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Why did you decide to play bass?

#41
Played flute and trumpet in school. Got an acoustic guitar in 7th grade. Then started getting rock albums, like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Foghat and Steppenwolf. Loved the sound of JPJ bass playing and Jimmy Page was so over my head at the time. Got a bass and never looked back.

I do like to play guitar as well. I fill in when our guitarist can't make it at church. Got my trusty Yamaha Acoustic for 30 years. Also an Alvarez 12 string, and my homemade explorer.
 
#45
Piano -> tuba -> bass. I got my first bass from another tuba player in high school. I was just getting in to prog rock and fusion jazz (mostly Weather Report) and between Geddy, Squire, and Pastorious I just thought bass was way cooler than guitar, so when the offer to get one came up, I talked my dad into getting it for me for Christmas. Best. Present. Ever. A 77 Jazz bass I have to this day, purchased in 1980 from the original owner. Thanks Chris! And you too Dad!
 
#48
My good friend (since nursery school and still to this day 38 years later) Bryan Kelly, had played drums since grade school, and at some point in High school told me I "looked like a bass player". I thought about it and really liked the idea of "rocking out" in any case, my parents decided to encourage this and bought me my first bass for X-mas 1994. It was a brand new Fender American Standard P bass. It's what I learned on... eventually I outgrew it, as I think it's quite possibly the worst sounding P bass I'd ever heard... The Closest thing I can think of to the best tone that came out of that bass is the bass on Rappers delight by Sugar Hill Gang. In any case I grew up on Rush etc, I still have my Ric 4003 I got around 1986. I sucked when I started in 1984 but now days I'd say that My friend Bryan sized me up correctly. I AM a bass player lol.
 
#49
"Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & the Drells (I was in 10th grade.)

Then moved to acoustic guitar in college in the early 70s, but went back to the bass about nine years ago. I wouldn't call the guitar years lost, but I get a lot more joy from playing the bass than I ever did playing guitar.
 
#51
My friend could play Kiss songs on his guitar so I asked him to teach me. He told me that I should start on Bass and "graduate " to guitar later. Pretty sneaky because he really just wanted a bass player. That was at thirteen and I'm 42. I played in Las Vegas for twenty years after graduating school and it's kept me out of trouble as well.
 
#52
Someone who entered my life for a very short time, seemingly just to give me a Tool record, Æenema, as a birthday gift, got me hooked - even if it took several years to break through. I totally fell in love with the band, still it took me years to recognize that the sound i love the most is the Bass.

After playing Rock Band for the first time I decided to give the real thing a shot. A friend of mine told some storys of his early 20's band exploits and he was a bassist also, i didnt know that before. He had an old Squier P-Bass and lent it to me. So it basically all just happened in a very short time then, after boiling for a decade ;) I took lessons, joined a band after ~10 Months... and now i can't imagine my life without the Bass Guitar.

It is just the best sounding instrument. Period.
 
#54
I didn't really start listening to music untill high school. My friend started to learn how to play guitar and I felt the urge to learn to play an instrument. At the time I listened to a lot of Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto and I realized I noticed the bass the most. I borrowed a friends Squier P Bass and it just felt right. It also fits my personality best.
 
#55
My brother-in-law had a band together and the guy they had playing bass was an "Eddie Van Halen" wannabe. He'd sort of play bass while they jammed but in the breaks he'd grab my BIL's guitar and shred.

They gave him the boot and BIL said to me "Marty, you're gonna play bass."
 
#56
There are several reasons I started playing.....

I played piano in junior high, and baritone horn in highschool. I attempted to learn guitar when I started college. My fingers are too fat to play right and I cant play fast enough to keep myself entertained.

At one point my guitar had only 3 strings on it, so i walked to guitar center for a few single strings. For a few weeks I had a 3 string bass until on of my friends sold me her short scale bass.

I'm also the bass player of life in my circle of friends, put of sight in the background supporting everybody else until their spiel falls apart....so that was some more incentive
 
#58
It was a challenge I couldn't back down from. A musician friend wanted my vox on a project and said I'd be fun to work with, but that I needed to play an instrument, too. He told me to pick. I volunteered the other things I already play (flute, piccolo, alto sax, piano). He said Nope, so I asked what he thought suited me. He told me, "Bass fits your persona - laid back, dependable, solid, and you have the rhythm for it. But it's hard, so you might not like it." Challenge ACCEPTED.
 
#60
I picked up the bass last november, and I can't exactly tell why I did it. Just out of curiosity, I guess. In fact, so curious I was about playing bass that I almost immediately registered for one-on-one bass lessons, and rented a cheap Squier P. I was playing guitar at the time, but I wasn't all that motivated to continue, so I said "what the heck, I'll try something different". Since I started bass, I basically haven't stopped. So, I guess I just found an instrument that fits me. Besides, one of the songs that gives me inspiration is "Hyena" by Rancid, which features an awesome bassline. I can't still play it flawlessly despite constant practice, but once I get it, I will know I can move on to harder, faster songs. Still, that bassline will rock forever!

Now I play bass only, and my poor guitar is accumulating dust now. I hardly play it now. I'll prolly should sell it and get another bass, he he!

P.S. I never did like to play guitar chords, and my hands are too fat/ clumsy to play the little strings anyway. The bass is the perfect solution to that.
 

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