When you were new to TB... (Poll)

[honestjohnny]

36, playing guitar and violins since 6th grade. Always liked bass. Got a bass guitar in college, because there were tons of guitarists, keys, and horns. I love bass because it's more of a function than an instrument with an associated style (like guitar).
I've played in a few bands, but never been more than a hobbyist, although I have gotten paid for a few gigs.
I like anything that sounds good and has a nice groove.

 

[bassinplace]

I see I glossed over the questions in the OP, so here goes.

How old were you when you first started playing?
On bass, 41. On drums, 25.

How long have you played to this day?
6 years on bass. 24 years on drums.

How long had you played when you signed up?
As a bassist, 6 months. As a drummer, 16 years.

Are you/were you a working musician?
On drums, yes, for many years. As a bass player, I've played in one gigging project so far, originals. I was with them for a year. I'm currently going through the process of looking for a new gigging project. I started looking in January and I'm getting warmer.

What kind of music do/did you play?
Jazz, Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock.

What made you want to pick up bass?
I got tired of being the workhorse that is a drummer. I wanted to try something new and different. I've always been drawn to the rhythm section and I've always loved bass, so that's what I went with. I want to learn piano next.

 

[delta7fred]

How old were you when you first started playing? - About 15
How long had you played when you signed up? - About 40 years
Are you/were you a working musician? - Weekend warrior almost continuously.
What kind of music do/did you play? - Rock until about 2 years ago when I switched to 60s.
What made you want to pick up bass? - Cool bass lines form the likes of Carol Kaye, John Entwistle etc. Every kid and his dog played guitar and I couldn't sing or afford a drum kit so bass it was.

 

[delta7fred]

"Never marry a women you met in a club."

Good advice but some I didn't take as I married a woman I met in a club. I wasn't playing there that night but had played it several times before. I lost her about 16 years ago to cancer after 25 years of (relatively) happy marriage.

A buddy of mine was the resident organist and if his drummer couldn't make it he got me to play bass, he said I might as well get the money as the club keep it.

 

[jerry]

lol, no. I was a senior in high school. It was an unpaid gig and most of the orchestra was high school or college students.
But I did learn one important lesson later on in life - "Never marry a women you met in a club."

I met my wife at a gig thirty four years ago, it can work.

 

[Gibme]

How old were you when you first started playing?
Nine years old.
How long have you played to this day?
5 years, didn't play for two of them though, which is why I voted 1-3.
How long had you played when you signed up?
4 years, I got 5 at October
Are you/were you a working musician?
No, although I do jam with other people a lot. If something takes off, I'll be all for it. My main plan is to write as many good songs as possible to make money from.
What kind of music do/did you play?
I started out with no defined taste in music, so I started by learning bossa nova just to understand sheet music. After listening to funk for the first time, I was immediately hooked and started to develop a style that would soon be influenced by reggae. Those two are what I mainly play nowadays as well, but i'm always trying to open my horizon.
What made you want to pick up bass?
I didn't know that guitarists got more attention than bassists, got a bass and haven't looked back since.

 

[Road Hat]

In utero, plucking the umbilical cord for gutbucket (so to speak) tones.

 

[Road Hat]

I met my wife at a gig thirty four years ago, it can work.

Yep, 34 years for us last Sunday. Met her at a gig in 1981 (she was 18), and married her three months later.

 

[pcake]

How old were you when you first started playing?
- i started playing guitar when i was 11, bass when i was 37.

How long had you played when you signed up?
- i'd been playing bass for 17 years.

Are you/were you a working musician?
- used to be a part timer, but due to injury have been only playing at home for a while.

What kind of music do/did you play?
- metal (death metal, heavy metal, new wave of british heavy metal, nu metal), rock, hard rock, blues, older school punk, alternative, new wave, folk, a little of other stuff.

What made you want to pick up bass?
- i hadn't been interested in playing bass at all but a friend of mine convinced me to play bass one nmight so he and his old band could jam, as their bass player wasn't available. within seconds of playing their spare bass, i felt something i had never felt while playing guitar or other instruments - man, i was in love! i offered to buy their spare bass and amp at the end of the jam (they said no, btw), and within a day had joined a rock band that had a bass and amp but no bass player.

 

[BassAt33]

I didn't play yet, I found TB while researching Basses and joined to ask people questions to which the TB community glady answered. Now I'm almost 2 months in and loving it! Started at 33 and am still 33. Definitely not a working musician haha. Oh and I had wanted to start playing because I picked up a Bass at the church I work at and just fell Iove! Had to have one! It was a LONG two months between that day and Christmas when my wife got me the Troy Sanders Jag that I had been drooling over.

 

[Matthew_84]

How old were you when you first started playing?
How long had you played when you signed up?
Are you/were you a working musician?
What kind of music do/did you play?
What made you want to pick up bass?

I was 23 when I started playing (August of 2007).

I had been playing for just over 3 years when I joined TB.

I've never been a working musician. I mostly play alone at home, but have jammed with others and was briefly involved in a live hip hop band, but we never gigged.

I like nearly every kind of music, as long as there's a decent bassline in it. My favourite genre is rock/prog/metal. I also like hip hop, funk, Motown, R&B, and jazz.

My Dad left an old acoustic guitar behind and many years later I decided to try and learn it. After only a few days I met up with a friend and we passed it back and forth playing what we could. He ended playing the main bassline to Pink Floyd's "Money" and I loved it. He taught me how to play it, and it was all I wanted to play for the rest of the night, but it didn't sound right on an acoustic guitar (twang, twang-twang-twang...). I knew what I wanted to hear, and this wasn't cutting it. The next day I went out and bought my first bass.

