When did you get into bass playing and why?

[Miker27607]

It was 1983, and I was 13. My two closest friends were musicians. One was a drummer and the other was a guitarist. We spent a lot of time listening to music, like Hendrix and The Who. The guitarist friend took me to the guitar shop, took a Fender Precision down off the wall, and handed it to me. Once I heard that big low E note, I fell in love on the spot. 30 years later, I still love it. Good bass players make everybody else in the band sound magical.

 

[Scarey Larry]

Started age 41 migrating from trumpet and playing 20 years now. Started because I had always wanted too. Influence, Jack Bruce and specifically John Entwhistle on The Who's 5:15 from Quadrapenia, but many others. Had always been around music, good ol' Dad, loved Big Band and Dixie land, and I enjoy most other types of music as well. For me, the jazzier the better.

 

[sirplabassalot]

Steve Harris is the soul reason why I started when I was a teenager a few years later when I listened to Les Claypool I got a bit obsessed!

 

[hintz]

My story is similar to OP's, I started playing in 94 at age of 11 inspired by some late 80's/early 90's hard rock and metal...

My father was playing bass since the 70's, so id always be at his rehearsals, though he did make me learn a few riffs on acoustic guitar before buying me a $80 "gremlin" bass(smoke on the water and ironman), the first thing I learned on bass was "money" by pink Floyd and basic walking blues though I really just wanted to play Metallica, Megadeth, etc, so I used a pick...

I slowly got better, ditched the pick and started gigging on high school and have been playing ever since!!

 

[crucislancer]

Late 1987/early 1988, I had recently moved to Rohnert Park (hour north of San Francisco) and was in my sophomore year at the high school. I started hanging out with a senior named Chris, who is a guitarist and is a huge George Lynch fan. Naturally he introduced me to Dokken and bands like that. Around the same time, I started hanging out at the local second run movie theater in town on Saturday nights, and another guy around my age named J.T. would hang out there. Also a guitarist, he was into Metal in a big way, so he introduced me to some of his favorites, like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and so on. I found myself listening to Iron Maiden more than anything else, and at one point I found the concert video for Live After Death at the record store. I saw the manic energy of Steve Harris in that concert, and thought that it might be fun to play bass. Around the same time, either before or after I saw that video, I really don’t remember, J.T. mentioned that he wanted to start a band and maybe I could learn how to play bass. So, I asked my parents if they would buy me a bass and amp, and they did, getting me an Epiphone Power Bass and a Gorilla 50 watt combo for Christmas of 1988. Haven’t stopped since.

I run into Chris every now and then, he plays guitar in a cover band, or at least he was. We didn’t really hang out much after he graduated, but he attended one of my gigs about 8 years ago out of the blue. I haven’t seen J.T. in 20 years, the last time was when I went to Round Table to pick up a pizza and he was a delivery driver. We had a huge falling out in 1989, so we never did start that band, but I knew plenty of musicians in the area so it wasn’t a huge deal.

 

[Laklandfan]

Friends wanted to do a talent show in middle school. Obviously everybody wanted to play guitar, my dad is a guitar player so I actually had some around the house. I got tired of arguing so I was like screw it I'll play bass. Honestly up until that point I couldn't even tell you what the bass was doing or sounded like on a recording. I've talked to other non musicians about this phenomenon. To learn how to play I actually bought Led Zeppelin I and II. Then I was like wow bass is so cool. Of the original band, I think I'm the only who keep playing.

 

[two fingers]

I played low brass in school. A age 14 (mid 80s) by band director called me into his office and told me he wanted me to play tuba in the jazz band (as we had no bassist). I told him "Thanks but no thanks ks. That ain't cool."

Couple weeks later he called me into his office and said "See that? You have about 6 weeks to be ready on it." It was a brand new P bass and a Peavey TNT amp.

Fast forward only a few months (15 years old). Guy who lived behind me grew up with my mother. He was the drummer in a classic rock cover band. He came over and begged my mother to allow me to go out with his band that weekend because their bass player had quit with no notice. I crammed for several days with the guitar player and pulled it off. A few more "fill in" weekends wound up turning into 5 years with that band. I played all over two states on the weekends while in high school with a bunch of guy over twice my age. I learned a lot in those years. I managed to figure out how to play bass too.

Been doing "fill in" gigs ever since.

 

[gfaulkner]

1978 I was 15 years old and had a friend who was good at guitar and we listened to a lot of music together.I figured bass was a good direction to go since we both knew some drummers and we wanted to jam so……The bass in my avatar is that bass ,a Cortez J bass that had lousy pups and pots but a nice neck.I later replaced the electronics completely and it sound and plays great now.

 

[Octavio]

My older brother played in a three-piece band in the late '60s-early '70s. He passed away at age 17 and my Mom put his instrument away in the attic. My other brother and I snuck up into the attic years later to look for it. We pulled the instrument out of its gig bag and weren't quite sure whether it was a guitar or a bass; my brother thought bass because it had only four strings. Eventually, my Mom let me start playing it -- it was a Danelectro which I still have. If it had been a guitar not a bass I guess I would be a guitar player today . . . .

