Why did you start playing bass?

[OzzyGreg]

.
I was watching a punk band play back in the early eighties when the bass dropped out half way through a song. (NB. I was not a musician at this stage in my life, I'd never played a thing.)
I couldn't believe how the song lost all of its power and realised at that point how important the bass was.
Standing there I decided to learn bass guitar.

 

[eldorado2001]

Bass is my natural instrument. I was just in denial for nearly 40 years and kept playing guitar.

Same here, I couldn't have said that any better.

 

[Eric Huber]

I played acoustic classic guitar for years. Picked up a bass one day and loved the feel and punch it made. I still have that thing a Squire PBass fretless. Love the sound from it. its the whole rhythm thing that attracts me.

 

[marchone]

Apropos of nothing relevant but a memory, I first bought a Japanese short scale bass for $5 and a tab of acid. Maybe a bad Gibson SG copy. I shredded my fingers on that thing because the action was so high. Two/three years later, after seeing Ron Wood in The Jeff Beck Group, I had a new Telecaster Bass guitar. I finally had a real Fender.

 

[Dusty Elmer]

I started out my musical career playing drums and guitar in rock and country bands respectively. Became a professional clawhammer and Scruggs-style banjo player, but through the years I've developed a love for the bass, both electric and upright. Finally snagged a good bass a couple years ago and a decent upright a couple months ago, and since then I've been shredding in my room along to tracks. I can't wait to get playing bass with a group. But the reason I play is just that I love it. It's an important yet under appreciated instrument. It's a beautiful instrument, from the simplest I-V to Jamerson to Jaco. There's just so much there to delve into.

 

[stringthrough]

This question has been raised at least once before on TB but here goes.

I wanted to make music and be in a band. I dabbled with guitar (cheap acoustic with horrible action) and keyboard (cheap, poor-sounding fan-powered thing) but none clicked for me. Then I heard Jack Bruce play on White Room and I knew I heard my instrument to be.

 

[Charlzm]

In my case, I wanted to entertain. But, I found I was less skilled in anything else.

I actually got away with it...for a while...

Music fired up my imagination and ambition like nothing else in the world when I was about 13, although I loved music all the way back as far as I can remember.

I wanted to be in a band like my idols and be a rock star/respected artist.

At first I wanted to play drums, but Mom nixed that pretty fast. I then settled on guitar and took about a year of classical lessons that I never really enjoyed.

At about age 17, some guys I knew rang me up and asked if I could play bass, since they already had a guitarist and drummer. I thought, "Sure, how hard can it be?"

And here we are, 37 years later.

 

[Bozendoka]

I got into metal around 16 and decided I wanted to play at 18. I knew a few guitarists and didn't want to compete with them, I didn't have room for drums, and I couldn't sing, so...bass! Turns out I love it, who knew? Although to be honest I've tried to pick up guitar every now and again but I can't play anything other than basic, bass-y rhythm. Just feels too small!

 

[SteffanB]

I listened to Black Sabbaths "Paranoid" album. That day I knew what my destiny was. That said, if it was really my destiny, you'd think I'd be better at it.

Same here!! After listening to the Paranoid album I needed to know " What's that low sounding guitar?" My cousin told me it was a bass guitar, it was hooked!

 

[sabre79]

I had a friend that played guitar, a friend that played drums and a friend that thought he could sing. The rest is history.

 

[b_carville]

I've posted about this before.
I started as a drummer.Took drum lessons for about a year & saved enough paper route money to get a cheap kit.An older guy guitarist in my neighborhood was trying to put a band together & he talked me into buying a bass & amp.I looked around and saw lots of guitarists & drummers but no bass players. The one guy in town who was pretty good was a senior in high school & was playing five nights a week(This was the 1960's).He was making $25 a night(good $$$ for the 60's) & more when he did weddings,proms,etc. People were calling me up & I couldn't play the thing yet & band's were calling me! I was 13 years old.
Anyway,the guitar guy started showing me scales and such.Bass wasn't a flash instrument in those days & I figured out the notes on the neck & could play a lot of basic 3 chord hits halfassed in about 6 to 8 weeks I could sing too.Did my first gig and got $15 (that went far in 1966) & my 1st French kiss from a worldly young girl of 15 years old(who had no idea I was 13).
Here it is 53 years later & I'm still playing most of those tunes!

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I got into metal around 16

I didn't get into metal until my 30s, but have to admit that Titanium is my preferred metal.
It's non-ferrous, yet strong & lightweight. It has replaced bronze on offshore platforms.

When I was done buying & selling piping products, I decided to take up a hobby.
TBH if I knew learning a stringed-instrument was this difficult I'd have probably never started.

However, now I have the bug & when I tried selling up & quitting I had more gear within 4 months.

 

[Vinny Vincenzo]

Motown songs on the radio when I was little, then when I saw Charles Calmese with the James Cotton band when I was 16 I was all in!

 

[Tampabass]

I began playing bass in 1492 -- and the gig pay's still the same!

 

[JakobT]

I always wanted to play an instrument, but thought learning was too difficult, so I always said I wished I’d learned to play something when I was young. One Christmas, my brother, who is a guitarist, challenged me, and asked me what instrument I would have wanted to play. I thought about it for a couple of days, and decided that I was interested in rhythm and structure, and bass fit the bill. Two days later, I went out and got a bass and an amp.

 

[Vinny Vincenzo]

I began playing bass in 1492 -- and the gig pay's still the same!

Yup!

 

[Nevada Pete]

I'm a living cliche.
Friends in school wanted to start a band as a way to get girls.
Two guys already had some basic guitar skills...and actual guitars.
One guy reckoned he could do drums as he liked hitting stuff.
Me? I took the intelligent approach that bass had to be easier...4 strings, no chords, yes please. Also, it's cooler.

No regrets here.

Okay, so did you get the girls?

 

[GDUBS]

Threw college I fell in love with with 3 certain bands. Rush, Primus, and the police. 3 bands with the same trait.
Fast forward 15+ years I got sober and followed my passion of music. Been an avid bass player since.
I say avid, not necessarily good, but avid

 

[Nevada Pete]

The bass player quit two weeks before the debut performance of my new band at a huge outdoor music festival in LA. Dang those bass players, anyway! So I became one to make sure that never happened again! Plus, I'm the baddest, loudest thing on stage!

 

[Alik]

This album: