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What made you take up bass?

#141
Seems like there was another thread like this, so here's the short version.

When I was 12, I rebelled against piano lessons. When I was 15, I decided to become a bassist. So I waited 40 years and then bought a bass. (And then another, and another, a couple more...)

So far: nine months of hanging out on TB and practicing or at least playing bass daily, seven months of weekly lessons, three months in the bassist's chair at church. Lovin' it baby!!! :bassist:
 
#142
I wanted to play in a band when I was about 17. I tried out guitar first because I had Eddie Van Halen's music on my mind. But I really hated the skinny strings, little body on a guitar. I say a Def Leppard video - "Foolin" - I think it was and realized that I wanted to play bass. As I learned bass, I payed little attention if any to learning D. Leppard songs but Zep instead and quite a bit of blues. Years later I only play bass and to this day I still don't like guitar for the same reasons. Bass feels and sounds much better to me. I've evolved to enjoy the bass more than ever. And, odd as it might sound, playing bass fills that part of me that nothing or nobody else in life can.
 
#143
One word. Claypool. I learned guitar first but i didn't like it for two reasons. One, was the strings were all to close together, Second i didn't like the pick. Plus i've always really liked to be percussive and with guitar i really couldn't do that. but since picking up a bass(2 1/2 years ago) I love it, i listened to a lot of Tool which really got me into the sound and then Came Les and i couldn't believe what he tearned the Bass into. Ever since then i've been straight hooked.
 
#144
RonChase said:
Erring ready to snooze and having pillow talk with my wife(we are both busy bassists)she asks what makes people play bass and how many of you started on guitar so I thought I would take a
Poll as for me I do play guitar and am a singer songwriter but most of my calls or work are people looking for singing bassist, I did jump to bass in the 80s from guitar but I always loved bass and took it serious, I guess my reasons are many. I did initially do it for the loot and it seems I get in better bands a a bassist ( which tells you about my guitar playing) plus I do like to develop songs and play all the instruments , once the song is out I get hired gun musicians but what drew my peers to become bassists?
Click to expand...


Woah... your wife plays bass? :bassist:


So.... Who's the better Bassist?



My dad played bass and I used to sneak his basses out of the closet and play until one day he came home and caught me with a 60's Fender Musicmaster Bass jamming in my room, and he opened the door to see what was going on and said "Go for it!" :bassist:


that was 17 or so years ago...
 
#146
I have cited McCartney as my main inspiration before, and that's basically true, but he isn't what really made me notice the bass.

I heard three players with amazing tone and extremely infectious bass lines that made me wonder - what instrument is that? Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie, and Jack Casady.
 
#148
When I played cello I noticed that Violists were in great demand because no one wanted to play that instrument. Google viola jokes.

When I took up rock I applied that lesson. Play the instrument no one wants to play and you'll always be in demand.

I like it a lot too.
 
#149
I was playing guitar for about 3 years, I made a couple of really good friends that were guitarists and pretty dam good, much better than me. We were all metal heads too! They convinced me to pick up a bass and I have not put it down since! I am no longer a metal head either haha. The more and more I have played my influences and style keep getting broader. The bass is just so natural for me!
 
#151
My family members were all musicians. I was an artist and went to Art School and didn't play an instrument. So at 20 I took up the bass because I felt drawn to it and wanted to fit in with my family. I'm the only one still playing music lol. Although I do have a cousin in Berkley studying sax.
 
#152
basically, I heard Queens Another One Bites the Dust and that was it. My uncle Will also played double bass in jazz groups around town. After that, I just started noticing the bass in all the music I liked. I was listening to Rush, Iron Maiden, Styx, Black Sabbath, as well as jazz.

I already had been drumming since first grade, and dad was also a drummer in jazz bands around town. I was always fascinated by the walking bass lines in jazz and how they combined with the drums to just make the music roll

plus, bass players are the introverts of the music world, and that matched my personality
 
#154
For me, it began in 4th or 5th grade when our school's music teacher asked me to sing a low-end part (or what counts for "low" for a 10 year-old boy, anyway) in the annual Christmas chorus.

She was a good teacher, and made learning a counterpoint harmony really fun and interesting.

Then, around age 12 or 13, I tried to get into electric guitar like all the other kids, but I hated it. I remembered how much fun I had working out the harmonies in chorus, so that meant I'd try the bass.

Then I heard Roundabout and 2112, and that was it. I was hooked.
 
#155
I was wandering around YouTube and found a video where a guy was playing a James Jamerson lick. That roused my interest. I was playing fife in my elementary school, and I realized how boring it was. I dropped the class and three years later, I got my first bass in ninth grade.
 

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