The Inevitable Question: Why The Bass?

[BlueTalon]

I think I could have liked an Epi like that, TBH.

Mine was a Washburn Vulture II with stainless roundwounds. I think it was a bit unwieldy for me to learn on but maybe it made me stretch out and toughened me up a bit.

It's been all Fenders since then. I did try a friend's Rickenbacker 4001 way back though. The neck felt easier to me, especially compared to that Washburn... which almost certainly had a bad setup the whole time.

That reminds me of something funny. My Epiphone came with black tape-wound strings. Of course, I knew absolutely nothing about strings, but I wondered why I could never get the same bright sound out of my bass that I kept hearing from the bass players in the bands I listened to. Then one day I noticed what appeared to be black fraying near the bridge. "What the...?" So I started pulling on it, and soon the tape started to unwind. It blew my mind. As I got into the job of removing all the tape from all the strings, I noticed what appeared to be a pristine new set of roundwounds underneath the tape. When I plugged it in, it sounded like someone had removed a pound of cotton from my ears, and suddenly I could get the bright tone I was hearing from everyone I liked.

Things ya learn.

 

[Grinderman]

That reminds me of something funny. My Epiphone came with black tape-wound strings. Of course, I knew absolutely nothing about strings, but I wondered why I could never get the same bright sound out of my bass that I kept hearing from the bass players in the bands I listened to. Then one day I noticed what appeared to be black fraying near the bridge. "What the...?" So I started pulling on it, and soon the tape started to unwind. It blew my mind. As I got into the job of removing all the tape from all the strings, I noticed what appeared to be a pristine new set of roundwounds underneath the tape. When I plugged it in, it sounded like someone had removed a pound of cotton from my ears, and suddenly I could get the bright tone I was hearing from everyone I liked.

Things ya learn.

It's funny the way we learned and discovered things as kids back in the analogue age. It was almost a wonder anyone was around to teach me EADG and how to tune thing to begin with.

 

[mike buzzetti]

because I guy I was learning guitar from started a band and needed a bass player + I loved Chris Squires sound oh and Stanley Clark slap , still play both . then learned Motown stuff and fell in love with bass, on guitar I play very different stuff.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Honestly? I don't know. I liked the instrument and started playing it, as well as I've done with piano, guitar, accordion, and now drums. I'm curious, I like playing instruments.

 

[HelpImaRock]

I should have started playing bass in the summer of '91, before I started high school. But I was a short kid and the guitar fit me better. So I played guitar and my friend played bass.

10 years later, in the wake of 9/11, I bought a used MIM Precision. Brought it back to the guitar store I was teaching at and the next week, I had a bass student. Took home the Mel Bay book and started learning out of it. Played some Van Halen, some other stuff, and stayed a few steps ahead of my students.

In 2013, I auditioned for a power pop band playing obscure covers. We might cover Weezer, but it was "Surf Wax America" instead of "Buddy Holly". I've been playing bass, mostly in original bands, since. My latest run with bass started about a year ago and I've been in my current band for about 6 months now.

What I like about the bass is, as McCartney said, the ability to control the music. I play/write parts that are interesting enough to fill out a rock trio. The guitarist and I operate on different wavelengths and it wouldn't be interesting if we were both playing guitar. But on bass, I can carve out the sonic space we need and not run into each other. Yeah, I like the instrument but it's that chemistry that keeps me interested in pushing my boundaries.

 

[TJL]

Because the bass player quit the high school jazz band, and we had two trumpet players, so I moved from trumpet to bass and never looked back. It just felt like the right instrument for me....and it was.

 

[bassdude51]

It all about the bass, the bottom.

 

[twinjet]

I was just reading this interview or discussion between Mike Watt and Jah Wobble published back in 2016. It's good little read because it points to some things I didn't know and made imediately interested in to point researching, adding more depth my own knowledge about music. It's also a good one because it gets to this essential or inevitable question; why the bass?

If you play the bass, like me, you've almost certainly reflected on the question of why you chose the bass, trying identify the reasons you can put into words. If you play the bass, it's possible, if not likely, you've been asked by others who are curious to know why.

Anyway, I love this section because it's so spot on I feel compelled to put it here.

Mike Watt: Why the bass?
Jah Wobble: It was always going to be bass. I’d been to blues dances, like, these house parties with Jamaicans and of course seeing Family Man play. So you got this one guy with this one instrument called an electric bass and when you get the right sound it’s like you could directly connect to the f***ing universe.

Mike Watt: You feel it a lot more than you hear it.
Jah Wobble: I still feel like that. You know—when you stand onstage and play the heavy bass you just feel like you’re plugged straight into the f***ing universe. Into infinity. It’s an incredible feeling still. A guitar is a different trick—it’s a different kind of thing. Whereas with a bass you feel kind of rooted somehow as well so it was always going to be bass.​

Link Removed

Open question for all TBers: Why the bass?

I was probably 5 years old when I first heard this song and remember really liking the sound of the (MIDI) bass. Eight years later, I still liked it and knew that instrument was for me.

 

[6thplanet]

Steve Harris.

 

[2strings2frets]

I am hearing damaged. I can’t hear high guitar frequencies, besides it only has 4 strings so how hard can it be? When I found out that it shakes things, even in the neighbors house I was hooked. A real plus was having the wife run down the stairs into the basement to tell me I was going to break her good china up a floor and in the other end of the house while I was trying out my newly purchased half stack! It’s good in so many ways! Thump on.

 

[tstone]

I didn't get into playing bass until I *sang* bass in our University choir. We did all kinds of material, from madrigals to Bach and Mozart and modern works. It was practicing and singing those bass lines that made me appreciate the supportive role of the bass part and how it can work as counterpoint to the melody. In four-part harmony, the soprano and bass really rule, the alto and tenor parts are mostly filler.