 

[jjmuckluckjr]

I was 13 playing a borrowed Univox 335. Of course I got into it for money and girls.

In grade school I played cello and trombone so I was familiar with the bass clef. I never wanted to be a thing but the bass player.

Besides the girls ain't dancing to the lead guitar son.

 

[bolophonic]

I recently found the receipt for my first amplifier, an overpriced, crummy Roland. It was from 1987. My dad paid the shop with a check for me. I knew that I wanted to play the bass guitar for as long as I could remember. It's the only instrument that I have ever truly loved.

 

[pcake]

i had been singing since i was 6, played fingerstyle acoustic guitar since i was 11, playing in an occasional band in my mid-teens. in my thirties i was playing and singing a lot, and because of this i was hanging with a buddy i was in a band with in 1993 when friends of his showed up who used to be in a band with him and wanted to play together. they had a bass and bass amp with them but no bass player, and asked if i would play. i didn't want to - i had never played a bass before, and feared making a mess of it, but they nagged me into it.

wow! within 5 minutes i was in love with everything about the bass, and i never looked back

 

[jmetcher]

17, first year at Uni. Got into The Cure. So, The Cure's early stuff is basically this wash of random noise plus a bass line - or that's how it sounded to me at the time. I had no idea how to do the noise, so bass line it was! Plus a mate had a bass, so I used to go over to his place and "practice" until I could buy my own.

Later, I realised that no-one I knew could actually hear bass lines on recordings. They'd be crapping on about the singer, or the words or something, and I'd be like "What? This track has words? Oh, yeah...." coz I'd be so fixated on this cool bassline nobody else even knew existed. So in a way the bass chose me.

 

[LoTone]

Want a good laugh? I was a tuba player in the High School band. After a couple years of college, I missed not playing music. I looked into buying a used tuba but I would have had to drop about 1.5K$ for an old banged up POS. So I turned to the next best thing. I scrounged a few $100 bills and then I went to Steve's Music in Montreal. I bought the cheapest bass, a Vantage P-J, with the cheapest amp, a 30W Crate, with the cheapest strap, the cheapest tuner and a $10 method from Hal Leonard published in the 50's, you know with black and white pictures of a man with brylcream in his hair and off I went. 27 years later, I still enjoy playing bass at home.

 

[hsech]

Guitar players are a dime a dozen. Good bass players and good drummers are hard to find. You get more work as a good bass player.

 

[Eric Swaim]

"1979 my broom could no longer keep up with the bass parts on the KISS records when cleaning my room."

Actually my older brother started playing guitar in 1979, so I got a 1977 Fender Music Master bass for Christmas in 1979 and been playing every since. I also became a String Orchestra Teacher as my Profession. Now I get to teach young players and see their love for music develop.

 

[worxforme]

The super talented guitar slinging neighbor kid wanted to start a band and he said, "You have big hands, you should play bass!" Kid logic.

My parents said I would have to learn guitar first so I started taking guitar lessons, that was in fifth grade.

I'm glad they did because when I play bass, it's because I want to not because I can't play the guitar. Which means I really like the bass.

As well, it's difficult to write a song with a bass and my bass playing isn't the "He sounds like he wishes he was playing lead guitar..." type bass playing.

Well, not always...

 

[Ulf Buck]

9. No one else was playing one in the school orchestra and my neighbor across the street had a Kay upright for sale. Got my first bass guitar at 12 and never looked back.

 

[Govner22]

I started when I was 48 since my neighbor played and I was intrigued, having played guitar off and on since middle school but not really advancing with that. I stuck with the bass and now at age 56 have over 30 gigs under my belt with two bands. So remember it's never too late if you have the passion for it!

 

[hopsbb]

I started playing guitar at 12,I think anyway. Somewhere around there. I had wanted a guitar for a long time but my parents didn't think I'd be that serious about it and really didn't have the money to get me one. One day I went with my dad to haul off a load of trash at a landfill and laying up on a big mound was a guitar case. I somewhat reached up/climbed onto it and grabbed it. Low and behold there was an acoustic guitar inside so we took it home. My dad had a friend he knew come over and clean it up and put strings on it. It was a classical guitar with a humongous neck but I learned how to play on it. Saved up after that cutting grass and doing odd jobs and bought a Fender Tele then got a small practice amp for my birthday later that yr. Played that for awhile until a local church was clearing out their storage room and they gave me a no name brand 8x10 stack and a no name bass head for hauling it out. Rocked that for the longest time playing in bands all through high school. Then when I got into my early 20's everybody that I played with just stopped playing. Auditioned for a few bands but couldn't find anything. I stopped playing for yrs,sold all my gear except for my Tele and one day out of the blue I walked into a mom and pop music store just for kicks. Ended up putting a Squier p bass starter pack on layaway. That was about 5-6 yrs ago. Been playing ever since.

I had always liked bass before when I played guitar,even bought one. A no named hollow body,that I wish I still had for $50. Sold it with the gear purge though.