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why bass?
- Thread starter mikal
- Start date
- Oct 18, 2012
- 6,683
- 5,538
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Fender, Spector, Ampeg, Curt Mangan, Nordstrand Pickups, Korg , Conquest Sound
It's easier than guitar.
I disagree. I know plenty of great guitar players who cannot play bass. It takes a totally different approach because not only are you responsible for keeping time, you also have to make sure that everything you are playing is in the correct key. Not as easy as it seems. Then again, maybe I feel this way because I play bass, guitar and keys.
Keyboard players thinking they can play bass is kinda like (most)guitar players thinking they can play bass. They think it's easier and they can play some really cool licks but when it comes right down to it, they think like a keyboard player or guitar player, not a bass player. It's a mindset thing. You have to think like a bass player and know what NOT to play no matter how cool you think it is.
Just sayin'
Just sayin'
I'm 34 and still have a car stereo cause I love the bass. People kind of pick on me about it, but music isn't right without feeling the bass line, and kick drum.
Thanks guys.
I just want to play! I don't care if its bass or guitar. And I agree with one of the above posts. Pedal steel is the biz. I've never played one, but I have a lap steel that's fun to play.
Thanks guys.
I just want to play! I don't care if its bass or guitar. And I agree with one of the above posts. Pedal steel is the biz. I've never played one, but I have a lap steel that's fun to play.
Why Bass? If i don't play bass I go nuts! It has been over 35 years now, and sure enough it is still Bass that calls me to play and bass that gets me the calls to go play out. Some keyboard players can play great bass synth. Others, well, we should just tape of that part of the board to get them out of our way.
Most guitar players that think they can play bass can't do it well at all. They don't think from the bottom up through the changes. They think top down.
It is easy to be OK at bass, but it is really hard to be GREAT at it. If you dig it, go for it!
Most guitar players that think they can play bass can't do it well at all. They don't think from the bottom up through the changes. They think top down.
It is easy to be OK at bass, but it is really hard to be GREAT at it. If you dig it, go for it!
So, you posted that douche guitarist thread and you can't even play? Weak sauce.
I play bass because I saw poster of sting the police and john Taylor duran-duran...I though they are the coolest member in a band..I don't care it is more or less difficult than guitar but..the main thing they (guitarist/keyboardist) don't have our passion and soul...
Hy guys. I`m pretty new to TalkBass though I have been lurking around from time to time. This is my very first post as well 
Why bass? Well, it`s a dirty job, but somebody`s got to do it!
For me it was like seing the light when I first got my hands on a bass. I startet out trying to learn how to play the guitar at the age of 12 or such, and it just did`nt do it for me. It felt like a kid`s toy with too thin strings etc. I also tended to play basslines on the guitar.
Just happend to stumble across a 1979 Music Man Sabre bass at a friends house, picked it up, and WOW! That`s it!
I`m 33 now an have been down the bass road ever since, and agree with statements written further up that there are many guitarplayers that think thay can play bass.
Technically they "can" and most are capable of throwing some fast noisy licks on a bass where all strings are ringing all over the place, but most of them sure as heck don`t know crap about how to groove or keep time, that`s for sure!
Keyboardplayers that "play bass" with the left hand is probably the worst tho, especially if there already is a bass player on the gig. Been there, done that, and it sucks big time, especially when they pull out that lousy slap bass sample sound, and everybody is giving you, the bass player, that look
So back to the question: Why Bass?
Because it`s a serious instrument making the foundation of music, that also needs a serious born bassplayer to play it!
The way I see it anyway
Why bass? Well, it`s a dirty job, but somebody`s got to do it!
For me it was like seing the light when I first got my hands on a bass. I startet out trying to learn how to play the guitar at the age of 12 or such, and it just did`nt do it for me. It felt like a kid`s toy with too thin strings etc. I also tended to play basslines on the guitar.
Just happend to stumble across a 1979 Music Man Sabre bass at a friends house, picked it up, and WOW! That`s it!
I`m 33 now an have been down the bass road ever since, and agree with statements written further up that there are many guitarplayers that think thay can play bass.
Technically they "can" and most are capable of throwing some fast noisy licks on a bass where all strings are ringing all over the place, but most of them sure as heck don`t know crap about how to groove or keep time, that`s for sure!
