Been a Trombone player and enthuthist for 28 years. My best friend growing up was a bass player and taught me to listen for the bass lines. Always have ever since. FINALLY two months ago, I bought my first bass. Where has it been all my life. Trombone and Bass are so intertwined. Life seem so much easier now. Only thing that is tough now is to listen to great music that has awesome bass and trombone lines. Maynard Ferguson's "Nice and Juicy". Stop what you're doing and go listen now.
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Was Bass your first choice?
- Thread starter jubl
- Start date
Technically, I started on Baritone in middle school. That didn't last long though, and I took up bass guitar when I was twelve.
As a side note, my band teacher in middle school wanted me to carry my baritone with me to school... on my bike. My mom didn't think this was such a good idea.
As a side note, my band teacher in middle school wanted me to carry my baritone with me to school... on my bike. My mom didn't think this was such a good idea.
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Wanted to play drums.....but wasn't good at the left-right thing, and eventually would have had fits trying to use both feet to control the hi-hat and bass drum/s, plus hitting cymbals....and....
there would have been no room for this......
So I heard Rush and Yes around the same time in late 1979 and was hooked on the sound of Rickenbacker basses and that style of music.
I always liked the tone a clavinet got and the Ricks had a similar twang and punch to my ears, plus they were less costly than Peart's kit would have been to assemble....if I could play drums....
I'm still a fan of drummers. Lots of drum CD's and video in my house.
there would have been no room for this......
So I heard Rush and Yes around the same time in late 1979 and was hooked on the sound of Rickenbacker basses and that style of music.
I always liked the tone a clavinet got and the Ricks had a similar twang and punch to my ears, plus they were less costly than Peart's kit would have been to assemble....if I could play drums....
I'm still a fan of drummers. Lots of drum CD's and video in my house.
started loving rock and pop music as a kid. Then one day in 6th grade, during an assembly, heard a band of my classmates play Mary Mary by the Monkeys. Till then I did not know people of my age could make that kind of music (this was in 1966). So I pestered my parents and they bought me an unplayabale acoustic guitar from the Spiegel catalog. The action was insanely high and who knew about truss rods. Failing to make progress I pestered them to get me a cheap organ, again from Spiegel but it just didn't speak to me. Then one day White Room by Cream came on the radio and that changed everything for me. That record mesmerized me and eventually I realized that Jack Bruce's bass made that record. (I was too young to fully appreciate Jack's amazing voice and Ginger's great and unique drumming and Eric's iconic noodling with a wah wah.) so of course I pestered my parents again and got a cheap MIJ bass for $25. I couldn't be happier. Didn't even have an amp for the first few months.
I was always really into music as a youth....tried acoustic guitar lesson at age 8. Did not stick. I tried electric guitar at age 12 with crappy group lessons.....never found the motivation. My family picked up and moved after my freshman year of high school in 1984. My new neighbor and best friend was a great musician. He started on Sax and bass and switched to guitar shortly before I met him. He was like " you are learning bass". He made me take home his bright orange Kramer metal necked bass and a 60 watt Traynor combo. We talked my folks into paying my friend to give me lessons.
Six months later I bought my first bass. He was not a real teacher and I self taught more or less.......When I moved to Ithaca my friends were all truly world class musicians many studying at the conservatory. I was too self conscious to play around the "masters" and gave up bass from 1989-2014. My teenage son inspired me to pick up bass again. I really missed it terribly!!
Six months later I bought my first bass. He was not a real teacher and I self taught more or less.......When I moved to Ithaca my friends were all truly world class musicians many studying at the conservatory. I was too self conscious to play around the "masters" and gave up bass from 1989-2014. My teenage son inspired me to pick up bass again. I really missed it terribly!!
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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I started playing the accordeon at 4 years old, than at 7 I upgraded to the piano and stuied it for 11 years, than at 15 I chose the double bass as a second instrument in high-school and studied it for 3 years. After that I had stopped for 10 years and met the electric bass....and since than I never stopped playing the electric. In the near future I´ll retake the double bass.
I started out on bass because I wanted to play in my brothers' band and that was my way in. However, I always loved the sound of the bass and never wanted to switch primary instruments. I did pick up piano and some minor guitar but bass is it for me. I have been playing for over 20 yrs now.
I had about a year of piano lessons as a kid, but I really wanted to be a drummer. Well, turns out drums are rather expensive, even to get started. So, I chose the bass guitar. I just thought it looked like the coolest of the guitars. And I was right.
BassHappy
Supporting Member
I flew through the Song Flute course in grade school in record time. My Dad was a big jazz guy and gave me a gentle shove towards alto sax. Played it in school for a year but wasn't really feeling it. Something about that reed vibration that I found unappealing - plus I had a teacher who bullied me. Switched to bass a few months later. My Dad was uber cool. He needed to save the money to help me buy a bass so he said: "Wait two months, save your money for it, and if you still want it I will make up the difference and we will buy one for you."
So two months later - we ordered a new Old Kraftsman bass by Kay from the Spiegel catalog that came with a bass amp in 1964 for a cool $175.
And that was that....
So two months later - we ordered a new Old Kraftsman bass by Kay from the Spiegel catalog that came with a bass amp in 1964 for a cool $175.
And that was that....
Hmmm... At the start of 6th grade I started on cornet. A few weeks into classes my band director told me my embouchure fit tuba better than cornet/trumpet, so I picked up the beast and never looked back. In retrospect I think he just needed a seat filled and I looked gullible enough to do it, but I'm happy because those righteous low tones generated my interest in electric bass. That would have been about 1970 as I recall.
