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The Inevitable Question: Why The Bass?

#62
Because my hand seemed too big to play chords on my friend's guitar and he'd always ask me just to play the bassline on his acoustic guitar whilst he played lead guitar. So that was it bass was destined for me.
Even when I went through almost 20 years without play any instrument I always considered that bass was my thing. Been back playing for the last 12 years or so and regret having stopped for so long.
 
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#65
I was drawn to it as a teenager because of my perception of the bass guitar being a very powerful instrument. Which, it is! As I matured as a bass player, however, I continued to be drawn more and more to the musicality the instrument is capable of.
 
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#66
staurosjohn said:
So - I played horns… wound up playing tuba - was informed *that* wasn’t really ‘cool’… so I switched to BG :D

View attachment 4620216 View attachment 4620217
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Face it, a Ric is waaaaay cooler than an instrument that looks like you hired a novice plumber. :thumbsup:

I inherited my older sister's unwanted violin and took lessons in the third through sixth grade. In junior high I took up guitar and devoted my life to becoming a rock star. As you all know, that never happened. I always loved music and my dad used to buy plastics bags of used 45 rpm records at the flea market. 10 per bag for $1.00. This is going back to the late '60's. Whoever packaged them up used to cleverly add one or two by famous artists or a hit in each package. The other eight or nine were obscure. This led me to a hunt to uncover the best music available, not necessarily the most popular. I mention this to give some insight as to why I chose the bass as well as a reminder that the less common your influences are, the more unique a player you become because of it. I tried drums and piano (stunk at both) but stuck with guitar as my main instrument. Writing good music was the goal by then. In high school I was in and out of bands as a guitarist but never could find a bassist that would play the way I thought it should be done. I bought a bass and started to play just to use it as a composing tool. I fell in love and got my first decent bass in 1978. A Natural, maple B neck '76 P bass. It's been the main one for decades (or at least in the rotation). The biggest turning point was watching The Steve Miller Band on one of those late night concert shows back in the '70's (Midnight Special, ABC's In Concert, or Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, can't remember which one). Gerald Johnson played the bass solo on "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" and included the Popeye the Sailor Man cartoon theme in it. I never thought a bass could be used to play melodies before that. (Clips of the SMB '73-'74 shows are on YouTube, check it out for yourself. After leaving Steve Miller, Gerald joined Dave Mason's band.) Adding that style to the soul and rock records that I had gave me a different sound than a lot of suburban white kids from southern New England. Funkier and less metallic. I've gotten more gigs because of that. Sometimes what seems like a meandering journey to nowhere is really just preparation for the destination. Hope this helps.
 
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#67
When I was in 3rd grade, a string quartet came in my classroom for a demonstration. I was enamored by the big one. So the next four years I learned cello. I switched to double bass (not what it was called back then) for a year or so, then the funds for the orchestra got cut. I picked up a friend's bass guitar a few years later. The song that was on the radio at the time was Hotel California, and so that was the first song I ever played on a bass guitar. The guy asked me how many years I'd been playing, and I told him it was the first time I'd ever played one (he didn't believe me). It was technically true, but my background with cello certainly helped, and the year or so on double bass directly translated to bass guitar.

And that, as they say, was that.
 
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#68
I always picked out the bass. It started with feeling the beat of Beatles songs watching the cartoons in 1965-6 when I was three to four years old. Dad sang in church choir, and even though I would have been a permanent boy soprano three hundred years ago, I was drawn to the bass, and instead of singing the hymn and anthem melodies, I sang the bass parts (an octave up, of course) with Dad (not just because he sang bass; I also played his trumpet in beginning band). So, finally, when I got the chance to play bass guitar in junior high jazz band camp (that story is posted elsewhere) and then as a high school freshman volunteered to play sousaphone in marching band, and tuba and bass guitar in college concert band and jazz band, respectively, bass was it. Yes, I had brief forays into lead guitar, trumpet, solo high school vocals (won a scholarship) and such, including six years of classical piano, On occasion I am still called to play or sing those gigs, but for me, bass is it. I derive more satisfaction locking with a good drummer supporting the other musicians to sound their best, whether it be a gig band on electric bass, concert band on tuba, Uke66 on bass ukulele, show band on TV, the years I played double bass for jazz/swing/dance bands, working on projects, helping friends set up their basses, singing bass in a good choir, or even providing a bass and amp to a visiting school, Sister Cities, or other event, or other occasion.

I found out quickly that while guitar, trumpet, and vocal musicians are a dime a dozen, as a good bass player I would always have a gig when I wanted it. As a result, I have played gigs all over the USA, Japan, Mexico, Europe with college choir, and recorded in a variety of contexts on different instruments, including a Branson TV special on PBS. Life is great!
 
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#69
By accident.

