Why bass?

[tothemax]

I was a mediocre guitar player with a few good chops and a decent ear. Like many others I got corralled into playing bass in a small club band where I picked up the (wait for it...) bass'ics . But it's funny... after being a hack for 40+ years and playing in a number of bands I started getting into guitar learning/theory YouTube channels like Rick Beato, Rhett Shull, and Marty Schwartz. Since then the bass has taken on a new feel and center for me. It's a power position in a band and a decent bass player can really affect the music and groove. While I still enjoy guitar, I really love the challenge of learning and playing bass. Plus as our sax player has mentioned time and again, guitar players are like cockroaches. The rhythm section is nice place to hang out.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

It was the sound of the instrument for me. When I heard it, I decided I should be making those sounds.

 

[Snaxster]

What do you want them to do? Start a Why Bass?-forum and move every similar post with a Haiku to this it?

I don't want them to do anything.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I was always drawn to the sound and feel of how the bass fit into the song. Yes, I started on guitar and always played the bass line on guitar in my first band. I soon traded my guitar in for a bass (in 1974) and never looked back.

My earliest influences were Dennis Dunaway, from Alice Cooper, and Mel Schacher, from Grand Funk Railroad. Now, at 64, I play only short scale basses and still perform in a classic rock/Motown band!
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That first bass has a little Felix Pappalardi vibe going on.

 

[TJH3113]

Gene Simmons.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

What drew you to the bass? I’ve noticed that there’s a certain undefinable ‘type’ who plays bass. From Tal to Jaco, to victor to Stanley, from Nigel Olsen, Herbie flowers, John deacon, andy Taylor, Susie Quatro, entwhistle, mccartny and on and on, most bass players are bass players and suit the instrument somehow.
Why are you?

I don’t go with notion there is a “type” that plays bass. I think as many players ended up on bass by accident as those who choose bass over other instruments. I do believe there’s a “type” that hears tones, intervals, rhythm patterns & other sound / music related things much better than others. Those are the people that make good musicians, and if they end up playing bass, they usually make a good bassist.

My story is probably like a large percentage of bass players; I had already started learning to play guitar & was progressing faster than average per some of my guitar playing friends who had started playing guitar long before me. A couple friends who I was jamming with on guitar had started playing a set of songs on a regular basis and wanted to form a band. I wanted to be in the band, but there wasn’t a need for 3rd, less experienced guitarist. A local music store had a used bass for cheap, and at the urging of my friends, I bought it and started learning a little about bass. Time passed, I practiced with the band and at home, the band started playing at private parties, then got hired for a private dance at a local college. From there it was continued practice, increasing number of gigs, larger gigs at festivals, events, etc. I got better with experience, acquired better gear, started getting opportunities to play with a lot of different bands / individuals, got into different music genres, started playing fiddle & upright bass. Still going…

 

[MoireBass]

In most western music, bass is the hub of the wheel and all the other musical parts rotate around it.

 

[39-Bassist]

I started with an acoustic for 9 months and went this is ok but doesn't feel right. Then went to an electric for 6 months and still didn't feel right to me. I then picked up a bass and went oh yeah this is what I need...And the rest is history as they say.

 

[BioDriver]

It was fun and sounded cool

 

[2112]

In most western music, bass is the hub of the wheel and all the other musical parts rotate around it.

What about with country music?

 

[Discount Bassy]

I grew up playing sax in elementary, middle and a bit of high school and made it into all county and all state bands and did some solo performances around other schools...then quit to pursue what I thought was more important academic subjects. In college, my GF became pregnant and then my wife and out of college (physics, mathematics and classical guitar/music theory) I went to pursue a mechanic's career for the money. I was born to the mechanical endeavor and hated most of it, ruining my hands, knees, back and spirit. When my daughter turned 13, she revealed herself to be a gifted artist without an inkling of music and I realized it was my fault for never exposing her to my love of sound. I bought us each a used guitar, bass and small amp. She never really pursued it. I found a guy to back me on bass and realized quickly that he was something of a blues Yoda on guitar. I assumed the role of bass and started playing with him at open mics weekly for a year and then was picked up by a band and started gigging 1-3 times a week thereafter.

