Why did you start playing bass?

[Doc Blue]

I've been a rhythm guy since my first pair of sticks in 7th grade band. Parents said no to a drum kit so I never got very good. 3 years of school band and I called it quits for 40+ years.

Fast forward, I picked up an acoustic bass to be able to play with my family when we all got together to settle my Mom's estate. Practiced for 3 months, could play basic blues, wrote a bunch of lyrics for a family jam. It was really fun. Already had keyboard, guitar, drums, ukulele in the family, so I chose bass. It fits me and my personality. I'm at home in the back next to a drummer, don't really want the attention of a front person.

Playing a Geddy Lee these days. I still suck and my fingers don't to what my brain tells them to, but steadily improving. Working to be able play with a church worship team, don't have much interest gigging at dive bars and playing until closing.

 

[Erik Asma]

Started out as a vocalist in my first band back in 85. Our bassplayer was better in singing some of the more punk songs we played then.
So I learned to play those. Never was interested in guitar. Just the sound and feel of a bass and the wonderful fact that you can learn a song in 5 minutes and at the same time will not completely master a bass in a lifetime makes this the best instrument ever.

I gradually moved more and more to the bass and learned by just playing.
That place in a band where you are the one that links a melody to a rythm is special. We carry the song.
Besides, what is not to like about a phat loud earthshaking bass.
Picked up the Mike a couple of years ago out of necessity and moved back on bass a year ago.
It felt like homecoming.

I'll never gonna do anything else in a band again.

Best compliment. When I switched back, after a song our drummer looking up at me and stating.
'good to have you back here'.

I'm not super good, but I'm ace at playing around and in a rythm.
Whatever our drummer comes up with I can catch. And this guy easily plays a fill across two or three bars.
I can always follow him in his rythm without shaging up the melody for the guitar.

 

[bass-icly me]

IT IS ALL MEL SCHACHER'S FAULT!!!!!!!!!

Really I think low frequency vibration is just part of me, for some reason I feel drawn to it.

I grew up outside Philly where my Dad liked to take us to dinner at places with entertainment, usually three piece piano, bass, and drums. Your classic jazz trio. The sound of the upright bass would take my mind on a little trip while I would enjoy the whole musical experience.

Paul McCartney, John Entwhistle, Chris Squier, John Paul Jones, Justin Hayward, Greg Lake, and others entertained my brain it was Mel and his deep grooves playing for Grand Funk RR that hooked me. Paranoid. Inside looking out. Even mellower tunes like I'm your Captain/Closer to Home. So my thanks to Mel for opening my eyes.

Getty Lee. Kicked everything up a notch.

Jon Camp of the group "Renassaince" impressed me also. Great music with a bass in the lead.

Nowadays I'm getting into playing for totally therapudic benefits. My hands tend to cramp when I carve wood and playin bass is like cali- calist- exercises before I carve. My Affinity pj was bought for the woodshop. To play bass properly one needs good posture, so it helps in that respect.

Besides, it makes me feel all warm an fuzzy inside which has got to be good therapy right there.

 

[ELG60]

You know that bass player just passed away a few days ago. Larry Taylor.

His last words to me were: "I'll never forget that kid . . . Just staring me or the whole set back in '69. It's haunted me my whole life. I just wonder what I could have become, if that hadn't happened."

 

[David Kerbow]

In middle school and high school, I learned to read bass clef by virtue of the trombone. My senior year I had a job in the office of a music store (band instruments, guitars, keyboards, pianos, church organs, sheet music, instrument repair, etc...) one of the guitar salesman was a well know bass player in town and played with some pretty amazing bands. We got to be friends, he showed me a few things on one of the store basses, and I felt that the low end rumble just made an impression on me. It was something I could physically feel. I bought a cheap bass and an amp with my employee discount and been learning and grooving ever since.

 

[ELG60]

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.

That reminds me of the time when I was a teenager, still living at home, and well, you know how it is at that age . . . You want to play bass all the time.

Well, anyway, my dad walked into my room as I was lost in playing the bass and he said: "Don't do that, son . . . You'll go blind!"

I responded: "Dad, I'm over here!"

 

[SRVoodoo]

That reminds me of the time when I was a teenager, still living at home, and well, you know how it is at that age . . . You want to play bass all the time.

Well, anyway, my dad walked into my room as I was lost in playing the bass and he said: "Don't do that, son . . . You'll go blind!"

I responded: "Dad, I'm over here!"

this must be why I have to wear glasses lol

 

[One Way]

A friend introduced me to recording cover songs at home. I was amazed the first time I heard one of his performances. I purchased a Zoom R8 recorder and began recording vocals, acoustic guitar and electric guitar.
In my desire to improve my recordings I realized adding a bass line is necessary. Having never even held a bass guitar I walked into my friendly local musical instrument store and headed over to the bass area. My regular salesperson stopped by to chat and I shared my goal of an inexpensive bass and amp. First up was a used Squier P Bass for $99. I had the salesperson play and the tone was awful from that particular bass. Next up was a Squier VM 70’s Jazz; WOW what awesome tone this had for $299. Tried another bass one step up in price from the VM Jazz and confirmed the Squier VM 70’s Jazz in natural finish was the one. Also picked up an Ampeg BA 112 V2 amp. Another win for this purchase was I used credit card points to pay for the whole thing!
4 years later the bass has become a favorite instrument of mine and I’m involved with 2 groups primarily as the bass player. I’m continuing to enjoy and learn this fine instrument!

