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Was Bass your first choice?

#61
Mom tried to get me into music when I was about 5 and got me a drum set. I wrecked it and it wasn't until I was 14 that I got another and applied myself. It was a lot of fun and I always thought bass was harder growing up because the strings are bigger and you have to keep the rhythm you can't mess up. After 2 years of drumming I picked up bass as my local teenage garage bands needed one so after 3 months I joined up with a couple guys and they were learning too which was good.

I went as a drummer and bassist for a while so I could have more versatility but I've been playing with the same drummer since I joined the band and I've since sold my drum set.

As for why I got Into it, guitar hero. Played the bass parts and I really liked what bass was doing (wasn't super easy) and I discovered Cliff Burton, John Myung, les Claypool etc. My friend actually urged me to get a bass after a session of guitar hero :roflmao:glad I switched because bass is what I loved about metal.:bassist:
 
#62
Started off on guitar at age 8. My music teacher noticed me eyeing his Hofner copy Bass, a couple years later. He had begun to groom me to play in a combo he had, utilizing his students. My interest in music had begun to wane, so my folks discontinued my lessons.
Shortly after that, I discovered Iron Butterfly (Featuring the late, great, Lee Dorman), and then my older Brother turned me onto Grand Funk Railroad (Featuring one of my other faves, Mel Schacher.) This of course was of course, before I discovered Zeppelin. I continued to play Basslines on my acoustic, until I got my first Bass when I was 16.

Although I continue to play both Guitar and Bass, at that time, I stayed busier playing Bass.
 
#63
piano lessons as a kid, trumpet in grade 7&9, ukulele in grade 8 (long story), wish I had tried harder on the trumpet......saxophone as an adult, 3 sessions of beginner guitar lessons through the school board's night courses, they never took or felt right, then bass....I miss the sax a bit, still have it, just don't play it
 
#64
When I was a child we would go into the basement where my father sometimes had a shiny new stereo cassette tape player (early post 8 track era, 1980ish) hooked up to a pair of his ampeg B 15s. It was loud. And deep and sometimes scary to feel that bass reverberate through my belly and chest.
I saw my dad play the rare gig on the bass. Those childhood experiences started the addiction. I have learned other instruments, but bass was first and remains primary.
 
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#65
Bajo Clarkko said:
Started off on guitar at age 8. My music teacher noticed me eyeing his Hofner copy Bass, a couple years later. He had begun to groom me to play in a combo he had, utilizing his students. My interest in music had begun to wane, so my folks discontinued my lessons.
Shortly after that, I discovered Iron Butterfly (Featuring the late, great, Lee Dorman), and then my older Brother turned me onto Grand Funk Railroad (Featuring one of my other faves, Mel Schacher.) This of course was of course, before I discovered Zeppelin. I continued to play Basslines on my acoustic, until I got my first Bass when I was 16.

Although I continue to play both Guitar and Bass, at that time, I stayed busier playing Bass.
Click to expand...
Yeah Mel is what got me interested in bass! The first live album killed it! Great bass player! Still have that album loaded in my phone!
 
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#66
Bassdokes said:
When I was a child we would go into the basement where my father sometimes had a shiny new stereo cassette tape player (early post 8 track era, 1980ish) hooked up to a pair of his ampeg B 15s. It was loud. And deep and sometimes scary to feel that bass reverberate through my belly and chest.
I saw my dad play the rare gig on the bass. Those childhood experiences started the addiction. I have learned other instruments, but bass was first and remains primary.
Click to expand...

Actually I started out with several years studying piano. It got really frustrating when EVERY piano player i met was better than I was even after all that practice and work! Are these guys just BORN able to kill the keys? So in High School some guys got interested in forming a band. So I bought a cheap guitar. Failed miserably at it. Just could NOT get my fingers in position to make all those chords. Gave up. Well, my dad played drums and in spite of the built-in drumset and teacher, as a rebellious youth, I bought an old upright bass out of the newspaper classifieds for $50. Eventually I did start to play drums too and played in a number of bands (including the school band) either on drums or bass. Nobody EVER has paid money to hear me play keys! Still, the study of piano is ALWAYS a worthwhile thing to do.
 
#67
I've played guitar for almost 50 years, often being told to take up the bass, I'd be good at it, but I didn't want to be encumbered by a big electric bass, forget a standup bass. Then a little over two years ago I started playing ukulele, joined a group and didn't touch my guitars again. A few months later the leader asked if anyone would consider taking up the bass to fill out our sound. When I discovered the u-bass and other small basses being made, I volunteered, as did one other guy.

He bought a Kala U-bass, but I didn't like the configuration, so I bought a Gold Tone GT MicroBass, then SSSBAS hit me (sub-short scale bass acquisition syndrome) and I ordered a custom fretless 21" acoustic u-bass, then converted a 22" small electric guitar to a bass, then had a custom 22" electric bass made, then proceeded to buy 5 more mini basses, modding them one way or another. In the last year I barely touch my ukes being so focussed on the bass.
 
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#69
I went straight into bass. I'd always be turned on by the low end but didn't take the idea of playing seriously until one of my mates approached me and the following dialogue happened:-

Him: "I'm starting a band. Do you want to be the bass player"?
Me: "I don't know how to play bass".
Him: "That's ok, I don't know how to play guitar either but we'll just learn together".
Me: "Ok then, let's do it".

Best part of 30 years later and here I am, joining in threads on TB. :-)
 
#70
No! When I was 10 I had a terrible 3 piece drum set for 2 weeks before my mother snapped and made me get rid of it:)

It was awful, had a creaky sounding kick pedal that I had to put my full weight into! Fortunately my father was playing bass since he was in high school, so by 11 I had a $80 "Gremlin" bass and he showed me some blues lines and "money" by pink Floyd!!

I'll add that I was awful until about 13-14;)
 
#72
was bass my first instrument? no, but it was my first choice.

i was given no choice in learning to play acoustic guitar, and while i dealt with it, and later on played some shows, it never really resonated with me. even when i was a kid, i always paid ear to the lower notes, and as a teenager, i cranked the bass up when listening to the stereo. in 1993 a buddy of mine who i played guitar with asked me to sit on on bass when his old band came to town without their bass player. within minutes, the bass just did it for me like the guitar never had, and i fell into a band a buddy of mine was in the next day - their guitar player had a bass and bass amp but they had no bass player. the rest - as they say - is history ;)
 
#74
I was 7 when I started on violin, stopped during middle school, and when it time for high school my buddy (who was a sax player as a kid) wanted to make sure we were "cool" and start a band. His Dad played guitar in a country band so, he was already on guitar and since I had violin experience I thought it was logical to stay in the orchestral family (kinda) and play electric bass.
 
#75
I began on tuba... but it wasn't 'cool'! (circa 1975?) :nailbiting:
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... then I switched to BG... it was 'cool'! (circa 1980) :smug:
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#78
Kinda and kinda not.
I mean, I was always driven by it and drums, but I was a 10 year old when I started playing and as such, folded to what my dad wanted me to play, which was piano.
I never regret starting with piano though. Helped me a lot with theory.
 
#79
It was the bass. While I could pick up other instruments easily, it was, and still is he bass.

As kids we used to play records (that's right, it was the 60's) on a faster speed to hear the funny, chipmunk vocals. In doing so, I discovered this secret melody inside the song that I thought was so cool. Slowing things back down, I realized that was a bass. I was hooked.
 
#80
Started on saxophone in 5th grade and played that in jazz and marching bands until 10th grade. My two best friends needed a bass player so I went to a pawn shop and traded my sax for an Aria Pro II and cheap 25w amp. My dad was pissed at me for making the trade without asking him, but I've been playing bass ever since.:bassist:
 

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