What changed your life(bass related only please:))

[tb4sbp]

For me it was not so much a piece of equipment but the application of theory
I started playing music when I was 5 or 6
My older brother got the music lessons and I was to wait and see if he would do well and then I could get lessons
Well he failed at music lessons and the acoustic guitar and Mel Bay book sat in the corner
I never cared for sports so while all my friends my age were off doing peewee whatever I was in my room with that acoustic and Mel Bay book learning scales and chord shapes
It fascinated me on how just changing the third down a half step could do so much! I read that book so many times!!
Then the bass found me at around 10 y/o and I quickly learned how to do chord shapes on it and all the best stuff from the acoustic that I learned could be applied
By the time I was 13-14 and entering high school I was in demand as a bass player as back then most kids were just getting into play an instrument but I had a couple of years on it
And I was doing more than just pumping out the root note (not that its a bad thing, I strongly believe in playin for the song)

Actually applying music theory to the best instrument on the planet has made my life so enjoyable in so many ways
I cannot imagine what I would be without it

 

[bonin in the boneyard]

Two things, putting flats on an acoustic, and YouTube.

I always thought I sounded like garbage and could never get excited about practicing or learning new songs. After switching to flats, hearing myself play got a lot more enjoyable, and my technique improved from the honest feedback from the instrument.

YouTube, and particularly bass covers and isolated tracks, made it easier for me to find songs to learn, and to learn a lot of songs quickly before I could get bored.

 

[SmokinJoe992]

I was about a year into learning how to play bass and was thinking about what kind of new gear I needed to sound better. Then I passed my supposedly "crappy" bass to the guitar teacher and he made it sound AWESOME!
It was then I truly understood how much more I could grow as a musician.

Yes, It is always irritating and enlightening when you let someone else play your bass and it sounds better when they are playing it.

 

[CryingBass]

In all seriousness, it was the SVT. I was playing in a band as a teenager with guys who were in their thirties. I was using a Peavey TKO and a DI box they provided.

Another local bassist had a blueline SVT and a rare skin disorder that was making it impossible for him to play. (Shaking his hand felt like grabbing a tree branch.)

I couldn't afford to buy the rig outright. So the band bought it and I gave them half my pay until it was paid off.

Standing in front of that wall if sound (literally) resonated with me. I played differently. I ACTED differently on stage. It changed everything.

Next thing you know I had long hair and a hot pink Kramer bass (this was 1896 or 87).

Now I'm almost 48. I hadn't owned an all-tube SVT in years. I got one a couple years ago. As you can see, my hair is growing out (top is tied back) and I just got this bass yesterday. (Not sure what my big hands are gonna do with it, but it'll be fun.)View attachment 3444451

Who's that masked man?

I have an X Factor in that color. That would look good on you two, er, too

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I gave up completely at one point. The tennis-elbow was crippling.
Another player showed me an exercise he'd learned at Victor Wooten's camp & I went from being able to play for 45 minutes to playing for 3 hours the next day.

add:

>>the exercise<<

 

[GreyBeard]

Hearing Jaco for the 1st time changed everything for me.

 

[Pings Bass]

1. learning to play arco (DB) (work in progress)
   
2. finally finding my sound with active H instruments (BG)
3. class D head with 1x12 neo cab

 

[spiritbass]

Dingwall basses and MAS cabs have changed my bass-playing life for the good.

 

[TheReceder]

2 things combined to create a massive issue.

1. A guitarist that continually expressed concern that I needed a backup bass. I'd gone nearly 40 years without a single problem with a bass I'd owned since 1976.
2. After not being a "Professional bassist" for more than 25 years, my wife agreed that any cash I earned playing music could be reinvested into music gear. ( I really have the perfect woman for me)

However, she has become much less tolerant. She won't even agree to us buying a bigger house to store my bass collection... Go figure. The guitarist... he hates the fact that I'll leave a Ric, MM Stingray, or vintage jazz at home and play the basses I like, no matter what they cost. Seems peavey basses are his kryptonite.

 

[LouBass]

For me it was the B string on a Moses Vertical Jump Bass. I bought the Moses on a lark and before that bass, I had no use for B strings, to the point where I had restrung the one 5 string I had to EADGC as the B was just horrificly floppy. Now I can't live without an earthquake inducing B string...

