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When did you become a bass player?
- Thread starter BarfanyShart
- Start date
I became a bass player at a very young age. My Dad played guitar and his best friend was a bass player. They would jam in the family living room. The first time I ever heard it and felt the bass in my chest, I knew I wanted to play it. I guess 6 or 7. I got my shot at it at 9 years and never looked back.
1982, when i pulled 2 strings off my ovation acoustic, a year later moved to NYC from Cali, where i worked in fashion district with my dad so i could save up and buy a cheap bass and amp to get me started. NYC was the best place to be for music back in the 80's
The moment the bass chose me....in 6th grade (1988) I was obsessed with Van Halen. I had talked my parents into renting an acoustic guitar and took some lessons, but the learning material was really corny and it didn’t stick. Mel Bay stuff. But then my headphones broke- early VH was recorded in stereo separation- one day I realized what the bass actually sounded like because all I was hearing was the channel that had bass, drums, and vocals and some guitar reverb. Within 6 months I convinced my parents I wanted to learn bass, and the got my a Hondo P (red sparkle) and a T-Power amp, and lessons with a local jazz bassist, who was awesome and taught me tons (Steve Varner). I stayed with him for 6 years until I moved to college to study jazz. Shout out to Michael Anthony for inspiring me to start!
1988, the first day I picked up the instrument. In that first day's session, the first time I held a bass ('77 Stingray fretless which I still have), my dad and I sat there for about four hours. He taught me pretty much everything I needed to know regarding theory and technique: what Western intervals and modes are, and how they are relative/constant and movable regardless of key/notes. Basic major, minor, 7th, and suspended chord theory. If you know those two things, you know 90 percent of the theory you need to be a bassist or guitarist who actually understands the instrument.
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People who have heard me play would probably tell you that I haven't become a bass player yet.
I started with bass at the age of 14 after seeing Steve Harris with Iron Maiden on the Killers tour.
I have had a lot of fun playing bass, but still can't play like Steve Harris...
I have had a lot of fun playing bass, but still can't play like Steve Harris...
When the other guitar players were better than me. And no one really wants to play bass. They say, "I play guitar, and a little harp and some bass. I sing a little too," like the bass is something to be thrown in. Like a side dish. Mashed potatoes with the steak.
Plus, I like what the bass contributes to the song. Playing bass is generally logical--arpeggios, chord tones, roots, patterns. Guitar is wild and wooly. So is some bass player's playing. I'm a "just play the damn bass line" player.
Plus, I like what the bass contributes to the song. Playing bass is generally logical--arpeggios, chord tones, roots, patterns. Guitar is wild and wooly. So is some bass player's playing. I'm a "just play the damn bass line" player.
As soon as the big bang happened. At that moment all particles to ever exist in this universe were created. They combined, re-combined, formed atoms, which formed molecules, and eventually over billions of years and an untold number of events I was eventually created.
The essence of me as a bass player in some way shape or form happened just after the big bang, I just had to wait a little while before I got my first bass.
The essence of me as a bass player in some way shape or form happened just after the big bang, I just had to wait a little while before I got my first bass.
Common thread here - I had been taking piano lessons for many years and wanted to start a band with my friends in middle school, but didn't have the creativity or resourcefulness to figure out how to work that into the context of a garage band. Given that my other friends who wanted to start a band were a very talented drummer and my best friend who dabbled in guitar, it seemed like the obvious choice that I would switch to bass. I've been doing it ever since.
Something I've always felt was weird about me as a player, though, is that if I don't have a band to play with, I don't touch it much. In college I played a lot for mental health reasons, but generally speaking if I don't have collaborators, my basses just gather dust except for occasional practice.
Something I've always felt was weird about me as a player, though, is that if I don't have a band to play with, I don't touch it much. In college I played a lot for mental health reasons, but generally speaking if I don't have collaborators, my basses just gather dust except for occasional practice.
I was handed a bass and was told in a James Cagney voice: "OK smart guy...we need a bass player seeee...learn Train Kept a Rollin and Big City Nights on this thing or else...seeeee..."
I started on guitar, and while I improved, it was something that sort of floated in and out of things I was focusing on. All the work I've done (film editing, baking, coffee roasting) all shared the same trait, repetitive tasks that require you to find a rhythm and get in a groove in your workflow. It was only when realizing that I came to understand I was playing the wrong instrument. Once I knew bass is where I should be at, I felt like a bass player before I even had a 4-stringer of my own. Once I did, there was no looking back!
Listening to Lee Sklar on James Taylor albums, among his many, many other artists, did it for me.
When in the 5th grade, after taking a music test that showed I had aptitude, I chose the string bass to learn. So glad I did.
