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Why are you a bass player?

vindibona1

vindibona1

Apr 18, 2015
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#1
I've been playing guitar pretty much forever. I've played trumpet semi professionally off and on since a young man. But only in the last 6 months or so have I been bitten by the bass bug where I feel like I've really connected with it, perhaps more than the other instruments. I'm not as proficient yet as with the other instruments, but working to be. I can feel the connection, but can't tell you why.

So why are you a bass player? Why bass? Why not guitar (or other)? I want to understand how others connect to it so that maybe I can figure out what's going on inside my head with this thing.
 
#6
vindibona1 said:
Did you go direct to bass, or have an excursion with guitar or other instruments first?
Click to expand...

I first started learning acoustic guitar because I just wanted to learn an instrument, and we had a spare one around the house.

A few weeks later I was at a friend’s house with him and his younger brother. My friend had been learning guitar for roughly the same amount of time and were passing his back and forth, as we noodled around.

After a while, his younger brother, a bassist, got bored and asked to play the acoustic guitar. He started playing the bassline to Pink Floyd’s “Money” and I got ecstatic about it and asked him to teach it to me.

The rest of the night I was obsessed with playing that line, but hated the twangy nature of the acoustic guitar and bought my first bass the very next day when I got off work.

I sometimes get the desire to play more melodic stuff once in a while, and bought a Strat only to play it for a week and then have it collect dust. I’ve debated getting a keyboard for the same purpose (as well as get a better grasp of composing) but I know it’d do the same thing...

I realized that if I want to play more melodically, a fretless bass is the perfect medium for me.
 
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#8
I can't say why either...it just speaks to me. I started on trumpet (3rd grade) then added guitar for several years. I also had a couple year affair with a 5 string banjo. Some older friends invited me to join their band if I bought a bass. The rest is history. Why am I a bass player? I just AM.
 
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#11
Every legit group needs a solid rhythm section and solid bass players are hard to find. Drums are too inconvenient and loud. I still write songs with guitar and vocals, but bass is where I want to be if possible. We are the "silent conductors" of the live rock group. We get to control a lot in a band without having a fancy title. We get to make people move to the music. Guitar makes them bob their heads, bass makes them shake their asses.
 
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#13
It was always the thing that I heard in a song, and then when I started going to concerts it was the thing I would FEEL (in every sense).
Once I started really picking apart songs sonically, it was amazing to hear what an innovative bass line could do to a song. I will never be a great player, but I love it so. :)
 
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#14
vindibona1 said:
I've been playing guitar pretty much forever. I've played trumpet semi professionally off and on since a young man. But only in the last 6 months or so have I been bitten by the bass bug where I feel like I've really connected with it, perhaps more than the other instruments. I'm not as proficient yet as with the other instruments, but working to be. I can feel the connection, but can't tell you why.

So why are you a bass player? Why bass? Why not guitar (or other)? I want to understand how others connect to it so that maybe I can figure out what's going on inside my head with this thing.
Click to expand...
Because I love it. I also love drums. I play both. Bass is where it's at though. But, I drum when someone needs one at short notice. Like, if the drummer cant show up. Rather have no bass in the set than no beat (rag on me for that one if you want to)
 
#15
I was a teenager in the 70's when I got into the Beatles. Being left-handed, I wanted to emulate Paul McCartney. I started on guitar, but realized that guitarists were a dime a dozen. If I played bass, I always stood a better chance of getting into bands. Bass is the bridge between rhythm and melody, so it's a unique role. I still like playing guitar, but I've always been a bassist.
 
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#20
mcarp555 said:
I was a teenager in the 70's when I got into the Beatles. Being left-handed, I wanted to emulate Paul McCartney. I started on guitar, but realized that guitarists were a dime a dozen. If I played bass, I always stood a better chance of getting into bands. Bass is the bridge between rhythm and melody, so it's a unique role. I still like playing guitar, but I've always been a bassist.
Click to expand...

I played bass back then too, mainly because I was the only one in the band that had a bass. I scored a used Teisco bass for $15 but had to run it through my Sears Silvertone amp. But I never connected with it like I do now, but learned the basics. And as we all know what you learn as a kid stays with you forever. I too could play drums but mom and dad wouldn't let me have a set :( so I beat on coffee cans- but learned to play. Perhaps it's the drum thing. We didn't have slap back then and bass is so very much more musical and in the forefront nowadays. I'm still not connecting with why I'm connecting so emotionally with it.
 

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