What made you pick up a bass? My thump got started by Twiggy Ramirez previously of Marilyn Manson. I just loved the huched over "chug-chug" and sleaze pouring out of his gritty style. Just fell in love then and there.
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What made you pick up Bass?
- Thread starter ZWARA
- Start date
I bought a guitar and got it for free.
Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 inspired me to want to pick the bass up. Mike Dirnt from Green Day inspired me to really dig into it
Les Claypool. I heard the Primus song "DMV" for the first time almost 30 years ago to the day....that did it for me.
Daughter wanted to play drums, so dad picked up the bass to jam with her. Fast forward a decade, daughter's a bass player in 3 different bands and dad buys/sells, does simple setups, for her collection of basses.
My brother and I formed a band in high school - he played drums and I played keyboards and sang. We had a guitarist and a bass player and practiced in my parents' basement. One day the bass player quit and left his bass in the basement. We decided we needed bass more than we needed keys so I became the bass player.
John
John
That’s awesome. First time I saw them was in some dive in Fort Lauderdale and the flyer said “Marylin Manson and the Spooky Kids present Cheese Grater Love Triangle” so I knew it was for me. There was a girl in a wire dog crate the whole set and the band members periodically kicked the cage. First rule of degrading someone in a dog cage and a never feel sorry for someone who volunteers to be locked in a dog cage. The show was total rock’n’roll. Must have been about 1990.
In 7th grade I was hanging around with some dumb friends listening to ZZ Top and Sex Pistols and NY Dolls albums and one of them said “we’re starting a band and you're the bass player because it has 4 strings like your violin”. He handed me some beater and I started monkeying around with it and broke a string. That was 1978 and still the only bass string I ever broke from playing.
Seeing Minutemen in high school is what flipped me to try to be a serious bass player.
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Because i can't carry a grand piano.
But i've carried a few bands... boom
But i've carried a few bands... boom
This album, although roughly more than a decade after its release.
I "started late" as it were. I would have been 19 or so.
As a kid the first band I was a fan of was KISS, this would have been around '75 or '76. In Junior High School, a friend of mine turned me onto Rush. But music was mostly background noise. Songs From the Wood was a positive revelation, musically speaking.
In any case, in the mid-80s, I was growing aware that (whatever the reason) the instrument that I paid the most attention to was always the bass. I did not know much about the instrument or music in general... Some would argue that not much has changed over the past 35 years but I digress...
However, 19-year-old me eventually sussed out that I was NOT listening primarily to whatever guitar part was being played.
Eventually, I got my hands on an old Fender Bullet and made my way forward from there.
I "started late" as it were. I would have been 19 or so.
As a kid the first band I was a fan of was KISS, this would have been around '75 or '76. In Junior High School, a friend of mine turned me onto Rush. But music was mostly background noise. Songs From the Wood was a positive revelation, musically speaking.
In any case, in the mid-80s, I was growing aware that (whatever the reason) the instrument that I paid the most attention to was always the bass. I did not know much about the instrument or music in general... Some would argue that not much has changed over the past 35 years but I digress...
However, 19-year-old me eventually sussed out that I was NOT listening primarily to whatever guitar part was being played.
Eventually, I got my hands on an old Fender Bullet and made my way forward from there.
Larry Graham, Bootsy Collins, Stanley Clarke, Louis Johnson
Played tuba in the high school band. Funny, I did not start playing bass until 15 years later. I played some trumpet, banjo, (yeah, I know, I must of bumped my head), then acoustic guitar, throw some keys in the mix, I finally came to my senses and started playing bass. Funny, I agreed to play at a gig, leader said it is in 2 weeks, and I did not even own a bass. Got a Pawn shop fender p, borrowed a TNT, friend showed me how to tune it, showed me a few notes & patterns, & off I went. Didn't do too bad!
I was playing violin in Jr. High orchestra and the teacher needed an upright bass player. I switched. I doubt I'd still be playing violin if I hadn't switched.
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I had no choice, I'm simply made for it.
It kind of started when I was 3 or 4 years old. Every Saturday, my dad would take me to a local toy store to pick out a Hot Wheel or Matchbox car. I remember sitting on the passenger seat of his '72 Chevy pickup (no car seat and no seat belt...oh the horror!), listening to the radio. I don't know what the song was (but really believe deep down that it was Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain"). My dad called attention to the instrument playing and told me it was a bass guitar. After that, I noticed the bass in songs more.
Fast forward to age 17. One of my best friends announced at lunch one early October day that he had gotten a guitar and amp for his birthday in early May and had been taking lessons every since. My other best friend was already a heck of a singer (in choir and all that) and he said, "We should start a band! We just need drums and a bass player!" Since I had already been wanting a bass pretty badly for a long time, I said, "I'll cover the bass part." A month later, I bought my first bass, and after Christmas I bought my amp.
I've never looked back...
Fast forward to age 17. One of my best friends announced at lunch one early October day that he had gotten a guitar and amp for his birthday in early May and had been taking lessons every since. My other best friend was already a heck of a singer (in choir and all that) and he said, "We should start a band! We just need drums and a bass player!" Since I had already been wanting a bass pretty badly for a long time, I said, "I'll cover the bass part." A month later, I bought my first bass, and after Christmas I bought my amp.
I've never looked back...
I was 16 and our bass player went off to private school (I was one of two guitarists in the band). Someone had to do it. The other guitar player could play "faster" than I could and had great hair. So, bass it was, rather than start looking for another bass player.
‘My 6th grade teacher (a rather imposing ex professional football player) said he needed me to play bass in his polka band. I’m not sure if it was a question, request or an order, but I did the gig. Apparently he was happy because he told my school band director I played bass for him. The Band director started getting charts with bass parts which started in middle school, and by the time I was a junior, I was asked to join a band I’m still in 52 years later.
I've been playing guitar since my early 20's. One day I was at a buddies barbeque (there were a few musicians there). They decided to jam. We had a drummer, a keyboard player, and like 5 guitarists. So I put down the guitar, walked over and picked up a bass in the corner of his studio and plugged in.
That was 10 years ago. I've been hooked ever since.
That was 10 years ago. I've been hooked ever since.
I played violin in 7th and 8th grade, but I wanted to play rock and roll. I figured the bass was a four string instrument also....
- Jan 1, 2014
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- Decendant from the Clovis culture. "Emitting that wonderful bass effect since 1970".
When I was 6 or 7 years old I was in a church with a very large pipe organ. the organist played this:
I've been hooked on big assed loud bass ever since.
I've been hooked on big assed loud bass ever since.
