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Why did you start playing bass?
- Thread starter HamOnTheCob
- Start date
Decide which one you like.
1) I walked into the band room and found the bassoon, the glockenspiel and the triangle were already taken. ... 2) I was chosen by the gods. ...
3) Back where I am from, if you didn't play the bass, you would be put to death. ...
4) My high school sweetheart's father was Jaco. ...
5) I was an international race car drive and suddenly realized, "What am I doing? I could die!"
6) I was accepted into Harvard Law, but I couldn't stand the way my room mate chewed.
7) I was a contestant on the old game show called, Dialing For Dollars, ... how it worked was, A movie would start playing on TV, about 5 pm, and it would be interrupted about every 30 minutes by an announcer who would call people, out of the phonebook, that's how old it was, and if someone was home and could name the movie they were watching they won money. ... Well, I won and bought a bass.
8) I was 21, working in a factory and didn't want to do that anymore so, I bought a 1966 Fender P-bass and kept practicing until I was good enough to replace work, I didn't want to do, with work I did.
1) I walked into the band room and found the bassoon, the glockenspiel and the triangle were already taken. ... 2) I was chosen by the gods. ...
3) Back where I am from, if you didn't play the bass, you would be put to death. ...
4) My high school sweetheart's father was Jaco. ...
5) I was an international race car drive and suddenly realized, "What am I doing? I could die!"
6) I was accepted into Harvard Law, but I couldn't stand the way my room mate chewed.
7) I was a contestant on the old game show called, Dialing For Dollars, ... how it worked was, A movie would start playing on TV, about 5 pm, and it would be interrupted about every 30 minutes by an announcer who would call people, out of the phonebook, that's how old it was, and if someone was home and could name the movie they were watching they won money. ... Well, I won and bought a bass.
8) I was 21, working in a factory and didn't want to do that anymore so, I bought a 1966 Fender P-bass and kept practicing until I was good enough to replace work, I didn't want to do, with work I did.
I think a just as fun topic is "Why did you keep playing bass?"
What really got me hooked was what the bass guitar does to a song. Not that guitar or drums or any other instrument can't have a similar major impact... but just liked "how" the bass impacted a song. It really wasn't until I started playing bass that a developed a profound respect for what bass does to the overall sound. I will admit, when a bassist does NOTHING but shadow the guitar... it is wildly underwhelming. ...but there's a place for that too.
I have found that, as a bassist, I can provide the "motor" to the song that, to my ears, I can't do as well with guitar.
Everyone will have their take and their own colorful terms for what this or that instrument does. ...but, for me, in car terms, the drums provide the body style, the guitars provide the paint and trim, the bass provides the motor... and the singer is the jackass behind the wheel that can ruin it all by sucking even a little bit. THAT is the worst job in the band in my opinion.
Anyways... back on the topic that started off with....
When I started to open my ears to bass, I started to hear things that amazed me about the instrument that I had sadly thought was the graveyard for failed guitarists. Even though I had listened to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Rush since a child (thanks mom!), it just never clicked for me how the bassist was driving the tune.
One day, I was listening to Anthrax in the late 80's or early 90's when their Persistence of Time album came out (like you would) and their cover of Got The Time by Joe Jackson came up. Not that their hadn't been prominent bass lines before that tune... this was the first one I heard where I realized that this was a BASS doing this. It would be a couple of years yet before I'd start playing bass, but the seed was planted. Then all of a sudden, all I heard was bass. Led Zep, Rush, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Primus... they all started to sound different.
When I learned Ramble On on my then-girlfriend's bass, I was sold. Over the years, I would experiment more with basses and gear in a year than I would over a decade on guitar generally speaking.
