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Who Was Your First...

I was pretty oblivious to music other than the top 40 stuff my folks listened to until I was 15 or so. Which was a lot of soft rock and Motown, so I know I was exposed to some great music, but didn't get interested enough to find out who the players were, or even what comprised a band... First bass line I recall really catching my ear and not letting go was from the song, 'Jump into the Fire' by Harry Nilsson. Not a particularly complex line, but man it hooked me. I think my step brother had the Nilsson Schmillson 8-track...lol. Anyway, after that I started paying attention because I knew I flippin' loved that bass sound. John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee then Flea in that order pretty much after that.
 
Mel Schacher
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Chris Squire, although he had minimal other influence on my actual style.
The very first time the bass jumped out at me was listening to a Yes album in a highly altered state. The bass was amazing. It was also the moment that I decided to learn to play music - I thought "if I'm having such an emotional experience listening to music, it must be AMAZING to be the person playing the music."
Changed my life.
 
As a youth in the late 60's I heard music mostly on the AM radio. Back then it was like FM radio is today. The top 40 stations played "Midnight Confessions" by The Grass Roots in 1968. I loved the "low guitar" sound. Rob Grill is really underappreciated. (That was just about the time I started playing violin.) Never paid much attention to the bass as an instrument until 1974 when The Steve Miller Band was on TV. Gerald Johnson played a bass solo in "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" that included the theme from Popeye The Sailor Man. I had to dig my jaw out of the carpet! I knew then what it was that I wanted to do: play the bass.
 
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John Entwistle. He had an amazing way of transitioning from one chord to the next, almost baroque. And he made me realize that a bass could be a lead instrument when necessary.

And John Paul Jones. Hearing Led Zeppelin II on a good stereo opened my ears to the melodic possibility of the bass guitar.
 
My buddy who convinced me to pick up bass would show me those old Flea slap videos with his Stingray I think that came from Chad Smith's drum video (BSSM or Mother's Milk era idr). I thought it was cool but wasn't crazy about the sound even then. Nonethless I picked up bass.

Then one day I looked up tabs to a few Tool songs and after each one I said to myself "THAT'S THE BASS PART!?!??!" I was blown away with the sounds from the bass effects, the groove Justin held down, the melodies he played. I had listened to them for years before then but never appreciated how important the bass was in their music and that the instrument was so capable.
 
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