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What made you take up bass?
- Thread starter RonChase
- Start date
I can honestly say I remember the exact moment I thought to myself "I want to learn to play the bass". I was a teenager sitting at a friends house doing what many teenagers tended to do when no one was home watching tons of music videos and concert footage he had on his computer when we came across this gem.
Les Claypool (which would lead me to discover Primus) playing The Awakening (which would lead me to discover The Reddings, Otis Redding, Motown, Jamerson, etc...). I bought a bass a week after that and started learning mostly just bass heavy songs. Then started learning random songs I knew, then started playing with other people, joined bands, recorded songs, played gigs...
Been playing now for about 6 years and have admired many different players and styles but I can still listen to that solo everyday and be blown away every time.
Les Claypool (which would lead me to discover Primus) playing The Awakening (which would lead me to discover The Reddings, Otis Redding, Motown, Jamerson, etc...). I bought a bass a week after that and started learning mostly just bass heavy songs. Then started learning random songs I knew, then started playing with other people, joined bands, recorded songs, played gigs...
Been playing now for about 6 years and have admired many different players and styles but I can still listen to that solo everyday and be blown away every time.
In 1965 we wanted to start a band I wanted to play keyboards but they were too expensive so I bought a used Kingston bass and amp for $20 and I was a bass player.
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
I wanted to learn guitar but there were too many strings... 4 strings on a bass? Don't mind if I do... blam... learned to play the guitar by learnign to play the bass first. But now i just love the bass better.
Because my parents didn't want to buy me a drum set, and because Krist Novoselic once said "guitar players are a dime and a dozen". And Roger Waters, Peter Hook and Chris Squire
I started with violin in 6th grade but never stuck with it. I worked through High School and saved up for my first guitar, a Dean strat knockoff and got hooked. I played for hours till I went to college and mostly quit then because I was too busy. Well, after I left college I started studying classical guitar. I decided I needed to be performing again so I found a band that needed a bassist so I said "Why not?" I borrowed a bass, auditioned, and rocked it so I went and bought my own bass. That's when I realized that the bass was something different from a simple guitar, it was a whole other beast. I dove in and started devouring it. Now? I still have my old Dean guitar but I haven't played it in years.
I play bass for at least 3-4 hours a day in two different groups and fill in on electric and upright for several other groups. I still love classical guitar and what it taught me about music, but the bass is something more, the perfect union between rhythm and melody.
I play bass for at least 3-4 hours a day in two different groups and fill in on electric and upright for several other groups. I still love classical guitar and what it taught me about music, but the bass is something more, the perfect union between rhythm and melody.
I'm sure I answered this in a similar thread before.
What made me take up bass was when my mother told me I wouldn't be able to practice the drums at home...
Gene Simmons slide in Cold Gin on Kiss Alive was an instigator to me going to the bass. My brother had already called 'guitar!'.
What made me take up bass was when my mother told me I wouldn't be able to practice the drums at home...
Gene Simmons slide in Cold Gin on Kiss Alive was an instigator to me going to the bass. My brother had already called 'guitar!'.
Drummer for 15 years and took a sabbatical for 8. When I finally felt like I wanted to get back into playing I thought I'd try something different. I always loved the sound of bass so I figured I'd give it a go. So here it is, about 2 1/2 years since I've started seriously studying and at this point I'm pretty sure I like playing bass more than drums! 
In the Spring of 1975, when I was 13, I played soccer and ended up breaking my ankle. I was home from school and pretty bored, so I borrowed my friend's Kingston bass, and ended up buying it for $15. Shortly after, I found a small Kingston bass amp in the classifieds, and I was on my way...
I have a Kingston bass! Don't know what possesed me to buy it. I never play it. It just thought it looked neat with a short scale and fat neck and a mudbucker pup.
I wish it were something loftier, but all I wanted was to be Gene Simmons. Similar to eriky4003, I just thought the slide at the beginning of Deuce from KISS Alive was so powerful. At the time it had nothing to do with playing tasty parts or anything like that; I just wanted to look cool - and after all these years I still haven't even gotten that part down.
- Jan 12, 2011
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- Disclosures
- Artist, Trickfish Amplification Bartolini Emerging Artist, MTD Kingston Emerging Artist. Artist, Tsunami Cables
Started on drums at age 11. It was the bass though that was doing it for me. Thanks to Bootsy Collins (when he played for James Brown Give it up or Turn it Loose) and Larry Graham (Can you handle it and Hair) I still play bass to day. 42 years and still kicking azz.
I was originally a trumpet player, and somehow,,. Can't remember exactly how, but I watched Victor Wooten playing You Can't Hold No Grooove... I found the bass day video, and was blown away. It is a great circle, because now, for my final exams I am playin that exact song!
Just before my senior year of high school (35 years ago), when my older brother went back to college, he left a crappy Hofner copy on my bed with a note saying "learn to play this". I spent the school year teaching myself, and joined his band the next summer.
I played Saxophone, about 20 years ago. As a Saxophone player in a rock / pop setting, you have some free time between your hooklines and your solos. Aside from singing dubious backing vocals, hacking away on cheap percussion instruments and pretending to be the sound guy, I spent this time watching the other guys in the band doing their thing.
Somehow it was always the bass player I watched the most. I have always been a groove player, even with the Saxophone, and I found the triple function of the bass (groove, harmony, melody) fascinating. Plus, the bassist gets to play ALL THE TIME, no boring pauses! And the audience doesn't really notice what you're doing, so you don't need to practice much. Just kidding.
Then the usual stuff happened. Work, business, family. No more music for years. When I decided to take it up again about three years ago, the Saxophone was not an option, because you can't play quietly with headphones (kids are asleep when I have time to play). So I remembered my fascination with the bass, bought one and began noodling around. It worked, it was fun and, just like some others, I regret a bit that I didn't do this earlier.
Last year, I began subbing in a local funk band. After four weeks I had my first gig, playing a whole set of stuff that was way over my head, which was great. It still is. Found Talkbass much earlier and learned a lot, e.g. the meaning of GAS. Thanks for that.
Somehow it was always the bass player I watched the most. I have always been a groove player, even with the Saxophone, and I found the triple function of the bass (groove, harmony, melody) fascinating. Plus, the bassist gets to play ALL THE TIME, no boring pauses! And the audience doesn't really notice what you're doing, so you don't need to practice much. Just kidding.
Then the usual stuff happened. Work, business, family. No more music for years. When I decided to take it up again about three years ago, the Saxophone was not an option, because you can't play quietly with headphones (kids are asleep when I have time to play). So I remembered my fascination with the bass, bought one and began noodling around. It worked, it was fun and, just like some others, I regret a bit that I didn't do this earlier.
Last year, I began subbing in a local funk band. After four weeks I had my first gig, playing a whole set of stuff that was way over my head, which was great. It still is. Found Talkbass much earlier and learned a lot, e.g. the meaning of GAS. Thanks for that.
My friends and I wanted to start a band in High School. I first tried to play guitar because I loved Van Halen I. But I really didn't like the skinny little strings on a guitar. Then I saw the video for "Fooling" from Def Leppard and noticed a larger guitar. My friend said, "that's a bass..." I bought a bass and combo and that's it. None of those friends play music any longer.
