• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The "I Started on Guitar" Club

#23
I started guitar in 83. Played in bands that never really left the garage, except for two. Started playing bass last year at a local jam session and got into a band. We've already played out.
It's definitely a different world.
I just sat down and was running guitar lines over some stuff, and the strings feel like tiny wires...
 
#27
Started on guitar in 1972, when I got an acoustic guitar for my birthday. Played in a couple of local bands in the 70s, then put it all away when my wife and I started a family. Got my first bass in late 2007, and I've been a bass player ever since. Love it! :D
 
#30
I started playing guitar in 1978 and though I was in a couple of garage bands I never really went anywhere with it, they pretty much wanted me to join them because of my singing voice. I've always played as a hobby and the last time I played in a group was as part of the worship team in a church in NY in 1998. I started writing a few instrumental pieces about the same time.

The music I wrote didn't sound like any type really but it is pretty much a result of me watching so many movies and studying how music interacts with film. So in 2009 I asked an actress I met when I used to work in publishing how to submit work to the movie industry so I was given an introduction to a movie producer and a composer who records for film. Film wants a more full sound than my pretty little guitar pieces so I picked up a bass to lay in some rythm tracks or at least know how to incorporate rythm into my work to be able to compose something with a rock or modern tone to it.

I picked up my first bass in 2010 and fighting off the temptation to buy five or six basses I held myself to my current three but I will probably buy a Rumblekat.

I really do love playing bass. I wish I had started back in 1980 when the bands I was singing in wanted me to learn it, I would be much further ahead today in my music and musical experience I'm sure.
 
#32
Started playing guitar in 2005 when I was 12. My mom wanted me in some sort of after school activity and I hated sports with a passion.
Started playing bass last year in 2011 when I walked into a guitar shop with $200. A close relative had just died and I was looking to keep my mind occupied with a new toy. I picked up a Squier J bass and starting playing a half assed guitar port of Tom Sawyer and realized how much fun bass was. I walked out of there with the bass, ran home and pulled up the tabs for La Villa Strangiato and spent the next couple weeks learning how to play that on the bass. Since then, I play the bass as my instrument of choice, and only pick up the guitar every once in a while.
 
#34
i started playing guitar when i was 5. i was given one as a gift for starting kindergarten. i banged around on it a lot as a kid. then, when i was 8, my little brother decided he wanted to be george strait, so my mom signed him up for guitar lessons. i tagged along, and discovered i had a knack for playing guitar. ive never stopped playing, 25 years later. i picked up the bass in 1999, after seeing an ad at a guitar shop of a band looking for a bassist. i had never played bass in a band before, but i had tinkered with one. i played my electric guitar thru a bass amp, and the band had a bass to lend me, so off i went. i quit that band eventually and went back to guitar full time. i got bored with guitar, switched back to bass full time, and still play guitar when i feel like it. all my gigging is done on bass, except for special occasions. i currently only own one guitar, a nylon string classical, but im hoping to get to build a parts strat soon.
 
#36
Started playing in 1997 when I was 13 years old. I had wanted a guitar for MANY Christmases but my parents would never budge. I remember I wanted a certain guitar at the local store. It was a SMALL border town named eagle pass and the only store was called organ city and mainly sold organs. Dont remember what brand but it was like a slate blue color.

Finally one day on an october some stranger knocks on the door. Its never for me so I dont think anything of it. My sister comes to my room and whispers "he's got a guitar case" I am SPEECHLESS. I'm a super shy kid but I walk out there anyways. He's got the case out on the kitchen counter. Pulls out a black peavey predator guitar (fender strat copy). Plays a few licks and I cant help but smile. My dad asks me if I like it ... UHHH YEAH

Recently started playing in an acoustic trio type band. Hoping to expand to a full band eventually. But it was me on guitar, my friend from hs on another guitar. and a female singer who can sing very well, but not so great on guitar. chords are doable but not too far beyond that. Anyways three guitars is not really necessary for the music we play. One time we had a bass player tryout and the second he started playing I was like MAN that sounds so freakin cool. It just adds so much more to the sound. First time I had ever played with a bassist too tho. Anyways the guy didnt work out. After trying to find another replacement I figured why dont I just pick it up. so now I've got a:

fender mim p bass black
fender mim p bass sunburst
squier vm natural jazz bass

Thinking I'm more of a jazz player tho.
Plus I dont know. I guess being a shy/to myself kinda person, I like that I'm not really in the spot light. I'm not saying bass is easy by any means. I can play pretend like I play bass. I'm still more comfortable and better on guitar but on bass ... I think I kinda enjoy the music more. I can listen and kinda "groove out". On guitar I always felt like I was a little too focused. Nervous cause it always felt like everyone was listening and looking at me.

Sorry for the life story :D
 
#37
Started on guitar in 2005 - My dad played guitar, my brother played guitar and drums. There was always a guitar laying out somewhere, I just picked it up and started playing. (this was my senior year in hs)

Made the switch to bass in 2007 - A few friends and my brother had recently started jamming, there were already 2 guitars, I picked up bass just so I could jam. That same band with origial members is still together.... just release our first album.. only took 4 years haha

I still play both - I play bass a lot more often than guitar, but its always nice to pick up my acoustic or play my les paul though the fender hotrod amp
 
#39
I've wanted to play music for literally as long as i can remember. I remember as a really little kid, loving car rides because of the radio. In 2008, I got a (piece of ****) Lyon Limited Edition Def Leppard Guitar. I knew it sucked but it was a GUITAR. It was one of the happiest days of my life. My mom got me lessons from a local music shop for 6 months, we could afford anymore because of the current times. After 2 years with it, I had purchased a Dean Z X and it kicked some serious ass. After a while, for no reason, ii was fixated on playing bass. It might have been because I knew I guitarist were a dime a dozen, and i couldn't even shred at that point. So when I finally got my B.C. Rich Warlock Revenge, i knew that I could become the greatest bassist ever. I do play guitar to this day as well, but I am a bassist that can play the guitar, not the other way around.
 
#40
When I was younger and just getting into music, mainly pop punk stuff, around the age of 7/8 I admired the sound of the bass guitar and looked up to Paul Thomas and Mark Hoppus. Around when I was 12 in later 2008 is when I first picked up the guitar seriously, since my dad had one and I, originally wanting to be a drummer, had no room for a drum kit and I didn't have a bass at the time. By mid 2009 after a few guitar lessons I finally made the switch over to bass. Currently, yes, I still play guitar but not as often as bass and I'm definitely a better bassist than guitarist.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back