When did you get your first Bass

[ElectricBass72]

In the year Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Six. X-mas gift. I knew I was getting it because I had to save up half for it. My parents didn't believe I would stick with bass and thought it was a childhood phase. They were wrong. Black Westone 4-string.

 

[jnewmark]

1971.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

In 2019. But it was righthanded and I could not adapt.

Traded it in for credit on my Player P in 2020.

Ever since then my guitars have been getting dustier.

 

[lark_z]

Around 2000, around 40th birthday. Squier Special P-bass (PJ with J neck) from GC. Neck ended up with ski jump. Sold it around 2014 along with everything else. Nothing stringed in the house until three years ago. These days - two parts beaters that I love.

Here's the beast and Mr. Beaver is helping...

 

[rmayer]

May of 1966, my Dad and I along with my friend/lead guitarist made the trek from NJ to Manny's Music on 48th Street in NYC. I had saved some money and my Dad added the balance (most of the cost, thanks Dad) to get me a new Hofner 500/1 Beatle Bass for my birthday. Shiny and new, with the hardshell case. I still remember the smell of the Hofner polish they included with a polishing cloth.
Wish I still had that one.

 

[JC BASS 91]

Senior year, November of 1990. Hutching's Music on St. Louis St, Springfield MO.

 

[perfektspace6]

When I was 14 or 15.

A Mexican made Fender P bass with horrible action and no knowledge on my part of how to remedy it. It did the trick until a bought a better bass after a year or so.

 

[J Wilson]

When I started out in 1976, my first axe was a Gibson Ripper in natural. I hated SG/EB's, and my store had a gorgeous black Thunderbird that stupendously head heavy, you literally had to hold the neck up to play it, so that was out.

I refused to buy a Mustang, Fenders were pretty iffy in those days, and I wasn't going to waste money on a Teisco or some other plywood monstrosity.

The Ripper, to me, was the closest Gibson ever came to a competitive long-scale bass.

 

[Gruff]

1985 or thereabouts as a Christmas gift. It was an Aria Wildcat Pro II in white. I sold it in the mid 1990s to make a mortgage payment. Had to be done, but I still regret it

 

[moon-bass]

My first bass was a sunburst Squire P bass. White pickguard, rosewood neck. Bought it new from Music Haven in Johnstown, PA. Two months later I traded it in for a Fender Jazz Bass Special - which I still have.

 

[beatdatthang]

Fall of 1985. I was 11 years old. Spent a summer mowing lawns and delivering newspapers to save up enough to buy my first bass from a pawnshop around the corner from my buddy’s house. He was that same age and was taking guitar lessons and was already quite good. I played some piano and viola and wanted to play guitar, but he said, “dude everyone plays guitar, get a bass”. So I did.

At the time it was the coolest bass I’d ever seen in real life. I put in on layaway in June and busted my butt all summer to pay it off in September. Paid $350 used for it (a lot of $ for an 11 year old in 1985) My Aria Pro II ZZB. It got me instant cool points with anyone who saw it and was the most awesome instrument throughout the late 80s in the high school garage band scene. Loved that bass and wish I still owned it.

It was a true Matsumoku masterpiece! So much 80s awesome in one. It played and sounded like a dream, too. The fin was so big that there was no neck dive. The hard case was enormous and everyone joked that I had a surfboard in it.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I think it was 93 or 94. I paid $100 for a P copy that looked cool, and sounded/played OK.

 

[coy garcia]

1987, $300 for a used 83 ric 4003...had a choice between a new trumpet or that bass.

 

[AQUANOVA]

I got mine in 1979.
A Univox Hi Flyer short scale, sunburst.
It was a hand me down from my brother.
He gave up playing and I’ve been playing bass ever since.

 

[Kilgore777]

1975. POS yellow shortscale "Telecaster" (shaped) Japanese no name thing. Cost $40 too, so you got a much better deal on your Kay. You needed a pair of pliers to fret the thing and the pickup barely worked. Not quite as nice as my MusicMans (MusicMen?) or my Sandberg......

 

[D.A.R.K.]

1982, Sam Goody, at the mall. $150.00 Mirada p-bass. It was smashed and burned on stage just a few years later, after being replaced by an Ovation Magnum for $250.00.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

I bought my first bass in 1974 from A & R music
I paid 40.00 for a new Kay SG styled bass .
40 dollars for a new bass
I traded it 2 weeks later for a Sekova bass and a Little plastic amp with an 8 inch speaker.
So began my life as a Bass Player.
50 yrs later a Bass player and will always and forever be

1962

 

[Koog]

I bought two Hofner 500/1 basses in Kirschberg, West Germany for the equivalent of $90 each on the same day in the fall of 1964.

Koog

 

[RoadieP]

1999 or so, I was like 16 and singing in a metal band with my buddies. Our bass player quit and the couple friends we tried were horrible. I played guitar and already basically knew the bass lines so I told my parents I needed a bass.

A friend of my mom played in local country bands all through the 70s and 80s and had some old gear he said I could have for like 500 bucks. He came over and brought me an Aria Pro II TSB-350 modded with some EMG pickup, a Peavey Centurion Mk3 and an 18 inch Peavey cab. My parents split the cost with me and I became a bassist.

I don't have any pictures of it and I didn't take care of it and eventually some drunks at a party fell over it and broke the neck but here's a picture of the same model. Maybe I'll keep my eyes open and find one again some day.

 

[Marc DLarosa]

Funny... EXACTLY 41 years ago, TODAY. It was my 14th birthday present from my Dad. It's a 1981 Gibson Victory. Still have it. Man Oh Man... time fly's!!!