just curious as to why people would choose bass over guitar. i picked it because i dont like copying what everyone else is doing. and i like low frequency 
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why did you choose the bass?
- Thread starter zacharyk88
- Start date
i started on violin in 3rd grade then went to alto/tenor sax in 6th grade and have been playing sax for 12 years now. But in high school I started getting into rock and bands. A buddy picked up guitar and asked me if I wanted to start a band with him cause he knew that I knew music.
I just picked the bass...
funny thing is, is that I grew up with a drum set in my room that was my dads all my life and I neve really touched it at all haha...go figure I wish I still kind of had it
I just picked the bass...
funny thing is, is that I grew up with a drum set in my room that was my dads all my life and I neve really touched it at all haha...go figure I wish I still kind of had it
"You don't choose the bass; the bass chooses you." -John Entwistle.
My friends were forming a band in 7th grade. One played guitar, the other played drums. I had previously played trombone, so was used to lower instruments, and I had also always loved tubas/sousaphones, and generally liked the bass in music I listened to (though I hadn't known what it was). So I got a bass and we had our awful power trio.
My friends were forming a band in 7th grade. One played guitar, the other played drums. I had previously played trombone, so was used to lower instruments, and I had also always loved tubas/sousaphones, and generally liked the bass in music I listened to (though I hadn't known what it was). So I got a bass and we had our awful power trio.
My dad was better at bass than guitar. And I liked the bass more. Just did, don't really know why...
i like it because im not precise enough to use a stupid pick and hit more than one string at a time 
Heh. It takes practice. I can play some guitar, but I'm not too good at it. Which is another reason why I play bass more than guitar.
The groove and the sheer force of all those low frequencies appeals to me far more than any shredding or beating on a set of drums ever will.
That said, I was a guitard first, but my school jazz band needed a bassist.
That said, I was a guitard first, but my school jazz band needed a bassist.
Less Strings.... + I saw The Beatles on there first trip to the US on Televison and thought someday.
Actually all of my school friends play guitar or piano so they needed a bass player....
Actually all of my school friends play guitar or piano so they needed a bass player....
That's exactly what I was going to say.
I didn't choose the bass, it chose me.
I remember the first time I felt the power of the low end jamming with a good drummer. My grin was wide and I was jumping all over the place. It was five years later when I really fell in love, though.
Now i'm a lifer.
It's a good fit for me, because I love melody but tend to over-complicate the process of composition with a chorded instruments (or maybe i'm just simple
). Also, my real strengths are in the rhythmic arena and now I feel like I can have the best of both worlds bumping the beat and keeping a line grooving. All the years of fingerstyle guitar were extremely helpful for me, though, especially since I like to play with funky percussive techniques. Yet it comes out so much better for me on the bass, I can express things I just can't without it. I still play guitar some but lately I feel that my guitar is forsaken...Power to the bass!
bass is the first tone that I hear when I listen to anything....repeat ANYTHING . Its not on purpose...its like a natural filter or something.
When I was a kid it was funk and disco on the older folks radios.....tv theme songs ( fat albert...barney miller etc ) . It was always the bass ...everywhere in the 70's ..you could not escape the bass .
Early music influences being Rush ..Led Zep ...Black Sabbath.. Iron Maiden to name a few.....not hard to gravitate to the bass tone in bands like that.
Even when I started listening to southern rock and blues it was still the bass..not the guitar which got to me .
Heavy stuff like Mudvein ...Primus ....One Minute Silence...Tool ..bass is always right up top.
Im cursed...but I would not have it any other way.
When I was a kid it was funk and disco on the older folks radios.....tv theme songs ( fat albert...barney miller etc ) . It was always the bass ...everywhere in the 70's ..you could not escape the bass .
Early music influences being Rush ..Led Zep ...Black Sabbath.. Iron Maiden to name a few.....not hard to gravitate to the bass tone in bands like that.
Even when I started listening to southern rock and blues it was still the bass..not the guitar which got to me .
Heavy stuff like Mudvein ...Primus ....One Minute Silence...Tool ..bass is always right up top.
Im cursed...but I would not have it any other way.
I picked it up because I was mad that I sucked at guitar. Well, I'm not bad a guitar now. I can't play death metal, but I'll survive. I can on bass. I just keep wanting to push to the next frontier and technique on the bass. Guitar bores me.
I'd always loved the feel (literally) of low frequencies as a kid. I was obsessed with bigger speakers and more bass. I feel like that helped to extend to it. [One of] My dream setup is playing a classic rock band with a P strung with flats into an SVT and 8x10. Big bass. 'Nuff said.
Plus I love to carry the groove and the melody. First time with a good drummer solidified me. He looked at me and said "I've never played with a good jazz bassist." I'd never played jazz! I just improvised a walking line (more like running up the fretboard...) under E minor. In the basement of a frat somewhere I was playing a $100 Ibanez into a Behringer 60w amp and man, I made those sound good. Got me into it for sure.
I'd always loved the feel (literally) of low frequencies as a kid. I was obsessed with bigger speakers and more bass. I feel like that helped to extend to it. [One of] My dream setup
Plus I love to carry the groove and the melody. First time with a good drummer solidified me. He looked at me and said "I've never played with a good jazz bassist." I'd never played jazz! I just improvised a walking line (more like running up the fretboard...) under E minor. In the basement of a frat somewhere I was playing a $100 Ibanez into a Behringer 60w amp and man, I made those sound good. Got me into it for sure.
You had to go there, didn't you...i know this is off topic but i really hate 5-string basses i dont know why they just anger me
I haven't started out yet, but I chose to begin playing the Bass because it is the best instrument (I think) I love its sound. When I was around 13 years I really liked the drums, but when I discovered Jaco Pastorius, and started noticing the Bass more in other songs, it became my favourite, I just love the Bass, it is a complete instrument by itslef.
When I was about 11 years old (half my life ago) I was lucky enough to watch my Mom's friend's band practice one night, and as soon as I heard the bass (which I didn't even know it was at the time) I fell in love with the much deeper, low sound of the bass.
then 2 years later a good friend of mine from school started bringing his bass to school and the rest is history...
then 2 years later a good friend of mine from school started bringing his bass to school and the rest is history...
the only thing i find annoying about the bass is (lol its not the calluses or however you spell it, i kinda like them 
) is that its kinda hard to find some songs that alot of people will recognize unlike guitar
) is that its kinda hard to find some songs that alot of people will recognize unlike guitar
i like it because im not precise enough to use a stupid pick and hit more than one string at a time
I have the opposite problem, though lately I've been playing more with my fingers. Still about 60% pick, 40% fingers though.
