Why did you pick bass?

[tradernick]

Grade 9. We saw the older boys playing a gig (a sock hop - anyone else have those?) and saw the girls gathered at the stage staring up at them.

Light bulb moment.

2 other friends said 'let's start a band'. I had only played classical but begged my Dad for an electric.

Showed up at rehearsal and they had their electrics ready to go... with picks in their hands. I had never used a pick in my life. I started playing with my fingers and they said 'We need a bass player and you can play with your fingers'. I wanted to be in the band so bad that I ran home and asked my Dad to take me down to the music store and exchange the guitar for a bass. And that was it.

 

[mongo2]

I picked bass because of the walkdown in the intro to Jingle Bell Rock when it came out.

 

[osv]

I thought they looked cool. I really didn’t know what a bass was, or it’s part in music.

 

[Kevin1960]

6 strings were too many, and 3 strings were too few.

 

[two fingers]

tired of picking my nose, picked bass instead

Wait.... when you start playing bass you have to stop picking your nose?????

Why don't you guys tell me these things?????

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Hi. Why did you pick bass?

When I was 12 years old in ‘62, a Surf Band had a rehearsal at my house and the low tone just hypnotized me. When I asked the bass player how long does it take to learn to play some songs. He said about 6 months. LOL! SOLD!!

 

[Kinky Afro]

My bro had been learning guitar for a year and I thought if I took up guitar he would always be better than me. So I chose bass and never looked back!

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Hi. Why did you pick bass?

I was 12, the British Invasion was just getting under way.
So I wanted to play guitar like every other kid in the world.
But I needed an edge.

I heard about going to the cross roads at midnight, but I was too young to venture out on my own, late at night.

Being as clueless as I was, the next best thing would be to take the bus to a local mall called the Crossroads Shopping Center. I did this on a Saturday afternoon. So armed with my six string, off I went.

When I got there, I sat at the bus stop and waited. After about Forty-Five minutes, a short, fat bald man came and sat down on the bench. He asked if he could see my guitar. With great anticipation I handed it over.

He looked at the guitar, he looked at me, then he started to laugh uncontrollably. I just sat there dumbfounded and speechless.

When the laughing stopped, he excused himself and got up and walked away with my guitar. I though to myself, "OK, maybe this is how it happens."
I watched him walk over to a van parked in the lot of the shopping center.

A couple of minutes later, he emerged with something in his hand that wasn't my guitar. He walked up to me with a sly grin on his face and said, "Kid, I can't do squat for you as a guitar player, you should try this instead."

He reached out his short stubby arms and I saw the most glorious thing ever. A record shop, P- Bass clone. It shone in the wonder of sunburst and tort. Those four fat strings glistening in the afternoon sunlight.

"Take it kid, it's your only shot." He snickered. Then he turned and walked away. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. As he wandered off I shouted to him concerned for the future status of my soul. "So do we have a deal?"

He stopped, turned his head, winked, and while half chuckling under his breath said, "No Kid." "No deal." "Even I can't help you with this." "Just go home and see if you can do anything at all with that thing."

Guess I should have waited until midnight?

Pics or it didn't happen? Right? Here's a photo of the Mall.

And it is situated at two main intersecting streets where I live.
So technically, is at the cross roads.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

I was 12, the British Invasion was just getting under way.
So I wanted to play guitar like every other kid in the world.
But I needed an edge.

I heard about going to the cross roads at midnight, but I was too young to venture out on my own, late at night.

Being as clueless as I was, the next best thing would be to take the bus to a local mall called the Crossroads Shopping Center. I did this on a Saturday afternoon. So armed with my six string, off I went.

When I got there, I sat at the bus stop and waited. After about Forty-Five minutes, a short, fat bald man came and sat down on the bench. He asked if he could see my guitar. With great anticipation I handed it over.

He looked at the guitar, he looked at me, then he started to laugh uncontrollably. I just sat there dumbfounded and speechless.

When the laughing stopped, he excused himself and got up and walked away with my guitar. I though to myself, "OK, maybe this is how it happens."
I watched him walk over to a van parked in the lot of the shopping center.

A couple of minutes later, he emerged with something in his hand that wasn't my guitar. He walked up to me with a sly grin on his face and said, "Kid, I can't do squat for you as a guitar player, you should try this instead."

He reached out his short stubby arms and I saw the most glorious thing ever. A record shop, P- Bass clone. It shone in the wonder of sunburst and tort. Those four fat strings glistening in the afternoon sunlight.

"Take it kid, it's your only shot." He snickered. Then he turned and walked away. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. As he wandered off I shouted to him concerned for the future status of my soul. "So do we have a deal?"

He stopped, turned his head, winked, and while half chuckling under his breath said, "No Kid." "No deal." "Even I can't help you with this." "Just go home and see if you can do anything at all with that thing."

Guess I should have waited until midnight?

Pics or it didn't happen? Right? Here's a photo of the Mall.
View attachment 3045202
And it is situated at two main intersecting streets where I live.
So technically, is at the cross roads.

Wow that brought tears to my eyes

 

[mrjim123]

I was 12, the British Invasion was just getting under way.
So I wanted to play guitar like every other kid in the world.
But I needed an edge.

