, the guitarist/bandleader handed me a tape of Fly By Night and Rush to take home and listen to. I came back a Rush fan. And I realized the bass could be a seriously interesting instrument.
 
For me it was just after I bought Rush's "A Farewell to Kings" and got to the last song...

Cygnus X-1

I had been antsy about Rush before in that I loved the music so much I wanted to do more than just listen. When I heard those first 5 notes I knew what I was going to be doing...

That afternoon I took $200 to my local pawn shop and bought a Peavey J bass and a Trace Elliot 30 watt combo. The rest is history.
 
Green Onions - Booker T. and the MGs. It was the bass riff as played on the organ by Booker T. Jones. I actually didn't like the sound of the electric bass on the recording all that much (Duck Dunn?), but I sure got the bug for bass.

I couldn't afford the $100 or so bucks for a used "Porto" organ that a schoolmate was selling because I would need to get an amp as well. So for a total of, I think, $120 (paper route, lawns, car washing, etc.) I bought a used ZimGar bass that a classmate was selling and a "3 Guys from Harrison" Department store bass amp combo. I blew the speaker on 3 of them and returned them before the salesman told me that every single one of those that he had sold had been brought back for the same reason. He gave me my money back, and with some more work I was able to buy an Ampeg SB12 and a Sano bass. Still have the SB12 from 1968.

Cheers,
Dennis
 

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