 

[cracker973]

Because of Ray Pohlman and Larry Knechtel, I just loved what they were doing on records. I did not know who they were at the time but I knew I loved what they were doing.

 

[Jeffery Axthelm]

Started in early high school. I was getting interested in music in general, decided to play something but wasn't sure what. A friend said "I'm learning guitar. You learn bass and we'll start a band." I pretty much fell in love with it the first time I picked it up and feebly attempted to play something. Never did start that band, though ...

A brother from another mother! Same story, my good buddy played guitar, says, "If you get a bass, I'll teach you how to play and we'll start a band". I did, he did, we did and were successful enough to put me through college and 45 years of playing through 3 wives and multiple girlfriends.........I'd still rather play!

 

[dasherf17]

I was just reading this interview or discussion between Mike Watt and Jah Wobble published back in 2016. It's good little read because it points to some things I didn't know and made imediately interested in to point researching, adding more depth my own knowledge about music. It's also a good one because it gets to this essential or inevitable question; why the bass?

If you play the bass, like me, you've almost certainly reflected on the question of why you chose the bass, trying identify the reasons you can put into words. If you play the bass, it's possible, if not likely, you've been asked by others who are curious to know why.

Anyway, I love this section because it's so spot on I feel compelled to put it here.

Mike Watt: Why the bass?
Jah Wobble: It was always going to be bass. I’d been to blues dances, like, these house parties with Jamaicans and of course seeing Family Man play. So you got this one guy with this one instrument called an electric bass and when you get the right sound it’s like you could directly connect to the f***ing universe.

Mike Watt: You feel it a lot more than you hear it.
Jah Wobble: I still feel like that. You know—when you stand onstage and play the heavy bass you just feel like you’re plugged straight into the f***ing universe. Into infinity. It’s an incredible feeling still. A guitar is a different trick—it’s a different kind of thing. Whereas with a bass you feel kind of rooted somehow as well so it was always going to be bass.​

Link Removed

Open question for all TBers: Why the bass?

I started listening to the parts of songs...already had a guitar, knew the piano, just wanted a bass for "those times"...
"know a bass player?" "Yeah, I can!"

 

[ryco]

Because at an orchestra recruiting assembly in 4th grade '66 the school conductor said "We have a full drum back line and don't need any more Ringos".
He said "but I do need a bass player" holding up a bass fiddle. I figgered McCartney played bass, and I played a little guitar, so what the heck. Also my parents listened to be-bop and hot big bands and I was always intrigued by the bass lines.
BIGGEST regret in my ls dropping double bass in 8th grade. Tried to pick it up again in college, but even being on it 5+ hrs a day couldn't get it back.

 

[wpatton11]

I led a band in high school on guitar. Our bassist was a good friend who never played any instrument. I showed him what I thought the bass should do. Off to college, where I started jamming with folks. A guitarist said "do you play bass?" A little, I sez. He says " I'm a better guitarist than you, you play bass and let's start a band". We played all over for about 5 years and by then I was imprinted with low notes.

 

[Astre]

When I started learning and trying to bass in the mid-1980s, Peter Hook and Joy Division were very much an influence; a strong one really. My influences grew outward from there.

It's probably why George Murray from D.A.M. Trio became one my main all-time favorites. His work with Bowie and Iggy Pop are masterpieces to me. Similarly with Jah Wobble, Holger Czukay, and Steve Hanley. Dave Alexander and Ron Asheton on bass are also on the top of my list. There are others but those are the main men.

Steve Currie, Bruce Thomas, Tim Wright, and Peter Farndon are up high on my list. Mike Watt, of course.

Another perspective of where I'm coming from: The bass on Papa Was A Rolling Stone by The Temptations is forever a powerful, hold-everything, meditative groove. //Has anyone ever gotten to the bottom of the truth about who actually played on the recording yet? Was it in fact Babbitt?

Elegant minimalism and the minimalist approach has always been an strong fundamental characteristic that threads through virtually everything I've done as creative/maker in art, design, and music; regardless of whether it was as an ametuer, professional, hobbyist, enthusiast, expert, or whatever.

All of that is my north star.

Love Bruce Thomas! I'd debated getting his signature bass for a while.

 

[Mark Ellis]

I'm a big guy with big hands. Perfect anatomy for the job. There are less bass players = more gigs.
Bass makes the groove. There are so many bass lines I love: Superfreak, Funkytown, Lady Marmalade, Money, le Freak, Billie Jean, Thriller, Tainted Love, Another Brick in the Wall, My Sharona, etc.

 

[David Lakin]

I started out on drums, but just didn’t have the coordination ( in other words I played the drums like a windup monkey). I was once told I had no sense of rhythm. My brother was already playing guitar and I didn’t want to play the same instrument he was. A friend of my mom’s was a professional bass player and she showed me some stuff on her old Kay C-1 upright. Years later I was backing up my brother in a flat picking guitar competition. My brother won the competition and one of the judges told me I had impeccable timing. I just had to find MY instrument. And bass was it!

 

[retslock]

A drummer friend and I were starting up a soul band back in 1973 in Melbourne, Australia. We knew there were no available local bass players around at that time really knew how to play that style. The few good ones were taken. I was a guitar player and rather than get a rock player to try to play soul - that wasn’t going to work - I decided to switch to bass. I knew I would work hard at it to get the phrasing and rhythms right. We couldn’t guarantee a dyed-in-the-wool rock player would even want to do that. It was a very steep learning curve for me but with a lot of analytical listening and hard work I became a bass player. The band was reasonably successful but it was hard to get a foothold in the scene. Australia was rock world back then and bands like AC DC were everywhere. Soul and old school rhythm and blues are still my favourite musical styles to play.