Why are you a bass player?

[SlimS]

Started just before I turned 50, best move ever. I kind of regret not picking up the bass earlier, but four years in, it's more a feeling of better late than never!

 

[ELS011]

When I was 10 I was inducted into the grammar school band. I was given a Clarinet. It was a good one, made of ebony. But I was not a good Clarinet player. I blame some of that on the dorky music we had to play. The best song was the theme from Gunsmoke. We could have been learning or at been exposed to music by Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw or Woody Herman. It did not matter because I was first chair, third row (the bass row!). So while others played melodies on their trumpets, saxophone and first and second clarinet rows, I was playing bass. Whole notes, half notes and quarter. I think it set me up for playing bass about 5 years later. I got into my first band and played my first gig (rode the root notes!) at 18. Also, influences then were Jack Bruce, Larry Taylor, John Entwistle, John Paul Jones, Willie Dixon, Jack Cassidy-all the best from the late 60s and 70s. While I crossed into the dark side and am now a guitar player in a band I still play bass at a local jam once a week. I bought this 1968 Fender Telecaster bass for $100 when I was 19. This was my main instrument until the last 10 years.

 

[Kenneth E.]

I am am not a musician and I have no talent but wanted to be in a band.

 

[Hypercaffium]

I keep reading posts by people saying that they started to play bass because they were not so talented as musicians but wanted to be in a band.
Why do you think that the lack of talent is somehow leading people to play the bass?

 

[iboughtabass]

I just punched a few licks on my SVT-7 and I figure they heard that a half mile away. Happy Labor day.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

[fauxtoe]

Because the guitar was just too dang hard...

Really though, for the ladies. I had a girlfriend years ago who was obsessed with my fingers while I played. She ended up marrying a bass player (not me). Trust me...wink wink...she wasn't disappointed then and I'm sure she still is enjoying it now.

Really really though, it's way more fun than guitar even though I play both. Bass is my main instrument by far and large and the only guitar I own right now is one that I inherited from my grandfather. I've never played guitar for a band in a live setting except for very early in my playing days. The bass just speaks to me and I have a better ear for rhythm and groove. The first time I played a bass I knew it's what I wanted to keep playing. 20 years later I'm having the most fun I've ever had.

 

[FenderHotRod]

I played guitar all through high school and college. I got burned out from playing so much I quit for about a year. Then when the mood struck to play again I went to bass for awhile. Then went back to playing guitar for awhile. Well now I’m back to playing bass after I saw the Candy Apple Red P bass with a maple neck at my local music store.
Well now I’m back at it again. Now I’m learning it all over again, and really digging it. Just love the growl of the bass while I play.