I got pulled in by the glamour and competitive nature of guitar playing, but many years later realized I loved the sound of guitar, but prefered the role of the rhythm section in a band. If I still played guitar I'd be playing an 8 string and chugging along, or writing chord melodies with a guitar alone in my house. Playing in bands and ensembles, the responsibility and power of the bass chair is an incredible feeling.
that is great looking bass...... still have it?..how does it sound?....any mods to it?
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. In response to the question: no. Started off with my older sister's hand me down violin in fourth grade, then either drums or guitar at twelve (tried both at around the same time), bass at thirteen, piano shortly thereafter. Finally realized that I wanted to be a composer rather than an instrumentalist. Saw The Steve Miller Band on one of the late night concert shows in the early '70's with Gerald Johnson playing part of "Popeye the Sailorman" during his "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" solo. MY GOD!!! Changed my life forever.
Yes. Played violin from age of 2, flute from the age of 6, piccolo/harpsichord/piano at the age of 8, at the age of 12 I finally managed to grow tall enough to play what I wanted, being the double bass, then at 16 my father took me to the bass/guitar event in London where I purchased my first bass guitar, without having played one before - the 5 string Hohner B-Bass. Purchased a Trace Elliot amp the same day, after approx. 6 months I gave the amp to my father and purchased an Ampeg SVT-2Pro with and Ampeg 8x10cab, the sound out of this combination was exquisite specifically when playing harmonics and dual chords... spent years overdriving sound desks since, never looked back, happy days.
I started the violin in 4th grade. The double bass came in 5th grade. There were 3 basses in my school district at the time.
I've played guitar since I was a teen, but in retrospect, I was always more oriented to the grooves of rock/pop songs. I remember listening to "Man In a Suitcase" by the Police and realizing how cool and important the bassline was underneath the syncopated ska guitar.
Three or four years ago, I bought a bass to facilitate my home recoring hobby. I still play both but find bass much more intuitive and fun.
Three or four years ago, I bought a bass to facilitate my home recoring hobby. I still play both but find bass much more intuitive and fun.
BassHappy
Supporting Member
Hey Eden
I wish I would have kept it. Back in those days (I was 12) I didn't know a thing about how to do a set-up, let along a "mod". I am not even sure if there were techs around that knew how to do a set-up in my town in 1964. I suppose there were a couple. This bass had terribly high action, which I appreciate now, it was perfect because it made me work so hard and it helped a lot in getting the strength I needed in my fingers. But it was also pretty difficult to play and at the time the cool factor was less then zero on the richter scale for a young budding rocker.
I sold it and bought a mustang-style Kalamazoo from my guitar player at the time. It was easy because he gave me payment terms. Soon after - I managed to find a completely trashed EB-0 and that was what I really wanted as a big Jack Bruce fan. I got the EB-0 for $50 bucks and it was completely trashed - decals, stickers, gouges, dents, scratches, chunks of wood missing. My Dad had an auto body shop and he stripped that baby down to the wood, patched it and filled it and sanded it baby butt smooth - then shot the whole bass - neck and all - in a beautiful jet black lacquer. They didn't make the EB-0 in black at that time, so it was unique and I loved that fact.
My bass player and engineering friend Craig Schertz installed a momentary switch with a new capacitor for me and told me to try a wah wah pedal clicked on and left in the "down" position. He was smart enough to know that the mudbuckers were not going to improve in the right way with basic EQ on the amps of the day, and with the new capacitor and the wah wah pedal - that EB-O was truly barking. Cut through the mix like a buzz saw. He brought over a Mustang bass to rehearsal one day later - and when we A-B'd them through my set up we all agreed that the EB-O blew it away. No contest.
Craig went on to work for Showco and mixed exclusively FOH and the "live" records for every Genesis tour. He also worked with everyone from ZZ Top, REO Speedwagon, Little Feat and even mixed a Carpenters tour - along with many, many others.....
It's a shame he is no longer with us....He was brilliant and one of the nicest guys ever....
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My aunt is a piano teacher. It took me approximately 5 min to give up on it but then again I was 4. She was a very old-school, super hardcor discipline teacher and it was very awkward because she wasn't anything like that with me and my brother outside of the piano lessons (my brother made it to a couple of years before he also gave up). After that I was in a few school choirs. I am not a particularly great singer but I can sing pretty ok within a respectable range. My cousin played guitar by it also felt way to complicated to me at the time. We had a music theory class in school from when I was 11 till I was 16 and I always did pretty well.
When I turned 12, I started getting a lot into rock, hard rock and metal music and I wanted to learn how to play the electric guitar so badly. I was offered lessons on bass for free, so I thought I would give it a try. My teacher was awesome and I enjoyed it a lot and I eventually learned how to play guitar on my own. I also learned how to play the drums as well.
But to be honest the first instrument I experimented a lot was a cheap yamaha electronic piano/synth. It was a bit toyish but it introduced to so many interesting musical concepts. It came with memory cards, and you could choose different instruments, some loops and there were even music theory quizzes. I think it was this that introduced me to programming samples, drums and synths I gues. Well this and an ancient programme called EJAY. Anyone remember that. Some of the drum stuff I program still surprise my band's drummer.
When I turned 12, I started getting a lot into rock, hard rock and metal music and I wanted to learn how to play the electric guitar so badly. I was offered lessons on bass for free, so I thought I would give it a try. My teacher was awesome and I enjoyed it a lot and I eventually learned how to play guitar on my own. I also learned how to play the drums as well.
But to be honest the first instrument I experimented a lot was a cheap yamaha electronic piano/synth. It was a bit toyish but it introduced to so many interesting musical concepts. It came with memory cards, and you could choose different instruments, some loops and there were even music theory quizzes. I think it was this that introduced me to programming samples, drums and synths I gues. Well this and an ancient programme called EJAY. Anyone remember that. Some of the drum stuff I program still surprise my band's drummer.