I wasn't drawn to the bass initially. I never really listened to it. I knew all of the classic rock songs that my first band wanted to play, but not the bass lines, so I just made up what sounded appropriate with a few signature licks to tie it together. They preferred my licks. I've been blessed with a really good ear. I grew to love the bass and realized after playing with a bunch of different folks in one-off "all star" bands that I was not the sort of bassist that they were used to (I wouldn't just play to the hard "root-five only" rule and would listen and accommodate about anything, no matter how wide in the turns or experimental things got). I realized that I was a musician when I played the bass. I felt like more of a technician on the sax. I basically re-discovered woodwinds after learning bass by ear and was able to transfer that knowledge base.

Blah blah...mutter...what? I got my first bass in my very late thirties, my first "sweet" bass in my middle forties and my first, sweet, only fretless at fifty one. What was the question?

 

[dbsfgyd1]

What drew you to the bass? I’ve noticed that there’s a certain undefinable ‘type’ who plays bass. From Tal to Jaco, to victor to Stanley, from Nigel Olsen, Herbie flowers, John deacon, andy Taylor, Susie Quatro, entwhistle, mccartny and on and on, most bass players are bass players and suit the instrument somehow.
Why are you?

Well I think my first disclaimer is I am in no way on the level of any of those performers. My second disclaimer is as a technician I'm a little below the line. I think the best way to describe me is I'm a really good second rate bassist.

With that out of the way, I would have to say that from my earliest rememberences from back in the 50's listening to countless 1-4-5 progressions in pop music at the time, I understood the logic of the directional work of a bass line. It's always been there.

I started playing guitar in the heyday of the 60s "folk music" era finger picking along and playing simple bass parts with my thumb. My 6th grade teacher heard me play and asked me if I could do that on the bass and if I'd sub with his polka band on a gig. So afterwards he tells my band director I played bass. Band director starts getting parts with electric bass parts and I'm now known as a bassist.

In middle school I was in some groups as a or the guitar player. By the time I got to senior high some upper classmen asked me to play bass in a band they were starting. it was like sure, these guys were pretty good. I still considered myself as a guitar player, but as the band developed it became a full time musical committment, gigging started and I really didn't have much time to play guitar. Maybe some stuff in the recording studio, but for the most part the days of me as a professional guitarist was over.

So here I am 52 years later, still playing with these guys.

 

[Rfan]

It was the easiest instrument to be ok at.

 

[lbbc]

That first bass has a little Felix Pappalardi vibe going on.

It's a great little bass. I have thought about selling it, because I don't play it as much as the others....but end up keeping it because of nostalgia AND it sounds good!!

 

[mongo2]

It happened when our uncle bought us a small 45 player and a copy of Bobby Helms' Jungle Bell Rock for Christmas in the late '50s when I was about 6 years old. The sound of the four note walk down in the intro got me interested in bass.

 

[IamGroot]

I have always been attracted to the big bottom. It makes the rocking world go round.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

In 1972, there were LOTS of 13 year old guitarist's, and PLENTY of 13 year old drummers.
But unlike today, There was almost NO 13 year old bass players.
I quickly realized that the bass was my golden ticket.

 

[Hot Rats]

I couldn't afford drums. In other words, my father said "are you crazy? I'm not spending that kind of money on something that will have an inch of dust on it a couple of months!" So, 42 years later, I'm still a bass player. They thought it was just the next fad.

 

[Auspuff]

What drew you to the bass? I’ve noticed that there’s a certain undefinable ‘type’ who plays bass. From Tal to Jaco, to victor to Stanley, from Nigel Olsen, Herbie flowers, John deacon, andy Taylor, Susie Quatro, entwhistle, mccartny and on and on, most bass players are bass players and suit the instrument somehow.
Why are you?

Low-end, which shakes your soul, is addicting.

 

[J-Mags]

It's the lowest, duh!

I picked up bass later in my musical life, but I'd been on a downward trajectory, frequency-wise, for years.