Why bass?

[retslock]

I’ve told this story here before but it won’t hurt once more. In 1973 a drummer friend and I in Melbourne, Australia wanted to start a soul band. I was a guitar player back then and we spent many hours jamming in his garage. We had a good thing going and grooved for hours at a time. Back then Australia was so deeply entrenched in hard rock such as AC/DC and many similar bands. We knew the chances of finding a bass player in Australia who wanted to play soul music firstly and who could play the style decently, were thin. I at least had the desire to do it well. I had sat in on bass a few times with friends playing stuff like ‘In the Midnight Hour’ and a few Beatles tunes so we agreed I would take on bass and we could find a another guitar player. It was a very steep learning curve trying to play James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey and Jerry Jemmott lines up to scratch but I stuck at it and worked hard. I went on to a professional career on bass for many years.

 

[The_Bass_Troll]

I didn't want to play bass. Most bass players are boring and just stand in one place in the background. I wanted to be out front doing windmill spins, holding power chords, and making cool poses. I wanted to play rhythm guitar, but "Jon" told me, "If you want to join our band, you have to play bass." So for $61.00 (which was all I had) I bought an Avalon bass (that I still have) and a w.e.m. amp from my dad. I soon told "Jon" that I had a bass and an amp and he asked, "Was the only reason you bought that bass to be in our band?" to which I responded, "Yeah, but I think I should learn how to play something anyway," to which he replied, "Oh, good.....because we don't really have a band."

 

[Michedelic]

I didn't want to play bass. Most bass players are boring and just stand in one place in the background. I wanted to be out front doing windmill spins, holding power chords, and making cool poses. I wanted to play rhythm guitar, but "Jon" told me, "If you want to join our band, you have to play bass." So for $61.00 (which was all I had) I bought an Avalon bass (that I still have) and a w.e.m. amp from my dad. I soon told "Jon" that I had a bass and an amp and he asked, "Was the only reason you bought that bass to be in our band?" to which I responded, "Yeah, but I think I should learn how to play something anyway," to which he replied, "Oh, good.....because we don't really have a band."

Sounds like McCartney’s story…

“Stu was suddenly there just because he could afford the bass, and none of us could,” McCartney explained. “None of us wanted to be the bass player. It wasn’t the number one job. Nobody wanted to play bass, they wanted to be up front. The bass player was normally a fat guy who stood at the back. In our minds, it was the fat guy in the group nearly always played the bass, and he stood at the back. None of us wanted that. We wanted to be up front, singing, looking good. That was what we wanted, to pull the birds. There’s no other reason, basically.”

“So it was like oh-oh, we haven’t got a bass player. And everyone sort of turned round and looked at me. I was a bit lumbered with it, really. It was like, well, it better be you then. I don’t think you could have caught John doing it—I don’t think he would have done it. ‘No, you’re kidding. I’ve got a nice new Rickenbacker.’”

 

[Jefenator]

Bass chose me so you should probably ask bass: why me?

 

[Low End Scum]

I was given my grandma's guitar at 14 and I told her I was worried about playing music because I thought it'd be all I wanted to do if I did learn to play. I was sorta right. After 4 years of struggling, sucking, still not being able to cover even 1 song all the way through of music I liked listening to at the time I picked up my roomies bass and it made sense to me. I couldn't and still can't play guitar, but I could play bass. Instead of struggling to practice, to play, to jam with other people, I got into bands and started gigging. People actually complimented my playing. So I've stuck with it and have loved the instrument since day 1. Still have my grandma's guitar though. A Kay E100 with the original amp that she got outta the catalog she ordered it from.