Keyboardplayers that "play bass" with the left hand is probably the worst tho, especially if there already is a bass player on the gig. Been there, done that, and it sucks big time, especially when they pull out that lousy slap bass sample sound, and everybody is giving you, the bass player, that look
So back to the question: Why Bass?
Because it`s a serious instrument making the foundation of music, that also needs a serious born bassplayer to play it!
The way I see it anyway
Hy guys. I`m pretty new to TalkBass though I have been lurking around from time to time. This is my very first post as well
Why bass? Well, it`s a dirty job, but somebody`s got to do it!
For me it was like seing the light when I first got my hands on a bass. I startet out trying to learn how to play the guitar at the age of 12 or such, and it just did`nt do it for me. It felt like a kid`s toy with too thin strings etc. I also tended to play basslines on the guitar.
Just happend to stumble across a 1979 Music Man Sabre bass at a friends house, picked it up, and WOW! That`s it!
I`m 33 now an have been down the bass road ever since, and agree with statements written further up that there are many guitarplayers that think thay can play bass.
Technically they "can" and most are capable of throwing some fast noisy licks on a bass where all strings are ringing all over the place, but most of them sure as heck don`t know crap about how to groove or keep time, that`s for sure!
Keyboardplayers that "play bass" with the left hand is probably the worst tho, especially if there already is a bass player on the gig. Been there, done that, and it sucks big time, especially when they pull out that lousy slap bass sample sound, and everybody is giving you, the bass player, that look
So back to the question: Why Bass?
Because it`s a serious instrument making the foundation of music, that also needs a serious born bassplayer to play it!
The way I see it anyway
Oh yes!! ...Born to be bass player :thumbup....cheers
"Why Bass?"
Because I'm too sexy to play guitar......
Let's be serious, that describes my problem exactly!
...around 6 of us, high school sophomores, sitting around strumming 3 chord songs, didn't quite cut it. One of "us" managed to acquire a drum set, and got a line on a bass, that needed work (ie: put back together). "Ok, who wants to try bass?" At the time, like so many high-schoolers, I was learning to play guitar, also learning that I hated barre chords. So I took a stab at assembling & trying the bass. I never got that bass into playing condition, but wound up acquiring another bass. That "band" never got off the ground, but others did. That was in 1966. The rest, as they say, is history...
Common signs of a guitarist playing bass:
1.They Play open power chords
2. They Play root notes, but high up one the neck
3. They're in an indie band
4. They REFUSE to play without a pick
5. They aren't keeping time
1.They Play open power chords
2. They Play root notes, but high up one the neck
3. They're in an indie band
4. They REFUSE to play without a pick
5. They aren't keeping time
Ha, I know what its like to sit around with a bunch dudes on acoustic guitars, singing pretty songs. It all adds up to gay rather quickly. Not that there is anything wrong with gay or anything.
Bass sounds better to me. I often prefer bands with no guitar... When I was learning guitar I always wanted to learn bass parts.
I wanted to be a bass player at 15, because I dug, of all people, Gene Simmons and Paul McCartney. I wanted to be cool like them. I bought a Gibson, just like this one:
I wasn't that awful on it, but I wasn't that good, either. Some idiot broke it at a party, and with my parents help, I bought a Rickenbacker 4001, which my mother ended up selling because I was a juvenile delinquent, and had charged a bunch of gas on my dad's business account.
For years, I didn't play bass; I was mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. I had been classically trained on piano as a kid, but had lost most of my training. I tried to play bass on one of our original recordings one time, and the engineer told me to play the bass lines on the keyboard, because I was letting strings ring too much, and had no technique.
Fast forward to this band, about five years ago, and my wife was the bass player, and she wanted to sing a few songs where she didn't want to play bass, and asked me to. For awhile, I struggled along on her Washburn, then on a borrowed Washburn, and I thought of myself as not a bass player at all.
Then, my life changed forever. I bought my Fender Jazz, and the bass whispered to me, "play me, Richard. You know you've always wanted to..."
And then I realized I was a bass player.