The band I play with, there's this tune that, funny enough, I helped write but I never appeared on a recording for. I would end up moving to Las Vegas for a bit before the recording happened. The tune, as I wrote it has equal parts reggae inspired grooves, a slight Misfits feel in places, a fill lick a'la Cliff Burton, a breakdown that almost has a Justin Chancellor touch, and the main verse almost has a Lemmy-feeling drive in it. When it was recorded with another "bassist", he literally just played the guitar parts. It was sad. Even the band hated it. Now that I am back, we are making it a point to record it with the proper bass line. The bass can change everything.
What really got me hooked was what the bass guitar does to a song. Not that guitar or drums or any other instrument can't have a similar major impact... but just liked "how" the bass impacted a song. It really wasn't until I started playing bass that a developed a profound respect for what bass does to the overall sound. I will admit, when a bassist does NOTHING but shadow the guitar... it is wildly underwhelming. ...but there's a place for that too.
I have found that, as a bassist, I can provide the "motor" to the song that, to my ears, I can't do as well with guitar.
Everyone will have their take and their own colorful terms for what this or that instrument does. ...but, for me, in car terms, the drums provide the body style, the guitars provide the paint and trim, the bass provides the motor... and the singer is the jackass behind the wheel that can ruin it all by sucking even a little bit. THAT is the worst job in the band in my opinion.
Anyways... back on the topic that started off with....
When I started to open my ears to bass, I started to hear things that amazed me about the instrument that I had sadly thought was the graveyard for failed guitarists. Even though I had listened to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Rush since a child (thanks mom!), it just never clicked for me how the bassist was driving the tune.
One day, I was listening to Anthrax in the late 80's or early 90's when their Persistence of Time album came out (like you would) and their cover of Got The Time by Joe Jackson came up. Not that their hadn't been prominent bass lines before that tune... this was the first one I heard where I realized that this was a BASS doing this. It would be a couple of years yet before I'd start playing bass, but the seed was planted. Then all of a sudden, all I heard was bass. Led Zep, Rush, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Primus... they all started to sound different.
When I learned Ramble On on my then-girlfriend's bass, I was sold. Over the years, I would experiment more with basses and gear in a year than I would over a decade on guitar generally speaking.
The band I play with, there's this tune that, funny enough, I helped write but I never appeared on a recording for. I would end up moving to Las Vegas for a bit before the recording happened. The tune, as I wrote it has equal parts reggae inspired grooves, a slight Misfits feel in places, a fill lick a'la Cliff Burton, a breakdown that almost has a Justin Chancellor touch, and the main verse almost has a Lemmy-feeling drive in it. When it was recorded with another "bassist", he literally just played the guitar parts. It was sad. Even the band hated it. Now that I am back, we are making it a point to record it with the proper bass line. The bass can change everything.
Always played brass and Percussion in school. Director asked me to learn bass to play a couple Half-time shows for Marching Band. When the bass player in the Jazz Band graduated, the Director asked me to take his spot.
That cover of "Got The Time" was big for me, too. I was a big Anthrax fan at the time, and when I first heard that track, I was blown away. I'd never heard anything with the bass up front in the mix like that.
But for me, the really big one was "The Real Thing" by Faith No More. I'd been playing a few years already by the time that record came out, and when I first heard it, I thought "wait...that's bass? I didn't know it could sound like that!" Billy Gould became a huge influence on my playing, and I still listen to that record every now and then.
Oh, and don't get me started on Jane's Addiction. Also huge for me. None of these bands started me playing bass, but they definitely kept me playing it.
I've played guitar since I was around 13. When I got married my wife seemed interested in playing so I bought her the lightest bass I could find. Figured I'd dabble if she changed her mind, which she did right about the time I paid for it. 
Years later a drummer friend needed a bass player and knew I owned one. Kinda been happening off and on over the years. This last/latest band is the one where I feel I finally grew into it and actually feel like a bass player.
Years later a drummer friend needed a bass player and knew I owned one. Kinda been happening off and on over the years. This last/latest band is the one where I feel I finally grew into it and actually feel like a bass player.
