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Why did you start playing bass?

#181
I think with me it was because I've been into music my whole life, it's one of the most important things in my life. When you've listened to music for a long time, you just get more 'analytical' (sp?), so I think I started listening more to what all the different instruments were doing, instead of looking at music as a whole.

I think what really made me want to pick up a bass was Carlos D. 's playing in Interpol. So I saved up, went to a shop, bought a crappy Peavey with a ton of neck dive, because the body is plywood :) , bought a Peavey amp and by coincidence got in a band. And now almost 3 years later I'm playing a fretless Spector through a lovely amp, and I still can't believe it :D .

I also play guitar in our band, and there are periods in which I'm more attracted to guitar, but I always come back to bass, I just love the feel of it, and I have way more confidence in my bass playing than in my guitar playing, although I'm not a bad guitarist I think.
 
#182
A friend gave me a CD by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, "La MArcha del Golazo Solitario" The bassist is incredible (at least for me he is) on that album and I really got turned on to their music and bass as a consequence. I didn't start playing the bass until a few months later when we realized that we needed drums and bass in our worship services, two folk guitars was just not cutting it anymore...The rest is history, a love affair with five strings (and fretless):D
 
#184
weasel flejtuch said:
I used to play the electric gitar for few months and I saw how Les Claypool plays bass :) Slapping was totally incredible for me and I wanted to learn it.

PS. Sorry for my English.
Click to expand...

Good reason to pick up the bass. I married a Polish Princess, so I understand you Perfectly!

I wanted to learn for pretty much the same reason, but different Genre. Waaaaaaaaay back, before MTV, there were shows on Late nite Friday & Saturday such as Don Kirshners Rock Concert, and Wide World - In Concert, that showed bands playing live. I saw Black Sabbath playing at California -Jam 1, and was MERMERIZED by Geezer Butlers bass playing. The Horrible Sound, and the hair being shaken, and blown in the wind! I think it was the same night, as Cal-Jam was a 3 part concert, that Deep Purple played. Glen Hughes was on bass at that time, and he was AMAZING! Not so much his playing, but his look, and what he added to the Whole.

The next day I took my Silvertone Guitar apart, and made a bass out of it. I bought a set of Bass strings at Robert Hall Village, refiled the nut, modified the bridge, and taught myself Iron Man & Smoke on the Water. My father nearly Beat me for "Destrying" the $15 guitar he had bought me at an auction, and made me put it back together as a guitar. I played guitar for about 2 years, but I still had the Fire for the Four String. I finally bought a Proper Bass, and NEVER looked back.
 
#185
Why? I’m not real sure, but here’s how.

I’ve played keys and sax professionally for over 30 years and decided to stop touring and come home to help raise my kids. This gave me lots of extra time and I wanted to play something that would be easy to take to the local jam sessions, keys require too much stuff just for a few songs.

I also think I was going thru some sort of mid-life crisis and buying a bass was cheaper than a convertible or an affair, so I bought one a few years a go. I didn’t have to learn music all over, just look at it differently, bass has a different function.

I’ve had a blast with the bass and love playing and buying them. I’ve met a whole different group of musicians and made many new friends thanks to the bass guitar.

In my three years or so of playing and buying basses, amps, cases and bass stuff, I’ve come to realize that the convertible or the affair might have been cheaper.

But I’m happy I took up the bass guitar.
 
#186
The bassist in a friends band moved two weeks before a gig, and since I knew how to play piano (theory) and drums (rythm) they thought it'd be a smart move to give me the bass player role.

So, they gave me a cheap fender copy and a tape with their songs (without bass) and told me to learn how to play them and make some nice lines. I did, and fell in love with the instrument.
 
#187
I've been listening to classic rock since I was in my mum's stomach, and bass lines are always what made my smile and hum along, so one day I asked for a bass at christmas and got it. Havent stopped playing since.
 
#188
Well due to a lack of sufficient funding, space and sound proofing needed for a drum kit which was all I wanted to play about 2 and a half years back I was really down.

Then I started listening to Primus, and Claypool just blew me away - the bass was so prominent, it had tone for miles and just stood out wildly. Once I'd picked out the basslines in my Primus CDs I began paying attention to the bass on my other albums, and then it all made sense to me.

I'm very very glad still to this day I picked up Brown Album when I did, in case I'd turned to extreme measures and picked up a guitar:eek: (those things do not appeal to me at all). And to be honest, I can't see myself as a drummer.
 
#190
I was in between sixth and seventh grade. My older brother was not doing very well in school and my parents wanted to give him an incentive. When they asked him what he wanted he replied that he wanted a canoe. So they make a deal with him. If he got straight A's the following year they would buy him a canoe.

This didn't sit well with me. Why should my brother get something for getting straight A's and not me? I just didn't think it was fair and I told them so. Surprisingly, they agreed with me and asked me what I would like.

Now, at that point in my life, I had never seen an electric guitar up close and I had never even seen a bass guitar except in an old Sears catalog that I had found. That whole summer, however, I had been drooling over the instruments in that Sears catalog.

So why did I choose bass and not guitar? That summer I had asked my dad what the differece between the two are. The one thing that really swayed me was that he said that bass playing was less common. BINGO!!!! I wanted to be unique.

The conclusion of the story is that the following year for Christmas I received an Ibanez TRB100 and 20W Peavey amp. 12 years later I'm still loving playing bass.
 
