Nearly thirty years ago a(guitarist)friend of a(drummer)friend needed a bass player to complete his little Cheap Trick/Kiss/Ted Nugent/Sex Pistols band. Several crappy bands & a choice few good ones later, I still love it like(nearly)nothing else.
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Why did you start playing bass?
- Thread starter HamOnTheCob
- Start date
At age 40 some guys from work approached me and said: "We need a bass player for our band, and we've chosen you."
I wanted to play guitar and drums like my brother. He said that my fingers were too short for guitar.
Started drums at twelve after my Dad's church split. All of the musicians except for one left.
My friends and I decided that we would each learn an instrument. I gravitated to drums because of my older brother.
After a few weeks, my best friend, who had picked bass, decided that we would show each other what we knew.
Within a few weeks I was a better bass player than he was. And, my drumming wasn't improving as fast as I would have liked.
He gradually stopped coming and I started playing bass more and more.
At 16, I heard Tom Sawyer and Yyz on the radio and knew that I had found my calling in life!
The rest is history. I have been playing now for over 25 years and enjoy it more every passing day.
Started drums at twelve after my Dad's church split. All of the musicians except for one left.
My friends and I decided that we would each learn an instrument. I gravitated to drums because of my older brother.
After a few weeks, my best friend, who had picked bass, decided that we would show each other what we knew.
Within a few weeks I was a better bass player than he was. And, my drumming wasn't improving as fast as I would have liked.
He gradually stopped coming and I started playing bass more and more.
At 16, I heard Tom Sawyer and Yyz on the radio and knew that I had found my calling in life!
The rest is history. I have been playing now for over 25 years and enjoy it more every passing day.
Honestly in tribute to Entwistle when he died. I loved that man so much. Still do. So far I'm still doing a pretty lame job filling the void he left .
.
Since the VERY first time I heard electric bass guitar in a live situation, I was 'hooked'. It musta been that growly sound combined with that 'punch' that smacks your midsection.. especially when it locked in tight with the kick drum!!
I realized I never hummed the melodies, it was always the bassline. Also, bass just feels so comfortable, natural, RIGHT, as compared to any other instrument, like guitar, which feels too small, loose, awkward.
Because I wasn't smart enough to play gu!t*r.
I got into bass because that was the only instrument that looked cool and could rattle people's nads.
I got into bass because that was the only instrument that looked cool and could rattle people's nads.
I was playing rhythm g****r in a blues band, back in 1979. One night, the bass player - who'd been using a bass that belonged to the lead guitarist/band leader - quit right before a show. I asked the band leader who he was going to get to fill in. He just grinned and handed the bass to me.
Been playing bass ever since, and wouldn't change unless the money was right.
~John
Been playing bass ever since, and wouldn't change unless the money was right.
~John
I learned to play g**tar in 1970, then branched off into slide guitar, banjo (I'm now a recovering banjo player, thank you, haven't touched one in 25 years), and harmonica.
In 1981 I bought a cheapo bass and a little solid-state amp, and put together a group so I could learn to play it. That lasted from July into November, at which time I was recruited into a trio to play lead (g**tar and harmonica -- I've always been better on harp than on anything else ).
Over the next 10+ years the bass player from the trio and I put together various bands, and every now and then he would want to play g**tar so I ended up with bass.
Then I got into recording, and acquired a Carvin LB20 so I could record bass parts. That worked pretty well, and then a lady with whom I had recorded a CD (me on Dobro and bass) recommended me to a guy who was looking for a bass player for a one-time gig as the opening act for a CD release party.
After that I worked on recording for a couple of years until the same guy and I hooked up again and we started gigging as a duo (rhythm g**tar, bass, vocals & drum machine). That worked so well that we recruited a lead player and a live drummer, and we've been going strong, gigging several times a month for local dance halls, ever since.
Along the way I have become a born-again Fender player, and now have a '51 P RI, a '50s P, a fretless J, and, as of yesterday, another P destined to become a fretless.
For the first time I'm a full-time bassist, and it's something I wish I'd gotten into years before.
In 1981 I bought a cheapo bass and a little solid-state amp, and put together a group so I could learn to play it. That lasted from July into November, at which time I was recruited into a trio to play lead (g**tar and harmonica -- I've always been better on harp than on anything else
).Over the next 10+ years the bass player from the trio and I put together various bands, and every now and then he would want to play g**tar so I ended up with bass.
Then I got into recording, and acquired a Carvin LB20 so I could record bass parts. That worked pretty well, and then a lady with whom I had recorded a CD (me on Dobro and bass) recommended me to a guy who was looking for a bass player for a one-time gig as the opening act for a CD release party.
After that I worked on recording for a couple of years until the same guy and I hooked up again and we started gigging as a duo (rhythm g**tar, bass, vocals & drum machine). That worked so well that we recruited a lead player and a live drummer, and we've been going strong, gigging several times a month for local dance halls, ever since.
Along the way I have become a born-again Fender player, and now have a '51 P RI, a '50s P, a fretless J, and, as of yesterday, another P destined to become a fretless.
For the first time I'm a full-time bassist, and it's something I wish I'd gotten into years before.
Cause everyone else played guitar and I thought bass sounded cooler.
That and sailing the seas of cheese.
That and sailing the seas of cheese.
Used to play saxophone, hated it. Then I was in probably 5th or 6th grade and my friends were starting a band. Of course I wanted to play drums or guitar or something, but they needed a bass player, and its the the best thing I have ever done... because of my friend asking me to play bass, i now have a life-long passion 
Well, I started because I wanted to try out a musical instrument. I thought the bass would be easy because it only had four strings. Silly me. 
I got thrown on it because all my other friends could play guitar and such. So jam away we did...I really sucked. I really like it though. So I started to play more and more and yeah. I am a bass player now. Loving it to I might add.