I may still be a mediocre guitarist; a mediocre keyboard player, and a fairly decent singer, but I am slightly above mediocre on bass. I work very well with our drummer, and I really "get it." It's a fantastic instrument, and I've always loved listening to it in a rock or jazz context.
I wasn't that awful on it, but I wasn't that good, either. Some idiot broke it at a party, and with my parents help, I bought a Rickenbacker 4001, which my mother ended up selling because I was a juvenile delinquent, and had charged a bunch of gas on my dad's business account.
For years, I didn't play bass; I was mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. I had been classically trained on piano as a kid, but had lost most of my training. I tried to play bass on one of our original recordings one time, and the engineer told me to play the bass lines on the keyboard, because I was letting strings ring too much, and had no technique.
Fast forward to this band, about five years ago, and my wife was the bass player, and she wanted to sing a few songs where she didn't want to play bass, and asked me to. For awhile, I struggled along on her Washburn, then on a borrowed Washburn, and I thought of myself as not a bass player at all.
Then, my life changed forever. I bought my Fender Jazz, and the bass whispered to me, "play me, Richard. You know you've always wanted to..."
And then I realized I was a bass player.
I may still be a mediocre guitarist; a mediocre keyboard player, and a fairly decent singer, but I am slightly above mediocre on bass. I work very well with our drummer, and I really "get it." It's a fantastic instrument, and I've always loved listening to it in a rock or jazz context.
Yeah that was me also, i was never really a guitarist before a bass player but I fiddled with a guitar for about 2 months cause my brother had one and i was picking up the basslines so then I got a bass. The thing is i'd never been really attracted to bass up until then. It was never an idea that crossed my mind. Though it made sense in the end because i was always doing beats with my fingers all the time and yeah i probably should have been a drummer but couldn't afford a drum and it's a bitch to practice because its so loud so the next best thing really, since i already had a very good sense of rhythm and time keeping, was bass. Plus i wouldn't have wanted to be the guy sitting at the back in the dark anyway. It wasnt long before i realised it had been the instrument meant for me all along.
Why bass? Because no sound is complete without the bass. The drums are cut adrift without the bass and are almost unnecessary without it. The bass is the bridge between rhythm and harmony.
I originally took it up because in my teens it was impossible to find a bass player. I would listen to the parts and say, 'I can do THAT.' Ever since, every band and project I've been in, bass was the element they had been waiting for, the final ingredient.
Kinda makes you feel important…if only to other musicians.
I originally took it up because in my teens it was impossible to find a bass player. I would listen to the parts and say, 'I can do THAT.' Ever since, every band and project I've been in, bass was the element they had been waiting for, the final ingredient.
Kinda makes you feel important…if only to other musicians.
Thanks to a neighbor I learned just enough to be dangerous on bass and drums when I was ten years old. Alas, I ended up becoming a drummer. I would pick up a bass from time to time over the years, but was not bitten by the bass bug as I was pretty good drummer.
At the age of forty-eight I suffered two strokes. I lost the use of the right side of my body. (Scary stuff.) I worked hard at recovery and returned to work, although I realized that the long days and stress of my day job was killing me. I retired at age fifty. I was able to play the drums again, but never at the level that I once did. Honestly, I was thrilled to be able to play at all.
Since I was in this learning mode again (and had time on my hands) I got into hand percussion and found that it came really easy to me. I decided to try bass again. This time I wanted to get beyond playing roots and octaves. I bought a bass and started lessons. We had a family tragedy that made me stop for a bit, but I'm at the point now that I feel that I'm a "real" bassist.
I still have a good bit to learn and I'm having fun with it.
At the age of forty-eight I suffered two strokes. I lost the use of the right side of my body. (Scary stuff.) I worked hard at recovery and returned to work, although I realized that the long days and stress of my day job was killing me. I retired at age fifty. I was able to play the drums again, but never at the level that I once did. Honestly, I was thrilled to be able to play at all.
Since I was in this learning mode again (and had time on my hands) I got into hand percussion and found that it came really easy to me. I decided to try bass again. This time I wanted to get beyond playing roots and octaves. I bought a bass and started lessons. We had a family tragedy that made me stop for a bit, but I'm at the point now that I feel that I'm a "real" bassist.
I still have a good bit to learn and I'm having fun with it.