#191
I started playing bass back in November because the jazz ensemble at my new job (igh school) did not have a bassist. Started playing the school's Yamaha somethingorother.

I had always loved bass and being a tuba player, it i a natural double... a lotta tuba players do it. I had even borrowed a bass and piddled about with it about 10 years ago. But the necessity of playing with the kids got me rollng on it. Bought my first bass in January, and my second a few weeks ago... I have been taking lessons since February. I love it. Now I'd really like to find a couple guys like me... hacks... to jam with.
 
#192
at first, I didn't even want to play an instrument. My mom was constantly nagging on me to play something, and I just had no interest. I had a buddy back then (it was in 3rd grade)
that played bass, and he said it was way cool. So I decided Hey, why not? (my mom was going to put me on trumpet X{ so I really wanted an alternative)


now, I play about 2 hours a day every day, I'm giving lessons, and I'm currently on the hunt for music colleges. Quite a turnaround!
 
#193
Wanted to play something more badass than classical piano. Friend played guitar -- wanted to start a band.

Everyone plays guitar -- traditionally I tend to fray from the majority. So I picked bass and started studying the work of relatively modern bassists that challenged me to get better.
 
#194
I wanted to play guitar from a very young age. Ma said I had to learn a "real" instrument first. I took up trumpet, did very well. But come to my early teens, I was sick of the trumpet....

I got a 6 string acoustic for Christmas when I was all of 13 or 14, but had a hard time playing as I cannot hit just one string at a time on my fretting hand,and it is nigh impossible for me to form some of the chords....and I was not gonna be some slide playin honky tonker.....

I began noticing I was always drawn to the low end and many of the songs I liked had terrific bass riffs and a bit of funk.. Stevie Wonder, Wild Cherry, Kiss, Cheap Trick, Zeppelin, Cream, Rush, The Who etc...

So, at 16 I got a bass.....by 20 I was done with it, I had injured 3 fingers on my right hand and could not play for a good long while. It was even longer to get any measure of dexterity back in my fingers. I could use my index finger, but that was it. I got frustrated and other things took my time......I did a stint as sound and light for a friends band for a spellover about a year, part time though. During my rehab, at a low point, a friend offered my a tidy amount for my T 40, and off it went.

At 30 something I bought another bass, a middle level Ibanez. I had it for less than a year and money got reeeeeeaaal tight...so it went bye bye....at 42 I got the current bass, it is stayig and another is joining the stable real soon...
 
#196
In 3rd grade me and a group of friends decided to start a band. None of us knew how to play anything. One kid called drums and two called guitar. I didn't even know what a bass was at the time so I decided I would play keys. Parents signed me up for lessons and I HATED IT. My piano teacher was also a guitarist and between my lack of getting any better (or practicing) and him playing guitar during my lessons my 3rd grade mind said "COOL PLAY GUITAR". So my parents got me a guitar (iunno how they kept up with me). I learned a few songs and then decided I didn't like picks and my hands were to small. Sold the guitar (if memory serves me right a black Fender Strat but I could be wrong). Fast forward to 7th grade. I decide I want to play an instrument again. Still don't really know what bass is- I've seen them but never heard a very good live bassline (I was heavy into hip hop at the time). So back to guitar. Still hate it. That was fun. Oh yea and I knew I wasn't meant to be a guitarist when I started playing with my fingers because I didn't like picks and only playing the E and A strings because I didn't like how high pitched the others were. And since I didn't have a tuner (or know what it was supposed to be tuned to anyway) down tuning was my way of fighting back. Badly. Then this year 9th grade the urge to make noise came back gave it some thought (and was into mostly alternative rock and classic rock by now) and decided I wanted to play bass. I love it.
 
#197
I wanted to start learning to play guitar, dad asked which type, I picked bass. Buddies and I started a band in high school, been playing ever since. That was about 12 years ago. Now I own both my '65 SG Eb0, and a yamaha rbx374. I love playing the bass and I'm not going to stop anytime soon.
 
#198
I was 14 years old at the time, and a couple of my good junior high buddies were taking up guitar, keys and drums.

Realizing that they were all of a sudden becoming magnets for the JR high girls, I immediatly wanted to join in the fun.

I asked in...And one of them pointed to a picture of Bill Wyman on a Stones album and said, we need you to do what he does. So I did...and I've been in love with the bass ever since.

Jazz
 
#199
About 100 years ago my older brother played drums and had his beautifully crappy band ("BRUT FORCE") rehearse in our basement. It was always 2 guitars/drums/vocals. I was inspired to buy a crappy guitar and take lessons. I didn’t even know what a bass was.

6 months later a new guy came down the basement. His guitar’s neck was longer and skinnier and it had cool thicker strings .

Then the “long necked guitar” player kicked in with my brother’s band.
Wow! I was blown away by how that instrument transformed the sound of that crappy band.

Mom! I want one of those- - - -
 
#200
MaddAnthony_59 said:
Glen Hughes was on bass at that time, and he was AMAZING! Not so much his playing, but his look, and what he added to the Whole.
Click to expand...

I think I'v seen vids of them playing Burn during this Concert, and His playing is pretty darned nice. However, I agree, he contributes alot more than just the bass to the band, he's singing is out of this world.
 

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