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What made you pick up Bass?
- Thread starter ZWARA
- Start date
I was promoting concerts because there was no live music where I lived (except for backyard parties). I had access to an auditorium. A guitar player asked me if he and his drummer could use the auditorium to audition bass players. So I would attend the auditions to let them in and close up when they were done. They auditioned a bunch of bass players but none of them were what they wanted. Eventually they said to me " why don't you play bass for us?" So, I got a bass and started learning. They were quite a bit older than me and obviously way more experienced musically so I didn't last long playing with them. But the hook was set and I kept at it.
A couple of teenagers from the U.S. were spending the summer on a remote Canadian island clearing land for one of their fathers who had bought property there. One was a drummer and one was a guitarist. I knew about five chords on guitar and was recruited to play bass. We couldn't even find a bass guitar anywhere to beg, buy, borrow or steal so we used a Harmony Meteor guitar and took the two high strings off. We rolled all the treble off the guitar and the amp too. Guitar player showed me bass lines on the remaining four strings. It was a start. I still use a couple of those licks 54 years later.
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Because the other kid knew a few chords on his guitar. So, I removed the 2 top skinny ones on mine, set the amp to clean and low and started playing it like a bass instead.
The bass players of the old Motown music. Could already play guitar, but, man, that bass work got to me. Would always turn up the bass on my parents record/radio large console player.
I've been a drummer for over 45 years and about a year ago decided I wanted to expand my musical experience and understanding by taking up a melodic instrument. I was interested in vibraphone (still am), but a MalletKat is absurdly expensive, especially compared to a decent Squier.
So, bass it was. Not to mention the fact that 45 years of drumming has made me appreciate what bass is all about.
Now I can fire myself.
So, bass it was. Not to mention the fact that 45 years of drumming has made me appreciate what bass is all about.
Now I can fire myself.
I grew up surrounded by all of the music coming down in the sixties. I was always most focused on what the bass was doing. My uncle showed me some of the basics on his '63 precision, and that was it. I traded my trombone for a Kingston violin bass so I could figure out how to play what was going around and what was in my head. I'm still at it...
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Back in the 60s when I started playing, guitar players were everywhere. If you played bass or keyboards, you could have your pick of gigs. So - I started playing bass and then keyboards.
I was a geek... an orchestra geek.
Played upright bass, and some guitar.
Middle school band instructor needed bass guitar and asked me if I wanted to play in the jazz band.
Said sure, and he taught me the basics on his pristine P-bass
I had to practice in the main band room because thats where the school PA was.
Girls sat around me watching me play.... (for as much as I sucked at the time... it was funny how in awe they were.)
As a 9th grader, played my first bar gig, and shortly there after, the ballroom circuit...(where all the high school girls went on the weekends and would tell me how they saw me in their classes at school).
So it's obvious... I play because I really liked that Pbass.
Played upright bass, and some guitar.
Middle school band instructor needed bass guitar and asked me if I wanted to play in the jazz band.
Said sure, and he taught me the basics on his pristine P-bass
I had to practice in the main band room because thats where the school PA was.
Girls sat around me watching me play.... (for as much as I sucked at the time... it was funny how in awe they were.)
As a 9th grader, played my first bar gig, and shortly there after, the ballroom circuit...(where all the high school girls went on the weekends and would tell me how they saw me in their classes at school).
So it's obvious... I play because I really liked that Pbass.
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My mom was a classical pianist, organist and classically trained mezzo soprano who could look at a music staff and hear all of the voices sing to her through the notes. My dad was a hillbilly.
we listened to music a lot in the family and I dug rock and roll. I tried guitar as a 12-year-old but it was just not me. I desperately wanted to play but I sucked.
As a sophomore in high school I checked out a band playing the football stadium and realized I could hear the notes the bass dude was laying down. I then realized all my favorite songs had bass up front (Joe Osborne, James Jamerson, Carl Radle) and so I snagged a cheap Epiphone 5120 with a replacement bridge and discovered I could play by ear.
That was 1972. Been playing and learning ever since
we listened to music a lot in the family and I dug rock and roll. I tried guitar as a 12-year-old but it was just not me. I desperately wanted to play but I sucked.
As a sophomore in high school I checked out a band playing the football stadium and realized I could hear the notes the bass dude was laying down. I then realized all my favorite songs had bass up front (Joe Osborne, James Jamerson, Carl Radle) and so I snagged a cheap Epiphone 5120 with a replacement bridge and discovered I could play by ear.
That was 1972. Been playing and learning ever since
it's kinda hard to play the bass without picking it up.. HAHA
I was the worst guitarist like Sid Vicious.. so fourstring P bass is was.
I was the worst guitarist like Sid Vicious.. so fourstring P bass is was.
Shake a tree around here and ten guitarists fall out of it, most with better chops than mine. But someone's always looking for a bass player so I added it to my routine a couple for years ago and have enjoyed the heck out of it ever since. Opens a lot of doors.
I played guitar in bands in my 20’s. Got out of music mostly as the kiddies were growing, then decided to form a dad band in my late 40’s. Turns out we were all guitar players, and I wasn’t the best one. I had a bass kicking around and volunteered. Really opened my eyes to the rhythm section and I started hearing bass in every song I’d never really paid attention to in the past. I can say it’s an addiction at this point. I belong to TB like a 12 step program, only you’re a bunch of enablers. It’s never been a particular bassist for me that got me hooked, just the instrument itself and where it sits in the mix.
All my friends were playing guitar and I thought bass would be easier since it has less strings...
My buddies, guitar & drums starting a group did.
I said I want to play guitar too. They said no we need a
bass. I said, "what's a bass"?
I said I want to play guitar too. They said no we need a
bass. I said, "what's a bass"?