Jam session with an audience. I was contributing my amp and guitar. Lots of people wanted to play guitar. One person wanted to try bass, for 10 minutes, then left for a beer and never returned. I grabbed it to see what it was all about... and I had a blast. Next week I bought a bass. Two years later I was mostly only playing bass and here we are. During the pandemic I got back into guitar because I was getting a little rusty, but bass is still The One.
 
#72
I really like that description of it. I totally agree, i just feel it so much more than other instruments. I play guitar and drums too and they’re great but being the bassist in a band is a fantastic position to be in. I love being that link between rhythm and melody, and just the sheer power of the thing.
I always loved how a guitarist would have to rely on distortion to rock… but I could simply plug in and it just sounds immense

As for how I picked it, when I was a kid I saw a picture of a band I liked and said to my brother who plays guitar “i want a guitar” he said “cool do you know what kind of thing you want?” I showed him the picture of this guy with a bright yellow p bass down by his knees… he said “oh, no, that’s a bass… are you sure?!”.
 
#74
I was always attracted to the deeper sounds, love the Cello but never had the chance to learn as a kid, my school didn't run to instruments beyond the recorder and my parents couldn't afford an expensive instrument and lessons. But at age 11 I heard The Animals "House of the Rising Sun" and I could hear a deep sounding instrument, even on a cheap 1963 transistor radio. I didn't know what it was at first, but then I heard and saw The Beetles and learned that one of them played a bass guitar, Paul's sound was sort of like Chas Chandlers in the Animals, a bass guitar.

Of course I got seduced in the 60's as a teenager, guitar was what I wanted to play, but I never really bonded with it, other than the bottom three strings, I never really liked the high pitched notes, especially 'Ice Pick" Telecaster bridge pickup type tones. Deeper, the notes you could feel in your git and in your chest, that's for me.

In 1969 I bought an LP because I found the cover interesting, it was Stand Up by Jethro Tull and it had a jazzed up version of J S Bach's Bourree, Ian Anderson's flute and Glen Cornick's bass guitar and I thought s***! I want to do that. I hope to become semi competent at many of Bach's Cello pieces before I die and I enjoy creating (for my enjoyment only...) solo bass pieces. I just love the complexity of those bass notes, they don't have to be loud, but it they are beautiful.
 
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#75
Pianist/keys player all my life. Another great keys/singer guy I knew needed a bassist for some gigs and knew I was a good overall musician and he asked if I could. I owned a cheap jazz bass for my home studio, so I said sure.

So I went from zero to learning 40-50 songs on bass in about a week, and went STRAIGHT into doing 3+ hr gigs (my fingers were destroyed for weeks before I finally built up some toughness), and then the little band turned into a 3-5 gigs per week thing for years.

Funny thing is, even though Ive always been a very solid player (due to years of other musical pursuits), I gigged on bass for about 10 yrs before I REALLY embraced the instrument and started digging in to its intricacies and more advanced playing!
 
#77
I did not choose the bass life. The bass life chose me.

My best friend through my youth got a guitar when he was 14. He attended the local music school.
When we hung out, he showed me a few easy tricks on the guitar, but I never caught on with the excitement and passion he had for it. A bit later, the people in the music school had a talk with him. There was another promising guitarist and a very talented drummer that happened to go to the same highschool, even were in the same year. They thought it might be a good idea to let those youths get together and form a band, which they did. There was no bass player, though. So my friend asked me if I wanted the gig. Before I had a chance to think it through, my mouth said yes. A week later, my sister's boyfriend (a pro sax player) had organized a bass for me and I was standing in rehearsal, barely knowing which way to hold that thing.

I remember ruining the carpet on the first time I felt the rush of playing with others. I was in so deep it that I did not notice that I was using the pick to chop at the strings way too hard and the back of my index finger was scraping the played string on each downstroke. It was actually the drummer who stopped the song and pointed out I was leaking operating fluid on the floor. I still have the scar.

I tried other instruments down the line, dabbled in synths (which still interest me, so when I win the lottery I shall have a modular synth setup covering an entire wall in my house), bought a guitar or two and occasionally played drums - but bass was the one that stuck.
 
#78
I grew up in a house with 2 older sisters and as a result heard a lot of Disco and Funk stuff. Guitar and Drum parts weren't terribly interesting to me in those songs but the bass part was where it was at! When I was 14 a good friend and I decided to learn how to play. He already had a guitar, his father played, so I thought about it and decided on the bass because 1) I liked it from the exposure to the disco stuff and 2) I figured guitarists are a dime a dozen and every band (for the most part) will need a bassist and I'd always have an opportunity to play in a band. 3) Guitar is for show but ain't nobody dancing without Bass.

I play in 2 bands regularly and pick up fill in work on the occasion I am not already booked. Evidently I was a lot smarter when I was 14.
 
#79
because two strings broke on my acoustic guitar and i was too cheap to buy more strings:rolleyes:.....way back when i didn't know what instrument i wanted to play...I just feel more connected to it than any other instrument.
 

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