When did you get your first Bass

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, in 1972 I walked into a music store with $500 and left with a Hofner Beatle Bass and a blackface Fender Bassman amp. It was a great setup for a small combo.
At the time I didn't play any instrument, but I was always interested in music and enjoyed seeing live bands.
I was about to start a 50-year journey that hasn't ended.

 

[Freight Train]

After playing bass lines on a 2/3 scale acoustic guitar and then a Cypher electric guitar (there was no one in my small town to tell me about a bass guitar), my first actual bass was a Kingston, bought in a Wichita Falls pawn shop in 1966. As I recall it had a triangular-shaped neck profile about 2" thick, and the strings were about 1/2" off the fretboard. Quite a struggle for 13 year-old me. Can't believe I stuck with it.

 

[Wesley R]

August 5th, 1969. JC Penney semi-hollow.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

1967. Actually, dad bought it for me. $60(!) Lafayette Radio catalogue violin body with multi laminate neck (must have inspired Phil Kubicki!). POS (and I don't mean Point-Of-Sale). Busted the truss rod! The sent me a new neck! Thus began my lifetime foray into the world of tweaking, modding, customizing, personalizing, and occasionally ruining , basses (and the random guitar now and then). What a long, strange trip it's been!

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[juancaminos]

In the later part of the 60's a bunch of us neighborhood kids got together to play music. Three guitar players and a drummer. I ended up liking rhythm guitar or bass parts and eventually pulled the two high string off my guitar. Around 1969 or 1970 my mom bought a Telecaster bass and Kustom 100 amp for me. I still have both. The story is way longer and told here before. But I was one very lucky kid!

 

[TerribleTim68]

1988 I think, I was 16 years old. Paid $60 for a used white Aria Pro II RSB from a local pawn shop. Wish I had never sold it, still hunting for one like it today, can't seem to find one anywhere other than Ebay from Japan and even at that I can't seem to find this model. They are close, but not exact.
I put that bass thru hell, eventually painting black zebra stripes on it, then painting the white stripes neon pink, then painting clear glitter over the top of that. The glam-metal days were lit y'all!

(pic not my actual bass, but exact same model/color)

 

[WG Plum]

My best guess is 1985 or 1986, a Vantage P bass given to me by @Gaolee.

 

[groovaholic]

My first bass was purchased at the local guitar shop and given to me as a Christmas present.
It was a Japanese Squier Precision - a great bass that I wish I still had.

Consolation prize is that I found/purchased the same model (but a bit older) about 17 years ago and have had it since.

 

[jd56hawk]

Only started playing eleven years ago.
Got this Dean for pocket money.

Long gone but I did replace it with this Exotica.
Still have it and I play it all the time.
They don't come any better.
(Actually have two.)

 

[39-Bassist]

1978 Global P Bass from Sears Catalog... baseball bat neck and plywood body...Not sure how I wanted to keep playing bass.
Glad I did.

 

[39-Bassist]

It was a Japanese Squier Precision - a great bass that I wish I still had.

I had an 83 SQ series P bass just like that...stupid for selling it and bought it in 1983.

 

[Ggaa]

Pawnshop burst P, '75.

 

[funkinbottom]

The summer of 1968. I got it from Waltrips music in San Jose,CA. A hollow body Aria exactly like this one.

 

[bassbrad]

In 1969 I got stuck on string bass in the school orchestra while in sixth grade after playing guitar and cello for a couple of years it seemed a punishment. Kismet. I still played guitar and sometimes doubled on electric to let the bass player sing a song or two. My senior year [12th grade] I was 17 in the school jazz band and the director wanted me to play electric as well as upright so I bought a Gibson EB50 for $50 that had a broken truss rod and turned out to be stolen. The next year I bought a Hagstrom HBIIB in transparent Red bass that I often wish was still mine.

 

[groovaholic]

I had an 83 SQ series P bass just like that...stupid for selling it and bought it in 1983.

When I bought the black Precision (in 2006 or 2007) it was before people got hip to how good the Japanese Squier instruments are.

Back then it was it was just any other used Squier - so I got it for $89!

Needless to say, I paid that price happily, well aware that it was a great bass.

Still, I was shocked to see what they're selling for on Reverb now - but compared to prices for other P-Basses, they're worth it!

 

[MichelD]

I played a converted electric guitar as a "bass" in a summer rock band in 1969, but my first real bass was a fretless Japanese "sort of" Jazz bass copy my wife got me for Valentine's Day 1976. Still have it too.

 

[ac100X]

My first owned bass (not rented) was identical to this one. I traded it in on a new EB-2. I found this on E bay about 15 years ago.

 

[ac100X]

My first owned bass (not rented) was identical to this one. I traded it in on a new EB-2. I found this on E bay about 15 years ago.

View attachment 5096409

Still have the EB-2, it is a 1966.

 

[bolophonic]

I bought some cruddy short scale Jazz knock-off from a dude at school for about $30 in 1986

 

[TechJunky]

Freshman year of highschool for Christmas. I was already playing tuba in the school band and drums in both garage bands and some of the concert bands, and bass just looked cool and fit in with my knowledge of bass clef at the time. I got a used Ibanez SR400 (I think) in metallic green with a PJ setup and 3 band eq. Had no idea what I was doing with an active bass, but I recall having the treble cranked almost all the time....I'm sure it sounded awful! But I still loved that bass, and it obviously started me down a very expensive path.