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

letting go of the concept that I "have to have my own rig at every show!!"

now all I bring is a bass and a pedalboard, and I'm actually fine with it.

 

[Nick von Nick]

Fretless - plain and simple. I borrowed a classmates in high school, almost twenty years ago, and it was like my hands melded perfectly with the instrument. That was my voice! My main bass is a fretless Lakland J-Sonic 5-String. The tone is amazing, the playing feels effortless, and the "Aztec Gold" finish (which may as well be called "Copper Penny") is icing on the cake.
~Nick von Nick

 

[Acoop]

Life changing?
When I got serious about playing the bass.
Jan 1972 ... I was in my late teens and working, unhappily in a steel mill and searching for something that would make me happy. About 4-years before that I had bought a cheap Japanese bass and spent sometime with it and I liked it. ... So, I went out and bought a used 66 P-bass for $275 and spent the next few years working 8-hours a day, practicing 8-hours and sleeping what was left. ... Once I got that together I decided this is what I'm going to do and l retired from doing jobs that left me unhappy. ... A few years after that I started making a living at music. There were times I took day jobs to get over rough patches, but, they never left me unhappy because they were temporary till I was back doing music. ... That's how bass changed my life.

 

[Stringly]

Learning to play bass opened up some music genres I wouldn't have otherwise listened to or appreciated, like funk, hiphop, etc.

 

[Plectrum72]

Talkbass

1) Showed me there's a whole lot I thought I knew that I didn't know as well as I thought (music theory, matching cabs, impedance, gear variety, techniques, etc.)

2) Inspired me to start doing some independent research beyond what was gleaned from thread discussions.

Gamechanger for me. I don't claim to know it all, but I know a whole hellava lot more now about a variety of bass related things than I did before TB.

 

[Keger Jupit]

In all seriousness, it was the SVT. I was playing in a band as a teenager with guys who were in their thirties. I was using a Peavey TKO and a DI box they provided.

Another local bassist had a blueline SVT and a rare skin disorder that was making it impossible for him to play. (Shaking his hand felt like grabbing a tree branch.)

I couldn't afford to buy the rig outright. So the band bought it and I gave them half my pay until it was paid off.

Standing in front of that wall if sound (literally) resonated with me. I played differently. I ACTED differently on stage. It changed everything.

Next thing you know I had long hair and a hot pink Kramer bass (this was 1896 or 87).

Now I'm almost 48. I hadn't owned an all-tube SVT in years. I got one a couple years ago. As you can see, my hair is growing out (top is tied back) and I just got this bass yesterday. (Not sure what my big hands are gonna do with it, but it'll be fun.)View attachment 3444451

You got your 80's bass!! Sweet!

 

[Jakeman]

1) Fretless
2) All-tube amps
3) Flats
4) Pedals

 

[Basshappi]

Jaco.
Hearing his solo album when I was 14 literally changed the course of my life.

 

[Gunga Din]

Stopping playing slap. Changed my style and my tone. Oh, and working ghost notes into my left hand style.

 

[Keger Jupit]

1) Read an interview with Tony Levin. He was asked about his particular style, & how did he come up the lines he played. He answered (paraphrasing here) "I try to play the big note." Took me a few years to figure out what he meant...actually, what it meant to me, I guess. I had a fun journey learning.

2) 1994, I think, I'm talking to dUg Pinnick after a King's X show. (He was Doug then) I'm picking his brain on how they are such a tight band on stage. He gave me one piece of advice that now, seems like a no-brainer, but was a revelation then.

Doug: "Do you know your parts? I mean you know what you're going to play, right?"
Me: "Yeah, of course." (slightly puzzled)
Doug: "Well so do I. I don't need to hear my parts, at least not nearly as much as I need to hear Jerry & Ty. I keep myself turned down in the monitors, & have our sound guy turn them up. That way we aren't just playing the songs, I'm also able to respond to what they're doing at any given moment. That's one of the big differences between being a pro, or being in a garage band where everybody just cranks & goes for it."

Tried it in my then band's next practice, & it made a noticeable difference. Been doing it ever since...

Thanks Doug, who is now dUg! Thanks Tony!