I fret all the notes sharp
silly little weak babby strings.
Try mandolin - then you've got twice the string and a lot less space to press down in!
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Was Bass your first instrument?
- Thread starter WashburnAB95
- Start date
Try mandolin - then you've got twice the string and a lot less space to press down in!
I "played" clarinet for two weeks. Didn't like it. Then got a bass and knew that was the one. Never looked back!
Musically, I got my start in 3rd grade on a lap steel guitar that my teacher brought into our classroom. We used to have a lot of indoor recess due to rain and just out curiosity I would spend all recess messing around with the lap steel. My teacher thought enough of me to bring in some songbooks and give me lessons during lunch on those rainy days. My parents ended up buying one for me at a pawn shop and I played until I was about 12 and took up drums.
I switch to drums when the family was watching the Muppet Show and I saw Buddy Rich and was just amazed at his playing, it was at that moment I decided to become a drummer. My parents wanted no part of me playing drums and the noise, so I used my savings to buy a used Tama kit with the money I had been saving for a to buy a dirt bike. Drumming lasted until I graduated high school and joined the Air Force, where transporting a drum kit around the world and keeping it in the dorms just wasn't possible although I continued to mess around with drums at the rec centers on base for a few years.
Around 1987-88, I loaned a guy some money so he could see Motley Crue, Whitesnake, and Poison in Oakland with a used Fender Strat as collateral, he never bothered paying me back and I kept the guitar. A neighbor in the dorms was giving me lessons, but I never really had a passion for guitar. Any interest in guitar quickly faded when my friend died in a boating accident and I gave the guitar to my brother as a gift and to this day it his main guitar.
Many years later after getting married, raising a couple kids and setting up and selling two small computer businesses, I had my midlife crisis and decided to pick up a bass. I had been thinking about picking up another instrument, but was undecided until I went and visited my parents and was helping clean out the garage to give to Goodwill when we stumbled across an old LaserDisc player and a bunch of discs which included Exit...Stage Left. I was allowed to take the player and all the discs home with me. When I got home and watched it for the first time in almost 20 years I knew exactly what instrument I wanted to play. Three weeks later I had me a new bass and I have been playing ever since.
I switch to drums when the family was watching the Muppet Show and I saw Buddy Rich and was just amazed at his playing, it was at that moment I decided to become a drummer. My parents wanted no part of me playing drums and the noise, so I used my savings to buy a used Tama kit with the money I had been saving for a to buy a dirt bike. Drumming lasted until I graduated high school and joined the Air Force, where transporting a drum kit around the world and keeping it in the dorms just wasn't possible although I continued to mess around with drums at the rec centers on base for a few years.
Around 1987-88, I loaned a guy some money so he could see Motley Crue, Whitesnake, and Poison in Oakland with a used Fender Strat as collateral, he never bothered paying me back and I kept the guitar. A neighbor in the dorms was giving me lessons, but I never really had a passion for guitar. Any interest in guitar quickly faded when my friend died in a boating accident and I gave the guitar to my brother as a gift and to this day it his main guitar.
Many years later after getting married, raising a couple kids and setting up and selling two small computer businesses, I had my midlife crisis and decided to pick up a bass. I had been thinking about picking up another instrument, but was undecided until I went and visited my parents and was helping clean out the garage to give to Goodwill when we stumbled across an old LaserDisc player and a bunch of discs which included Exit...Stage Left. I was allowed to take the player and all the discs home with me. When I got home and watched it for the first time in almost 20 years I knew exactly what instrument I wanted to play. Three weeks later I had me a new bass and I have been playing ever since.
leadfingers
Two decades of lead guitar before finding my way.
Suppose the good old recorder was first (had forgotten about that unit I saw it listed in the thread) 
, then trombone throughout school.
After that it was a couple of decades playing guitar in and out of various bands, and then I too came over to the dark side.
Think I've finally found home.
, then trombone throughout school.After that it was a couple of decades playing guitar in and out of various bands, and then I too came over to the dark side.
Think I've finally found home.
I started off with alto saxophone. I had an elective credit to fill my senior year of high school (1990) and took beginning band. Gave me a starting point/foundation to build on. The sax wasn't "rock n' roll" enough for me so I decided to pick up bass ( )to compliment my brother on drums (he'd played since 8th grade).
)to compliment my brother on drums (he'd played since 8th grade).
Started on violin in like 2nd or 3rd grade in school and continued (or was forced by my parents to continue) thru 9th grade. Switched to bass in 10th grade (after a lot of pleading with my folks so I could play a cooler instrument!)
I played keyboard/piano first, but had a teacher at school who was REALLY creepy and put me off. Then we had a music recital in Year 8 (8th Grade? Don't understand the American system, but I was 13) where he wanted everyone to play classical music, and I had been learning bass for about 6 months before and blew everyone away with Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine with the infamous line "F*ck you I won't do what you tell me". Ah, my rebellious youth...shocked everyone, and cemented my love of the instrument. 
I'm not sure I actually played any instruments before bass, but I tried trumpet in the 5th grade then the sax in the 6th grade and finally guitar as a freshman in HS. Picked up the bass at 16 and that was the one that I stuck with.
Nope. I attempted guitar, violin, drums (my brother had a drumset that he never played) and trombone.
I was actually pretty good at trombone but was too nervous to do playing tests in front of everyone, so I quit band so I wouldnt fail sixth grade.
It took me a while to figure out that bass was my niche, and that was after I had tried and failed at that too.
I was actually pretty good at trombone but was too nervous to do playing tests in front of everyone, so I quit band so I wouldnt fail sixth grade.
It took me a while to figure out that bass was my niche, and that was after I had tried and failed at that too.