I heard about going to the cross roads at midnight, but I was too young to venture out on my own, late at night.

Being as clueless as I was, the next best thing would be to take the bus to a local mall called the Crossroads Shopping Center. I did this on a Saturday afternoon. So armed with my six string, off I went.

When I got there, I sat at the bus stop and waited. After about Forty-Five minutes, a short, fat bald man came and sat down on the bench. He asked if he could see my guitar. With great anticipation I handed it over.

He looked at the guitar, he looked at me, then he started to laugh uncontrollably. I just sat there dumbfounded and speechless.

When the laughing stopped, he excused himself and got up and walked away with my guitar. I though to myself, "OK, maybe this is how it happens."
I watched him walk over to a van parked in the lot of the shopping center.

A couple of minutes later, he emerged with something in his hand that wasn't my guitar. He walked up to me with a sly grin on his face and said, "Kid, I can't do squat for you as a guitar player, you should try this instead."

He reached out his short stubby arms and I saw the most glorious thing ever. A record shop, P- Bass clone. It shone in the wonder of sunburst and tort. Those four fat strings glistening in the afternoon sunlight.

"Take it kid, it's your only shot." He snickered. Then he turned and walked away. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. As he wandered off I shouted to him concerned for the future status of my soul. "So do we have a deal?"

He stopped, turned his head, winked, and while half chuckling under his breath said, "No Kid." "No deal." "Even I can't help you with this." "Just go home and see if you can do anything at all with that thing."

Guess I should have waited until midnight?

Pics or it didn't happen? Right? Here's a photo of the Mall.
View attachment 3045202
And it is situated at two main intersecting streets where I live.
So technically, is at the cross roads.

What was the going rate for a soul back then?

 

[Feedbacker]

 

[nick4bass]

Saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, my sister & cousin were freaking out like the girls on TV. I knew I had to play rock and roll, it was something I didn't know I was missing until I heard it. But Sir Paul, as awesome as he was (still is), was like the lead singer. I just didn't connect, I couldn't be that guy.

Then I heard The Who. WHAT POWER! John Entwistle was like the coolest guy ever!
I play nothing like him, but he changed my life.

 

[grimjim]

Played guitar for years. Was asked to fill in on bass for a friend's band. Just took to it, within two weeks I was learning Chili Peppers stuff, Primus...…...

 

[Gaolee]

The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering silmite held aloft a Bass from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Lefty McGee, was to play the Bass. That is why I am a bass player!

Plus, the Lady of the Lake was a scary person who you just flat don't say no to. Did you see the biceps on that goddess? Or the teeth? I had absolutely no choice but to accept when the Lady of the Lake pointed at me and said "bass player." This is all true.

Plus, Ox.

 

[Krisfield]

When I decided I wanted to play an instrument, I joined a country music club. Started on guitar, but told to jump on to the bass, which became my primary instrument. The bass the club had was a P Bass Jr copy, mainly due to a lot young people would come to the club, and a full scale bass was too big. Great times. Was put on stage straight away even though I couldn't play, and was just starting to learn about music. Best start ever.

 

[JimK]

I thought they looked cool. I really didn’t know what a bass was, or it’s part in music.

Same here.
The Jackson 5 were also on TV a lot in that time frame...Jermaine Jackson just looked so cool.
Then, my older hipper cousin told me "...every band needs a bass player" and when I responded-
"Oh, yeah...who plays bass in The Beatles"?
When he answered McCartney...I was sold.

 

[Judgeman1999]

It was 1967; I was 12 going on 13, I played cello, and of course I wanted to be in a band. So a couple friends and I were in a back yard watching an 8th grade "graduation" party - a popular high school band was playing. I commented that I wanted to play guitar in a band and a friend of mine said: "no, you should play bass because you have big hands." The rest was history. I should point out, however, that my grandfather, Jack Drummond, who died when my mom was 2, played bass in Hoagy Carmichael's Collegians, and later in Red Nichol's Five Pennies, and other popular groups of the time - so maybe, in the end, it's just a matter of genetics.

 

[RVC5String]

Because in high school in 1977, I played trumpet in the marching band. My hockey teammates had a garage band with no bass player and they would constantly argue about who "had to" play bass. One day, my buddy says to me, "Hey, you can read music, you play bass." I said, "I don't know how to play bass." He said, "I will write out your parts in treble clef so you can read them. Here's middle C on the feet board, now you're the bass player."

It took me one gig while reading charts to realize bass players are way cooler than trumpet players in fuzzy wool outfits with feathers on their hats.

I never looked back and I'm still rocking in bars 41 years later...

 

[Petrus1849]

Hi. Why did you pick bass?

It had four strings to use not six which was great for my thick fingers.

 

[Joejobass]

Simply because for me the bass made all the difference. I grew up in the 60s and found that, upon analysis, that the reason I liked the Beatles better than the Stones, why I liked the Dead but not the Doors, what made Cream so much better than the Yardbirds, and why I loved the Motown sound, Jefferson Airplane, and Chicago, was the BASS.