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Who started it all for you?

#43
Mike Dirnt of Green Day.
Having never listened to music of any kind before about 13 years old, Green Day quickly became my favourite band and for some reason I just decided that I wanted to play bass. Never even considered guitar, just fancied bass, no idea why :)
After three years my playing style probably couldn't be much more different to Dirnt's by comparison, but its still him that started it for me.
 
#47
My best friend in middle school named John. he introduced me to all things Metal. Most of the bands scared me bad, and gave me nightmares. The worst of which was this bad that sang about Satan and indians and troopers<whatever that is ;)>. There was this driving duh duh dom, duh duh dom sound that propelled my head forward in a violent and jerking motion. Then I saw a video of this same song, and there was this wierd guy with a tanktop, striped spandex, wrist sweatbands and these <gasp> tattoos on his forearms. I and to my horror, I heard myself say to John in a low whipered tone...I wanna be that guy.
 
#49
The bass/drum into to Wilson Pickett's "Engine, Engine #9" is what first made me go oh, yeeeeaaahhh!!! Killer bass line!!

But what really got me going was the late, Greg Arama from the Amboy Dukes when I saw them live for the first time somewhere around 1969 or 1970. Greg was a great player, a bit busy at times but the memories of watching that guy fly around on his EB-3 was a sight to behold when I was a mere 17 year old! Great guy as well. Very down to earth and very humble.

God rest your soul, Greg.
 
#50
Part II
Then there was my friend after highschool named Chris. We were watching a channel that once showed music videos all the time, so much so it actually had music in the title. And there I saw, to my amazement, this tall skinny guy with this long braided hair, and I don't mean braided like girls or bikers do, but...just wierd hair. He was wearing a long john pajama set, and a Johnny reb hat, and he was beating this bass to death, and getting all these strange sounds out of it. He was playing not only the rhythm guitar part, but the bass part and drum part as well. And I thought, wow...I wanna play like that guy.
 
#51
for me, it was '81 and i must thank jordasche jeans for girls...those tight fitting, spray-painted on jeans...
i knew i wanted to be in the pocket after noticing that.
but how to get there? bands got chicks... hey! i'll get in a band!
lots of guitards, drummies everywhere... if i play bass, i'll be in a bunch of bands... the more bands, the more likely i'd be able to (figuratively) get in those jeans.
so, i'd like to thank the ladies, and their tight jeans.
 
#52
Part III: The final chapter.
So I am entrenched with the bass at this stage of my life. And this band keeps coming up in conversation, and I keep blowing it off. They been talking about this band for 20 yrs and they are known as the loudest band in the world, so how good could they possibly be...pashaw. Then I hear this song, not even the trademark song everyone knows. It blows me a way. The singer/bassist sounds like he has been gargling nails, glass, and 12 yr old scotch. He has this wickedly distorted bass run thru a guitard amp. Hes ugly to look at. And he's strumming the bass and playing it like a guitar, then he informs everyone who they are and what they do. And I exclaimed I am going to do that if it kills me. Years later, my loving wife, whom I adore, informs me that this moment was the beginning of a man crush. And him, I will call by name. Lemmy Kilmister. These three are the reason I picked up the bass, love the bass and continue to learn the bass. All the other legendary bassists have their place, and they all deserve the love respect and homage that they rarely get. I love the names Wooten, Jamerson, Ox, Jaco, Roberston, Marcus, and the list could go on for ever. But these three changed my life and inspred me to do something so insane as to learn to read music, buy a bass and amp, take some lessons, and build a huge collection of bass pron. Thank you for this space to share this.
 
#53
I suppose you are talking about bass guitar, but I'll throw in double bass anyways. I played alto sax in band and was going to start lessons in college when I started listening to Charles Mingus. He completely blew me away. And then I Holland play Mingus' Goodbye Porkpie Hat () and I was completely enthralled. I knew I had to learn double bass. Still enthralled with the instrument.
 
#54
Eric Wilson from Sublime

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But I wasn't really happy to be a ball player until I saw Derek Smalls

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#56
Chris Squire.
Which is funny, because once I started to play, he was not at all an influence on me. But I was a teenager, in an altered state, listening to "Close to the Edge" and I could hear and distinguish the bass for the first time, and it was mindblowing to me. And I remember thinking "if listening to music can do so much to my state of mind and emotion, what must it be like to be the person playing the music?"
That's what got me started.
Thanks, Chris.
 
#60
My brother. He's a down and out speed addict but 20 years ago that guy could f'ing play. And he taught me so much. He was in to complexity; not just riding the E for metal and hard rock but he had the idea that the bass wasn't just a root riding thing that anyone could play. He took pride in his playing.

He liked learning and playing things that were difficult just because they were hard to play. He gave me that value with the instrument. He was such a dick: "don't play that Ian Hill sh!t. No one wants to hear you plucking an E string for 2 hours; any dicks*ck can do that.

And he hated the word "bassist". To him the word smacked of someone being a scientist; and he used to say that science had no place in music because only a-holes like Thomas Dolby cared about such things.

There were so many things he was so wrong about but so many things he was so right about. I miss that motherf*cker, I really do. He's such an ******* and so destructive to all those around him. But I couldn't have asked for a better teacher... But at the same time he would keep things from me because he didn't want me to better than him. I was never any threat because he was a gifted player... but there were things he refused to show me due to his insecureties... just like life and business. Such a brilliant person lost to their own fears.

Anyway, my brother... my long lost meth-addict brother who ruined our family business and our way of life because of drugs... that was my big influence. I still love him and I still miss him.
 

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