 

[Electric Al]

I started liking music at an early age.

For a while as a kid I tried to learn trumpet in a brass band ! (lost interest).

Had piano lessons (old hag teacher) too many repetitious scales ! (lost interest).

Heard Lonnie Donegan on the radio , Skiffle Music , I liked that .

Next step ...guitar ....learned a few chords , sang a few tunes...Rock Island Line... Tom Dooley , etc.

Moved to Canada at age 16 , with a flat top .

Met some guys ... played a few community centers .

Decided we needed a bass player ... learned a few things on bass .

Guitar was side lined ... played my bass.

Gigged for a few years ... Got married .

Played once in a while (local stuff) .

Quit music for approx 25 years or so ... Had my own business (electrical contractor).

The bug bit me again , and now I am playing bass again , and guitar , but just for myself .

Heck ! I'm 74 .

Came across the site a few months ago , and I am enjoying it .



Sorry to be so long winded !

 

[Matthew_84]

There's another category that might be I interesting. How many years did you use talkbass as a resource before joining? I know I often referenced this sight for information long long before I created an account or posted anything.

Agreed. I definitely looked up the odd thing here and there for a year or two before joining... At some point I needed to ask a question, so I joined.

 

[Camaro69]

Simple question.

Just want an idea of how far people were in their bass playing careers when they decided to join the site. Also a cool way to find out a bit about our fellow TalkBassers.

Some follow-up questions:

How old were you when you first started playing?
How long had you played when you signed up?
Are you/were you a working musician?
What kind of music do/did you play?
What made you want to pick up bass?

As for me...

How old were you when you first started playing?
I was 15 years old.

How long have you played to this day?
Just over ten years, counting bass as one entity. My "bass birthday" was sometime in mid-January, 2006, where I started on double bass in middle school orchestra. I didn't buy my first electric bass until mid-April 2006.

How long had you played when you signed up?
A year and a half, roughly.

Are you/were you a working musician?
On and off. All groups I play for currently want to play out, but only two of the three do. Before I moved out of my hometown, my primary gig was working with a swing band and in jazz combos. I did that for about eight years.

What kind of music do/did you play?
Lots of jazzzzz... Nowadays, some rock/prog, acoustic originals (think reggae meets pop meets sappy poetry). Funk and a barely a pinch of jazz in one group (period ).

What made you want to pick up bass?
The MIDI bass track to Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to say I Love You" really caught my attention at age five. I told my mom I wanted to play bass, but I don't think she took me seriously. When I started working with the family business at 15, I reminded her and she took me more seriously and helped buy my first - a JBP J-bass.

What kind of music do I play?

Carrot Metal

 

[McG]

How old were you when you first started playing?
17

How long have you played to this day?
48 years total. 45 with bands.

How long had you played when you signed up?
About 40

Are you/were you a working musician?
Always a part timer. Always had a day job.

What kind of music do/did you play?
Started with loud Psychedelic/Blues rock. Transitioned to acoustic Americana without drums. Lately plugged in Southern California Folk Rock with drums. Always about 70/30 original/cover.

What made you want to pick up bass?
Anything British invasion. Got serious from Paul Butterfield's Blues Breakers.

 

[Gasman]

1. How old? 20
2. How many years playing? 23
3. How many years playing when I signed up? 15
4. Never a working musician, although I have played for chicken scratch money. Many, many gigs, not so much dough. I play because I love it.
5. When I joined, mostly alt metal originals and classic rock cover band stuff. I started with punk and funk. Now, I play original rock, rockabilly, punk, and sub for Christian/Inspirational group
6. What made me pick up bass? I always wanted to play bass, starting with Macca. Was fascinated by this weird "bass" player in the liner notes in all my albums. Zeppelin and GNR were probably the two bands that made me buy my first bass. Duff's tone on AFD was what really got me. Didn't hear guitars as much as that. Learned to play guitar and drums over the years, but only to be a better bass player.

 

[jaybones]

When did you start playing bass?
I started playing bass when I was 22 (1994). Had been playing guitar since I was 17, and was asked to join a band by my best friend from kindergarten onward.

When did you start playing?
Played since then.

How long had you been playing when you joined?
Had been playing 21 years when I joined.

Are/were you in any bands?
Was in several bands, and played solo acoustically. Also have a minor in music and have taught lessons for either a store or on my own.

What style of music are/did you play?
The band(s) I was in played mostly early 90's Seattle rock (Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden). Later our sound morphed into a sort of Allman Brother's Band/Jimi Hendrix sort of thing, with a classical pianist Door's influences.

We recorded out own CD at FJM audio in Dayton, Ohio on our own dime. One of your songs made it on WTUE's Sunday night local band show, and won their battle of the bands (16 song bracket, single elimination). Prize was opening a show for Everclear at Hara Arena.

What style do you play now?
Now I'm playing mostly rock and roll, modern rock alternative, classic rock and hard rock.

Why did you pick up the bass?
And I picked up bass since I needed to play in a band that was without a bass player.

 

[JMacBass65]

Joined at 20+ years and a hack.

Still a hack, but a bit smarter about a few things.

 

[GregT]

I guess you could say that my first bass was a Harmony 6 string solid body electric guitar. I had flatwound strings on it and always turned the tone knob all the way off so it was extra bassy. I was 11 or 12. That was a long, long time ago.

 

[H2okie]

Agreed. I definitely looked up the odd thing here and there for a year or two before joining... At some point I needed to ask a question, so I joined.

Yeah me too. I've yet to creat a post but in searching posts I've usually been able to find a marginally related place to ask my question. I'm probably very guilty of getting threads "slightly" off track. But so far folks have seemed quite pleasant and tolerant.