After years of trying different instruments in my youth, I found bass at 19 by a friend of my brothers who offered a bass to me for free. The rest is history. Still on the journey of learning and improving. Bury me with my bass so I can keep sheddin’
My brother died in 2012, and it was my wake-up call to start doing things despite fear of failing, since life wasn't getting any longer. I bought a Squire Strat (the Midlife Crisis Special) and eventually hit a wall on chords; my fingers are somewhat stiff and short. So I thought, "how about the bass?" It was one of those serendipitous events - once the student was ready, the teacher (and what would be taught) would appear. I haven't looked back; in fact it's like it took me a long time to find the missing puzzle piece. I'm on vacation now, and jonesin' to go to a music shop and play; I really, really miss playing this week.
Later on, my mother told me that both my dad (also passed) and my brother both tried to learn guitar and gave up for the same reasons - slow, stiff fingers. I was the only one who had made that lateral move.
Later on, my mother told me that both my dad (also passed) and my brother both tried to learn guitar and gave up for the same reasons - slow, stiff fingers. I was the only one who had made that lateral move.
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Robert kills. I'm just learning some STP now....band is adding Plush, Wicked Garden and Vasoline to our repertoire. Amazing tone and great lines. The way he holds it like an upright...not so much, LOL
It's been so long ago, so it's hazy, but I do remember thinking I'd only do it 'till I needed glasses. I'm going next week to see if my prescription for bifocals needs updating.
Not a valid question. We all stared playing bass because we weren't any good at guitar. Ask any guitar player, they'll tell you it is true.
I started to play bass guitar because I was a guitarist first. However, I was not getting any better at guitar. Meanwhile, I subbed for a bass guitarist and immediately felt comfortable. I know there is a cliche about bassists are failed guitarists but I think this time it was a matter of finding my right calling.
oh, totally! Billy Gould killed it. Not only were his bass lines killer, his tone was REALLY killer. I can only assume you mean Eric Avery from Jane's Addiction. I was maybe what you'd call a pedestrian fan of Jane's Addiction. I liked the tunes I heard, I just never went out of my way to listen to them. ...however, Eric Avery had a VERY cool quality to his bass lines that was pretty uncommon for bass at the time. ...to be fair, though, anything not shadowing a guitar's root notes was uncommon at the time. That being said, his bass approach had a very cool "noodling at home by your self" quality to them that I found pretty awesome. He had some solo-arrangment-for-guitar device usage I still dig on.
...and that bass line to Been Caught Stealing during the bit where the bass plays alone with the drums has fantastic groove and grit to it. I am not one of those that gets inspired by a musician's body of work but more "this thing this person did here in this song" and "what this other person did there in that song". Even though I don't think I've ever played a line that could be mistaken as directly inspired by that bass groove, it is in probably 75% of every bass line I play. Just such a killer feel.
Yes, definitely Eric Avery. "Nothing's Shocking" and "Ritual De Lo Habitual" are still 2 of my favorite bass performances on record. They stood out in a time where me and a lot of my friends were listening to nothing but hard rock/hair metal. Same with FNM.
Wow, that sounds a lot like me. While playing sax in Jr. High and High School, I tried to play guitar and found my hands weren't strong enough to hold several strings down at once. When my Brother's band was practicing in our basement, I would be home earlier from school and started messing with drums and Bass. I liked Bass because it only had 4 strings and you only had to play one at a time. Started picking up Bass and found that I think more like a Bass player than a guitar player.
The rest is history. 55 years later I'm still playing Bass and my Brother lost interest in guitar a long time ago. I raised 2 kids playing Bass professionally.
I started playing bass because of opportunity. If I played bass, I could play more gigs than I could as a guitar player.
What I've learned over several decades is that bass is an easy instrument to play, but is extremely difficult to be really great at.
What I've learned over several decades is that bass is an easy instrument to play, but is extremely difficult to be really great at.
My wonderful wife bought me one for Christmas. Sometimes I think she's sorry she did! Lol.
