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When did you become a bassist?

#41
In about 1967 at school a bunch of kids wanted to start a band. At the time I wanted to be a drummer but one kid already had a drum kit. Every kid and his dog had a guitar and not being able to sing I picked bass. Couldn't afford to buy one so built one in woodwork class, it was a real dog but good enough to get me started. The school band started out with about 5 guitarists but soon we got down to one, it lasted until 1970 when 2 of the members went off to college.

I then joined a band with a booking agent doing 2 or 3 gigs a week, after about 6 months of that I was starting to feel that I was maybe a bassist as opposed to a bass owner.

I'm still gigging and learning. When I stop learning, or enjoying playing, it is time to give up.
 
#42
i've been a 'card carrying' musician since childhood. and even though i've played other instruments i always knew that i was not, say, a "pianist." it wasn't until my mid 20's (took up bass) that i began to study an instrument with the fervor that produces 'players'. as i acquired skills and began gigging (getting paid!) on bass i realized that it was the instrument with which i would make the most impact on my own musical journey, i.e., that i would not be playing anything else for a living. i realized that as a bassist i could progress, musically. so it was then: about age 27 or so, playing bebop jazz with some players who were more than willing to school me in the art of bass playing.

still struggling to get things right (now after 40 years) but a bassist for almost all of that time. no matter what: we are all still 'students' of the instrument: there will always be new things for each of us to learn.
 
#43
IDK... Tried guitar at 10-11 y.o. couldn't form chords easily so switched to bass at 11-12, was playing in bands (on
stage) by 13. Really cut my teeth as the bassist for a house band (classic and southern rock mostly) for a bar at
16.... I think it was that experience, playing a live gig 1-2 week for the better part of 3 years that really made me
develop my skills (and confidence) as a bassist. No substitute for experience...the other band members were all
considerably older than me (in their mid and late 20's at the time) and seasoned musicians (who happened to
need a bassist. We were introduced by a mutual aquantaince) who took me under their wing. The fun part for
me at the time was that part of our weekly "pay" was free booze, and lots of older ladies hitting on me!
AAahhhh, the good old days!
 
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#46
1964, Freshman in H.S. first gig was at a Moose Club (Guitarists' father was member) We played 3 songs, I only knew 2 of them. They passed a hat and we got some money. We played the same 3 songs again. By the end of the night I knew the 3rd song. The summer of '65 we were the back-up band for 'The Shindig All-Star Review" A 3 month, (7 to 8 shows a week) 13 state plus Canadian tour.

We weren't that good but rock bands were the rage AND in short supply.
 
#47
T Bay said:
I know we all keep learning as long as we live, but when did you consider yourself as being able to play as opposed to just learning? I am still well in the learning phase but wondered what others thought? So was it when you could play most/ anything put in front of you? When you could hear a track and play it back? When you wrote your first song? When you joined your first band? When you played your first gig?
Click to expand...

It started when my instructor was moving away and he assured me I don't need to continue taking lessons he said " You got it man, so get out there and start doing something with it" Before that having him giving lessons twice a week for many years I was in a comfort zone. It fact I did not take his advice at first and continue private lesson with a not as qualified instructor and found himself realizing I was as good if not better than this new guy who was teaching me at the point I was sure
 
#49
6 days after I bought my first bass, I auditioned for a band. Ibdidn't get the gig, but... on the strength of that audition, a year later the guitarist in the band asked me to join the band. I became a bass player at that time.
 
#50
Not to start an argument of semantics.
But I believe that if you're doing something then that's what you are - albeit not a 'professional' until you're getting paid.

IE - Playing bass? You're a bassist. Writing software? You're a software developer.
 
#51
The defining moment for me was when I tried out for my first band. I met the guys on craigslist and had no idea what I was walking into. I was so scared I was going to get blown out of the water. I walked in and set up, and the drummer said "Hey man, you need a pick?" and I said no. He laughed and said "alright man, I hope you can play fast".

And then I slayed.

Blew them all out of the water from a playing standpoint. I was hired on the spot. I remember leaving and just smiling going "Ok, I can do this."

And I look back on that now and see how far I've come as a player. Playing bass has been the most rewarding journey I've embarked on so far.
 
#52
You never escape the learning phase. You always want to learn and add something new and fresh to your playing - otherwise it really gets boring.

