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Why did you start playing bass?
- Thread starter HamOnTheCob
- Start date
As a jock in high school, I learned an important lesson... The guys in the drama department were catching more a$$ than the jocks. So I gave it a try and learned that performing and entertaining crowds were not only an avenue towards easy artsy chicks, but also were a talent and passion of mine.
A few years later in college (circa 1991), I got a wild hair that I wanted to teach myself to play guitar. So, as a brokea$$ college kid, I went and pawned my .270 Winchester (gift from my uncle) for a beat up SG knock-off bass that looked like the one Jack Bruce played in Cream. It was cheaper than the guitars the guy had, so I had some beer money left over. Anyway, a bass has two fewer strings, so it must be "easier" to play, right?
Plus... I figured if an ugly guy like Gene Simmons could get laid because he was a cool bass player, then that was clearly the way to go.
Well my dad is a musician and had this huge 69 Ampeg Colossus cab that he let me borrow. Well, I started playing this thing in my apartment with the lights down low - playing along to ZZ Top, The Doors, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc. While checking out my HOT neighbor when she came home from class - hoping she would hear the music and see me in my apartment playing a "guitar" and think I was cool.
Of course, it eventually became a passion too but like most things I found I am good at and like to do, it all started with trying to get laid.
Started playing in my dad's band shortly after that, and it's a band who has played covers for 40 years.
Therefore, I learned PDQ how to improvise, find and create basslines and think on my feet. I was hooked and although I've taught myself to play some guitar too, I just am not very interested in it. The feel, tone and raw driving power of the bass is my drug of choice now. 
A few years later in college (circa 1991), I got a wild hair that I wanted to teach myself to play guitar. So, as a brokea$$ college kid, I went and pawned my .270 Winchester (gift from my uncle) for a beat up SG knock-off bass that looked like the one Jack Bruce played in Cream. It was cheaper than the guitars the guy had, so I had some beer money left over. Anyway, a bass has two fewer strings, so it must be "easier" to play, right?
Plus... I figured if an ugly guy like Gene Simmons could get laid because he was a cool bass player, then that was clearly the way to go.Well my dad is a musician and had this huge 69 Ampeg Colossus cab that he let me borrow. Well, I started playing this thing in my apartment with the lights down low - playing along to ZZ Top, The Doors, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc. While checking out my HOT neighbor when she came home from class - hoping she would hear the music and see me in my apartment playing a "guitar" and think I was cool.
Of course, it eventually became a passion too but like most things I found I am good at and like to do, it all started with trying to get laid.
Started playing in my dad's band shortly after that, and it's a band who has played covers for 40 years.
Therefore, I learned PDQ how to improvise, find and create basslines and think on my feet. I was hooked and although I've taught myself to play some guitar too, I just am not very interested in it. The feel, tone and raw driving power of the bass is my drug of choice now. 
My older brother plays guitar.
He bought me a bass, so I would not touch his guitars.
Best thing he ever did for me.
I had wanted to play for a few years before I bought my first bass but I was convinced that the only people that got good started young (HS at the latest). I was 21. But then that X-mas I said screw it and asked for a bass. I remember being so embarrased at the music store with my Dad. The employees were gods to me and I would have been mortified if one of them had come up and talked to me. All I knew was that a few people had recommended Ibanez to me so that's what I was gonna get. I remember it was between a new SR400 for $350 and a used SR800 for $380. I got the SR400 because it had more knobs on it (more knobs=better, right?) 
.
I came back a week or so later looking for a cheap amp. The salesman was actually very nice and accomadating when I told him I was an extreme noob. He tried out a few little 50W amps and gave me his honest opinion. I ended up walking away with a Crate BX-50 for $125
.
You ask why I wanted to learn bass. Well other than obvious reason that I love music I had something to prove to myself. Not anyone else. I had had a car wreck and was currently stuck in my house (way out in the country), terminally depressed, using almost every cent of the insurance money on cheap whiskey and pot. I was in a deep, dark place seriously contemplating suicide. Practicing bass everyday made me feel like I wasn't worthless. Like I could do something right.
. I came back a week or so later looking for a cheap amp. The salesman was actually very nice and accomadating when I told him I was an extreme noob. He tried out a few little 50W amps and gave me his honest opinion. I ended up walking away with a Crate BX-50 for $125
.You ask why I wanted to learn bass. Well other than obvious reason that I love music I had something to prove to myself. Not anyone else. I had had a car wreck and was currently stuck in my house (way out in the country), terminally depressed, using almost every cent of the insurance money on cheap whiskey and pot. I was in a deep, dark place seriously contemplating suicide. Practicing bass everyday made me feel like I wasn't worthless. Like I could do something right.
