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Why did you choose the bass?

#41
two fingers said:
Dang! A Ric as your first bass????? Good for you!
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A Ric was my first bass in high school as Chris Squire was my hero. But as I moved into Rocco Prestia, Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, and Jeff Berlin (trying really hard...) over the next couple of years, the Ric just wasn't doing it for me (it was me, NOT the Ric). So I got a Precsion, then a Jazz. However, each and every time I see a Ric, I smile and admire the thing. It reminds me of my youth AND they are just great to look at.
 
#42
I chose to learn bass as I was taking guitar lessons and the music school had a band program & a pre-requisite was to also learn bass.
I was reluctant to learn bass as I wanted to devote as much time as I could to guitar, but I also wanted to be in the bands--so I learned bass too--and I only played guitar in the bands.
But all the other students had to learn bass too.

I still play guitar more than bass--but I enjoy both--and while I was hesitant to start bass, I don't regret it.
And now I've been playing mandolin for almost a year...
 
#45
A similar story to others here. I remember staring at a cherry red EB-O and just getting this feeling that there was something special about the bass. Ended up with an EB-2 but the day I traded it in for my first P Bass is the day I felt I'd finally become a bass player. Been rockin' Fenders ever since but I still have a thing for cherry red Gibsons. Maybe I should scratch that itch someday... ;)
 
#46
Same story as a few others here. Play guitar and got frustrated with it. Stopped and picked up a bass, and thought "oh yes", much more me. Started with a £50 bass from a 2nd hand shop, now have a MIM Fender Jazz and love it. Still play guitar but it takes 2nd spot to bass now. So cool!!
 
#47
I was between playing drums and bass at the time (my dad and brother both play drums, already a couple kits in the house), and sat down to watch a Rush DVD with my dad. Geddy Lee just happened to hold my attention more than Neil Peart, and I never looked back.
 
#48
Well...two related reasons...

First:
JPeeBass said:
Word. My friends asked me to join their band but the drums and guitar were already spoken for so . . . .
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...In high school, a couple of friends were starting a band and I had mentioned in passing that I was considering taking up bass (after several years playing piano and trumpet).

Second:
...In general, guitarists seemed to be more plentiful than hydrogen atoms in the universe, and I just "had" to be different. ;)

And, after I started, another reason (maybe for why it stuck). Third:
...I quickly opened my ears differently than in the past to a few folks whose lines I was learning for the band: JPJ, Mike Mills, Brian Ritchie, Roger Waters, Family Man Barrett, and others.
...And then later I became enamored with the bass I heard from Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown's bands, Motown, and more.
 
#49
I started playing guitar in the mid 1960s inspired by the Beatles and British invasion. I never learned music and pretty much stayed with rhythm and chords. Often my friends would tell me that with my good sense of beat, I should take up the bass but I never wanted to be encumbered by a large instrument like that, forget a stand-up bass.

In mid 2013 I started playing ukulele and joined a 50 member senior strum and sing group (though with my voice I only did the strumming) and about a year later the leader asked if anyone would like to take up the bass to fill in our sound. Me and another member volunteered, I did mainly because I became aware of all the bass uke choices out there. After taking up the uke, I didn't touch my guitars, after taking up the bass, I have to make myself grab a uke just to keep up with it.
 
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#50
Started playing when I was 16. Everybody was playing guitar. I wanted to do something different. My dad was a working keyboard/accordion player so I always was hearing music. Started on a Aria Precision copy. I was infatuated with Geddy and Squire. Saved my money from working at the grocery store and bought myself a used Burgundy Ric in 1979. 37 years later I still have it. I am having more fun playing now than I ever did when I was younger.
 
#51
The bass chose me.

Actually, it was sort of my dad's idea. I had played piano and was playing baritone horn in school band. He thought that a bass player who could read could always get gigs, so he got me a bass for my 13th birthday, and i really took to it. I've dabbled in guitar over the years, but the bass is really where I have a voice
 
#52
To answer the question in the OP:

lemmy-kilmister-rest-in-peace-1945-2015-70.jpg
 
#54
As far as I can remember, I couldn't form a band as a guitarist and found out that nobody cared for the bassist. Felt that was unfair since there were lots of cool bassists out there and thought I should do something about that from what a then 19-years-old person could do in his position. Always rooted for the underdog. lol
 
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#55
In 1977 My buddies & I wanted to a band. My two best friends and I all played guitar but as with so many bass players, I was definitely the worst of the three by far. One suggested I try bass which I had never played or knew anything about. I borrowed one and something clicked. loved the bass and hardly touched the guitar for years. Took nearly all the cash i'd saved and bought a genuine, Hofner. Over 40 years, later that Hofner is still in the family. My eldest son now owns and plays it. it's still my favorite bass I've ever owned or played. Anyway, I never got as good as i'd have liked on bass but sure do love playing one. Over the years I picked the guitar back up, along with a couple of other instruments, but in my mind I think of myself as a bass player first. Probably always will.
 
#56
Couldn't play guitar for squat. Still can't.picked up bass and it was all by ear and weirdly natural. Studied theory over the years to get better.

Took up cello for a while. It was like bass but emotional. Play both, now, but bass is first. It makes me happy.

Boy, that was lame.
 
#57
As a kid I saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, I was immediately enamored with that violin shaped guitar (at five I had no understanding of bass).
For Christmas 1967 I got a acoustic guitar, no lessons, no follow through. The bridge soon failed as did my interest. By the age of 11 I had really taken notice of music, buying 45s, borrowing albums from older kids albums, watching local bands at picnics and parties and of course listening to the radio.
Hearing The Beatles Rain really made me sit up and take notice, that's the sound I wanted to make!
For my 11th birthday my parents bought my first bass a German made Klira 356 violin bass and my bass journey began. I still have it (along g with 4 other Kliras).
20180530_074917.jpg
 
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#58
While I enjoy playing bass it is a compromise for me. I would rather still be playing drums but they're too loud, hurt my wrists and since I am now living in a stacked condo... not neighbour friendly. I have tried to get by with Roland and Yamaha electric offerings but even though they cost multiples of a good acoustic kit they just don't provide that same feeling. Guitar was my other option but while I mostly listen to music that is primarily distorted guitar driven, that style of guitar playing sounds horrible alone to me.
 

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