I have realised I have started playing a bass guitar when I started to fill the roll in a band that I was supposed to fill - bass.

You can play a bass guitar traditionally like an upright (walking bass) or in beatles style or whatever, or even take your role as a deep electric guitar (John Entwistle The Who for example).

How do you learn you can play the bass without needing to learn more? You don't. You always hear somebody else out there that plays something smarter than you would at the moment which hopefully motivates you to learn more and more and more.

This may not be applicable to a rock band or punk band or whatever, but in a complex music like Jazz, Classical music etc. that really shows as the "unfortunate" road you have to walk everyday. There is never a time when you can say - that's it, I'm done learning, I can play anything I want the way I want to, time to play gigs only and spend the rest of the time playing golf or something.

If this happens you ran out of ideas, not the other way around.
 
#55
In middle school a classmate I sat next to told me he played guitar, and I wanted a guitar so bad. After I finished 8th grade I found a cheap electric guitar beginner set and played as much as I could. When it came time to form a band that summer, I recruited my 2 friends who played guitar and drums, and we decided to look for a bassist later (no one played bass in middle school lol). I played lead and sang with the other guitarist playing acoustic guitar and my drummer friend obviously playing drums. As much fun as guitar was, I realized I was into heavier, lower sounds. My favorite parts of songs weren't the guitar solos, they were breakdowns and isolated bass lines (and the occasional metal down-tuned guitar). throughout my freshman year we couldn't find a bassist so I told my bandmates that I would play bass on my guitar until we found someone. During the summer after freshman year, I was hanging out with a friend and his girlfriend and his girlfriends house. Her dad was in a touring band in the 80s and had a studio in the basement. He had a bass hanging on the wall and I asked if I could play it and she said I could, so I looked up the tabs for Longview and once I played it I fell in love. I told myself that I would save up money to buy a bass and focus my time on that. A few years later, after playing bass on the guitar, I finally bought my first P-bass and I have never looked back.


A short time afterwards I told myself that I would not focus on playing guitar, and that I would devote all my time to becoming the best bassist I could be. After years of messing around with root notes and simple bass lines, I decided to study the fretboard and how each note works with each other, which led me down a path to become the player I am today.

TLDR: I got a guitar when I was 13 and eventually decided to pick up the bass. The first time I played a bass I was hooked, and when I finally got my own bass I never looked back!
 
#56
I thought I was amazing when I won the Mars Music (remember that store?) bass competition when I was 13 (but it was only for players 13-18). I played Jaco's "Continuum". In retrospect, I must've been terrible. I've you've ever googled a Continuum tab and found one riddled with mistakes... that's mine from when I was 13. I played all those lovely mistakes in that "competition."

I considered myself a "real" musician/bassist when I realized I could play mostly anything I wanted to play. I could read anything I needed to read. I was winning every audition I went for. I could show up to gigs with a Real Book and knock it out. Things just made sense to me and I realized... you know... ah, I get it now. Of course even then I was probably only 17-18.

Now I'm... an undisclosed number of years older... and still learning.
 
#58
started on piano at age 6 ( 1963ish ) ... trumpet at 10 ... classical gtr 12 ... elec gtr/bass 13 ...

already knowing how to read and having some theory ... i got a grip with stuff very quickly ... started learning my Grand Funk , Deep Purple , Uriah Heep , etc type tunes ...

started playing pick up gigs at 15ish, reading charts playing with some local jr/sr high band instructors ... and started my first high school rock band ... and started into jazz piano/theory at 16 ...

never really wrote any originals that started with a bass part ... i write mostly on piano , a little on guitar .
 
#59
Right away. i had joined my high school jazz band (or what we thought what jazz was at that time) on wash tub bass and in search of clear pitches purchased my first, paper route funded bass, an almighty Hondo. Having to play the tune with the band drove practice. Now, 30 years later, the more I develop as a player, and the more the playing field opens up, practicing and learning have widened massively also. There is more and more to learn, never less.
 
#60
Listening to Mel Schacher of GFRR was what got me started listening closely to bass. Never did anything about it though, I just played my guitar. Many years later I bought a Hwy 1 JB for my daughter to learn on, and when she didn't stick to it I started practicing on it. A few years and a divorce later, playing at open jams, I played a lot of bass with a lot of players and it led to a gig with a working band. Thanks Mel.
 

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