Show the clip of the moment you became aware of bass playing.

I've posted it before and I'll post it again. This is what woke me up:

Very soon followed by:


I woke up to a double shot of Jack'n'Jack!

 

No clip, but Gene Simmons...KISS Alive II. Got that album on my 10th birthday. Detroit Rock City rocked my ten year old world.

 

To my kid brain, this song was so ominous and spooky sounding. And I thought 2 things.
1. His dad was a member of The Rolling Stones. And
2. When he died, all he left them was "A LOAN"

 

Somewhere between here.....



....and here.....



When asked "Who taught you how to play bass?" I always answer "James Jamerson and John Paul Jones".

 

I can't remember the very first one, but this stood out for sure:

 

It happened at a very young age for me. Moreover, I was pleasantly surprised as an adult to find out that this is an actual jazz song and is in the real book.

 

No clip but it was Wait On Time, by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, featuring the late great Keith Ferguson.

 

... and no, I am not Selma Hayek.

 

This one

 

Did anyone else notice how Dio sticks out like a sore thumb in that lineup?

I honestly can't remember when I became aware of the bass, as I've always seemed to remember being aware of it.

 

Jamming out this tune, on college break back in LA, long solos, most imitating Carlos and Rollie. I had ample opportunity to carry the groove during solos, began to play with the rhythm following soloist, went off a bit, felt so good. I was hooked, right then and there.

 

I remember buying the Live After Death VHS tape from a Sam Goody I'd later work at one day. I had been to the doctor and had stopped by the mall for some reason with my stepfather and I ended up snagging it because I had bought Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son on cassette and wanted to know more about them and figured that a live video would be just that.

Wow. Steve Harris has a robotic right hand. He must. No, really. He's a freakin' android.

 

There is certainly no "clip" of it, but there was a rock band playing in the basement of my church, of all places. I was probably 13 or so. Hearing it live rather than through radio speakers, I could feel the bass thump me in the chest. That was the first chapter of a long story of loving how bass is a "whole body" experience, not just an ear thing.

 

Probably something like this. It was a long time ago.

 

Another "no clip" moment for me. First time I noticed was when the bass player at my church showed up with a brand new Steinberger headless bass (mid 90s here). I was already a low-end fanatic from playing tuba and that bass had me interested. The family was pretty strapped then so no chance to play at that time. I was a youngest child so not much chance to listen to "my" music on the radio/tape player so not really any exposure to bass playing other than in church.

Fast forward a few years and the bass player in the university pep band had the place grooving and I loved bass even more. It took another decade until I had enough money to get started but not the time. Got a bass and it sat in the corner. Another 7-8 years later and I was asked to play bass with a local folk band and the rest is history. Maybe in another 20 years I'll actually be good...

 

I gigged for years as a guitarist. But when I heard this, I wanted to play bass for the first time:


I was driving home from my Dad’s summer place in the Poconos with my wife and infant daughter in the car, and I heard it “on the skip” from CKLW in Windsor, Ontario. Anthony Jackson’s bass line knocked me flat.

44 years later, here I am.