Why are you a bass player?

[nilorius]

At 1st, my father played it and showed it to me how to do it. At the 2nd, i discovered such a thing as fretless and that sound intrigued me so much that no other instrument than 5 string fretless can take me. That is what connects my hands and i can say - for the whole life.

 

[Bthebassplayer]

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.

Or buy a 5-string tuned E to a high C. That way you can also play nice chords in the higher registers!

 

[el_Bajo_Verde]

To me, bass is like a language that I feel fluent in. I don't know the best way to describe it. When I hum my favorite songs in my head, I always hum the bass line. When others hum the same song, they hum the singing part or main melody. The bass is always the main part of a song that I notice. I even turn the bass up on my car radio, and turn down the treble a bit.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

I did’t have a lot of talent, so bass was the obvious choice.

 

[PWRL]

I was always innately drawn to the bass lines of a song, and immediately connected with the instrument. There's not much more to it than that. After starting the bass, I became progressively less interested in the guitar, until a few years ago. The bass is just my thing, I guess.

 

[TonyP-]

I was literally surrounded by guitarists and drummers in school.

 

[MJ_Sotti]

I had no idea there were so many guitar players on this site. Eew. Icky.

BTW, bass is all I've ever played besides French horn in high school.

 

[mrjim123]

I was born with a birthmark in the shape of the bass clef symbol. God put it there (or the devil, not sure which), so who am I to argue?

 

[murphy]

I started on acoustic guitar...rock n roll ....my sister bought me an electric guitar and I started playing in a Punk band at 15 , then a Motorhead cover band......One day I was at a party at 17 and heard Level 42....Mark King rhythmical percussive groove and I decided that was what I wanted to do...so I bought a bass and began learning to Slappa Da Bass

 

[led4thehed2]

Gene Simmons - Kiss Alive!

Gibson Grabber in Eb...mean!

 

[Dave Siff]

Short answer, because I heard Geddy Lee on Moving Pictures when I was 13.
But many years later it's because bass is the key cog in the machine. You get to play so many roles and experiment with every element of the music. And I love the instant feedback of knowing that if the band is sucking, it's me.
Everyone loves bass but many don't understand why. We're like secret agents.
And basses are cool. See my avatar.

 

[cazclocker]

So I can hang out with musicians.

 

[40Hz]

Did you go direct to bass, or have an excursion with guitar or other instruments first?

Started on upright. Gradually migrated to electric over the course of several years. Never was a guitarist although I can play one. Sorta.

 

[DrayMiles]

IMHO...

I’ve never wanted to play anything other than bass.

Bass is always the most powerful thing in a band.
A knowledgeable musician with impeccable insight is a force unto themselves. If you’re playing bass, whether keyboard et. Al., you are a force. Bass is a mallet on the musical desk of righteousness!

 

[kodiakblair]

Couple of friends were learning guitar and wanted to start a punk band,got told I was the bass player.

Fella down the street was selling a bass for £1. I had £1.

38 years later I still wonder how different my life would be had I spent the £1 on a slug gun

 

[mmbass21]

@vindibona1 My dad played guitar professionally but never wanted to teach me so I played trombone in high school and college. In high school my best friend at the time got a bass for Christmas and he taught me Money and I instantly fell in love with it. I borrowed a Memphis P-bass from my dad's keyboard player and taught myself. About 2 months later Sam Ash had a 70th anniversary giveaway and I wound up winning a Fender Precision Lyte Standard. I enjoy what bass brings to a band. I'm horrible on guitar and haven't touched a trombone in at least 10 years,

 

[rodv66]

Guitar is too small for my hands

 

[Mockyngbyrd]

Because at the time my parents could only afford to get me 4 strings...

 

[mellowgerman]

For me I think it all started when I began to notice John Deacon's bass lines in Queen (which was my favorite band from the time I was 6 until my early teens when the pop-charts momentarily clouded my good judgement).
Also though, I went to a relatively small school where the only stringed instrument anybody really played in the high school band was bass; both upright and electric were options because the band director used to play bass primarily in the 60's and 70's. Of course, in that scenario, all the cool kids were bass players and we'd hurry to get set up so we could riff around a bit before rehearsal.

 

[BassBrass]

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.

I, ser, know what a Vindibona IS, I was at Osman Music when that Adam Rapa kid (he must be in his 30s by now) was having his worked on...JB would make a tweek and Adam would play a triple G at FFF or something...I may be wrong, who would replace the bell on a Bach Vindibonda? Anyway, I'm a bass player because in HS I was in the cafeteria heading to the gym and it just occurred to me that I could be a bass player in a rock band if I wanted too. I'd done a stint on baritone horn and knew all the cello to baritone parts in the rep we covered. I've done all my touring as a trumpet player, but I write music on bass, it's better for that, much.