Puarija said:LoL all the "for the chicks" comments. hehe
To those of you for whom that was a factor in your decision to pick up a bass, let's hear the verdict... did it work or not?
Yeah, eventually
But not with the hot neighbor chick I had originally targeted! 
Basically I started playing because I loved Metallica and I loved the bass in it. That was it, and I was sold. I went out and bought a Memphis bass, strap, cable, and a horrible Hondo amp. The first year I was ready to quit... I only played when I went to lessons and I wasnt enjoying it at all.
Then the bartender at the resturant I worked at let me borrow a CD. It was Jaco's self titled album, and I was back on track. 8 years later, here I am, hopelessly in love with the bass.
Then the bartender at the resturant I worked at let me borrow a CD. It was Jaco's self titled album, and I was back on track. 8 years later, here I am, hopelessly in love with the bass.
I started off on guitar when I was real young...like 11 or so. Took lessons and all that, and really enjoyed it. At 15 I moved to California, and a new friend (Jeff) had a quasi jazz-fusion trio (named Quest) and they were set to play the school talent show. Well, their current bass player's gpa wasn't up to snuff, so the school would not let him perform...so Jeff asked if I could do the show. I had never played bass before, let alone owning one, but that was ok, as Jeff had rented one for the show. (the bass player wouldn't let anyone else use his)...
I had two days to learn one song Jeff had written. He gave me a boom-box recording of the song as with the original bassist...I could barely make out the notes...and I had to learn it on a guitar at home, as the bass couldn't leave Jeff's place (parents orders)
but between that tape and a little coaching from Jeff on the changes, I went into the talent show, having never performed live before, and played this rented bass for the first time ever onstage.
I had to struggle with the stretched fingerings and the thick strings (it was a green sparkle Hondo P bass copy)...I flubbed a note here and there, and my legs were literally shaking to the point that I thought I was going to pass out, I was so nervous to be in front of an entire school body that I didn't even get a chance to know well....
but at the end of the 3.5 minute instrumental, the crowd broke into a literally deafenning applause. It was at that moment I felt relaxxed, and I would be lying if I said I didn't love the applause (or the twin girls vying for my attention after the show) and felt, after that lone 3+ minutes on the instrument, that that is where my heart was. Not guiar, but bass. Rythm.
The End.
I had two days to learn one song Jeff had written. He gave me a boom-box recording of the song as with the original bassist...I could barely make out the notes...and I had to learn it on a guitar at home, as the bass couldn't leave Jeff's place (parents orders)
but between that tape and a little coaching from Jeff on the changes, I went into the talent show, having never performed live before, and played this rented bass for the first time ever onstage.
I had to struggle with the stretched fingerings and the thick strings (it was a green sparkle Hondo P bass copy)...I flubbed a note here and there, and my legs were literally shaking to the point that I thought I was going to pass out, I was so nervous to be in front of an entire school body that I didn't even get a chance to know well....
but at the end of the 3.5 minute instrumental, the crowd broke into a literally deafenning applause. It was at that moment I felt relaxxed, and I would be lying if I said I didn't love the applause (or the twin girls vying for my attention after the show) and felt, after that lone 3+ minutes on the instrument, that that is where my heart was. Not guiar, but bass. Rythm.
The End.
Well, i bought my bass on my 13yrs birthday,
i think the reason was that there's too many guitarists
and i've never for somehow been impressed by guitar.
If i would have the same problem buying my first bass as i have then i wouldn't be playing bass now.
I remember sitting in my car driving home hrom holiday when i was about 11/12yrs old and had those "rockstar" dreams
.
I didn't really know how a bass sounded, just knew i wanted one.
The price was: Starter kit 440$ (i live in europe and this pack suc ks ass)
i think the reason was that there's too many guitarists
and i've never for somehow been impressed by guitar.
If i would have the same problem buying my first bass as i have then i wouldn't be playing bass now.
I remember sitting in my car driving home hrom holiday when i was about 11/12yrs old and had those "rockstar" dreams
.I didn't really know how a bass sounded, just knew i wanted one.
The price was: Starter kit 440$ (i live in europe and this pack suc ks ass
)
my fav band through 8th grade was iron maiden and my older brother already played guitar. So i thought "hmm Steve Harris is pretty cool"....went out to sam ash and bought myself a carlo robelli with my birthday money...not exactly a wise decision, but i still love that hunk of junk, and have fond memories of staying up all those nights jamming out with it to my iron maiden cd's.
I started playin the drums since I was 13 only cause their were too many guitarists and thought drums was the look in school not to mention to look cool
But as years went by I hooked up in a reggae band when I was 17 since that's the only style I like to play drums on
But In doing so I always loved the sound of the bass being played in reggae then a couple of years later I made the switch and have to this day never looked back
Then what really keeped me going was learning other styles of music that bass is prominent in
So I guess you can say I just fell into playing bass
But as years went by I hooked up in a reggae band when I was 17 since that's the only style I like to play drums on
But In doing so I always loved the sound of the bass being played in reggae then a couple of years later I made the switch and have to this day never looked back
Then what really keeped me going was learning other styles of music that bass is prominent in
So I guess you can say I just fell into playing bass
An absolutely beautiful, ridiculously shiny penny. How much you think it'd go for?Philbiker said:
Um, probably because my dad did and I thought it was cool. He had a 1980 Stingray. He sold it in the 90s though so that sux.
Lots of people sell things they shouldn't have sold. But without them, we wouldn't have such a nice selection on eBay.squierplayer120 said:
No idea. Look at closed auctions! Since it's pre-CBS it is worth more than a transition or CBS era amp. The only problem is that Fender made a million amps back in those days, and they are so damn sturdy that there are still a million of them around. So they're not as crazy valuable as the guitars and basses. But they still are friggin fantastic. Many guitarrists would love to have an amp like that. Right now there's a completed item on Ebay that went for almost $600, but it's highly refurbished electrically with a roughish exterior.
I love vintage amps. My main "big" amp is a '67 blackface bassman run through an Eden D210T. Sounds INCREDIBLE. I remember after a big gig this year (my brother's Night And Day show) someone came up and said "man I love your amp!".
I was just curious what you guys thought they would go for... I sold it a couple months back for $800, which was a couple hundred more than I had ever seen one go for before in the condition of mine.Philbiker said:
In our generation(s), it seems that if you wanted to get into mainstream music, you probably were attracted to either being a lead guitar superstar, or maybe a drummer. You have keys, and horns. Bass was never the "cool" instrument until Sir Paul McCartney, and IMHO John Paul Jones, but way more, Geddy Lee, ended any notion that the bass player wasn't totally cool.
I am interested to know why everyone here is playing bass, because I'm curious to see if the person *always* wanted to play bass, or whether they ended up playing bass because nobody else wood, or they didn't feel they were a good enough guitar player, they could only count to 4, (kidding!), their older cousin did - and he got chicks, a bass was given to them, etc.
Please let me know, fellow bottom end extraordinaires!
Skel
I am interested to know why everyone here is playing bass, because I'm curious to see if the person *always* wanted to play bass, or whether they ended up playing bass because nobody else wood, or they didn't feel they were a good enough guitar player, they could only count to 4, (kidding!), their older cousin did - and he got chicks, a bass was given to them, etc.
Please let me know, fellow bottom end extraordinaires!
Skel
When I was a kid all I wanted to do was beat on the drums. I gave it up real young (I wish I hadn't). In middle school I started listening to older Metallica and listening to Cliff Burton play. I hit High School and I bought Mudvayne's L.D. 50 and LOVED the bass on that CD. It wasn't until I went to one of the gigs my dad's band played with a fill-in bassist that I fell in love. This guy was amazing and I loved his style. He did an amazing bass solo and thats when I decided I wanted to play bass.
My musical tastes have come a long way past Mudvayne now though but I have to credit that band for getting me interested in bass.
My musical tastes have come a long way past Mudvayne now though but I have to credit that band for getting me interested in bass.
- Nov 3, 2004
- 485
- 71
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Hipshot Products, DR Strings and Accugroove Speaker Cabinets
I was in High School. All my friends played guitar and drums. Nobody played bass, so I figured that if I got a bass, I could be in a band right away. I was right.
I started off playing AC/DC covers, and the like.
The first bass line I learned, was "Turn Me Loose" by Loverboy.
The first album I learned was "Kiss Alive".
The first original band was "Mick Glory". We weren't as good as I thought we were.
I got fairly good very quickly, though, so I knew it would stick. It was a natural fit 25 years ago, and it still is. I'm glad and grateful that it worked out the way it has. I love the bass.
I started off playing AC/DC covers, and the like.
The first bass line I learned, was "Turn Me Loose" by Loverboy.
The first album I learned was "Kiss Alive".
The first original band was "Mick Glory". We weren't as good as I thought we were.
I got fairly good very quickly, though, so I knew it would stick. It was a natural fit 25 years ago, and it still is. I'm glad and grateful that it worked out the way it has. I love the bass.