 

[bass-icly me]

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.

Get cheaters. They're only twenty bucks. Technically gets you around the "till I need glasses" clause.

 

[Bemo]

I played bari sax in band and was enamored with the bass lines of the songs both classical (In symphonic band) and jazz band. On the first day of jazz band rehearsal in 8th grade, I walked into the band room and the bass player was playing Chameleon and then launched right from that into Flashlight. and I thought "I wanna do THAT!" I asked him to show me those parts so that I could play them on my bari and then went home and transferred what I had learned to my guitar. I didn't have a bass yet and wouldn't for some years later)

That bass 8th grade player was Victor Wooten. So I guess you could say Victor Wooten is responsible for me playing bass way back in 1977.

Later, I would go on to record bass lines to help out with my jazz improv on sax, reading from the Real Book.

But what really nailed it for me was I was playing guitar in a metal band and we were having a devil of a time finding a bass player and Imhad been teaching my wife to play. So finally the drummer says "You have a bass, why don't you just play and we make it a four-piece?" And that's when it finally stuck.

 

[Wyvern]

It seems the someone somewhere always needs a bassist, I was with a few co workers shooting clays and they introduced me to a gigging bassist, the guy clears $100,000 a year because he can pick up bass lines almost instantly.
Kids don't think Bass is "cool" enough, some bands yeah, the bass line is just playing two notes, but others, Rush, Iron Maiden, Black sabbath, periphery, Dream theater, Mudvayne ect. have some really cool, catchy complex lines.

 

[TheDominoKid]

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

When I was kid I loved that look he had of holding it like an upright. Then I got a bass and thought “how the hell does he play like that?”

 

[dbsfgyd1]

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...

I always had a head for years before I actually picked one up.

 

[bigboy_78]

Familiar story. Was playing guitar and realised the band needed a bass player. My ego was sufficient that I didn’t need the twiddle-dee spot light of the lead guitarist, so I made the conscious decision to become a bass-player, not just a guitarist playing bass because I had too.

For a while the place I worked was giving out gift-vouchers as bonuses and I used them to stock up on CDs I thought would help with my bass. I got Aretha, Sly Stone, Motown “Hits”, Santana, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Ben Harper & Led Zeppelin and started really listening to bass.

After hearing Jamerson on For Once in My Life & JPJ’s breakdown on Lemon Song I realised bass is where its at.

 

[spiritbass]

I played bari sax in band and was enamored with the bass lines of the songs both classical (In symphonic band) and jazz band. On the first day of jazz band rehearsal in 8th grade, I walked into the band room and the bass player was playing Chameleon and then launched right from that into Flashlight. and I thought "I wanna do THAT!" I asked him to show me those parts so that I could play them on my bari and then went home and transferred what I had learned to my guitar. I didn't have a bass yet and wouldn't for some years later)

That bass 8th grade player was Victor Wooten. So I guess you could say Victor Wooten is responsible for me playing bass way back in 1977.

Later, I would go on to record bass lines to help out with my jazz improv on sax, reading from the Real Book.

But what really nailed it for me was I was playing guitar in a metal band and we were having a devil of a time finding a bass player and Imhad been teaching my wife to play. So finally the drummer says "You have a bass, why don't you just play and we make it a four-piece?" And that's when it finally stuck.

Cool story - thanks for sharing! Vic has an interesting gift - I've only seen him once, playing with his brother and Bela Fleck. One of the coolest parts of the show was when he was trading licks with a lady playing a theremin.

 

[lightbg]

Played a lot of trios back in the day, but never put a bassist on since piano would be the only melody/ harmony instrument. Went to my freshman orientation cookout and saw a guy play both at once ( Baldwin grand, Harmony D21 thru an Ampeg B15). I was hooked, and I still gig this way.


Jake

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Partly just to be different and maybe a little more in demand; we had a handful of guitar players at my school but only one bass player and he seemed to wish he could go back to guitar. I’d also been pretty inspired at the time by Rachael Bolan from Skid Row and Gene Simmons. Bolan was the first bassist I’d heard with a tone you could hear in the mix and which wasn’t just all thump and no bite. Or at least the first I’d heard who I realized was a bassist. I still think his tone was pretty sick for that style of music. Gene just looked awesome, I couldn’t give less of a fig how good he was while he was spitting blood, breathing fire and belting out God Of Thunder.

I like to think I started to develop better taste when the grunge/alternative thing went mainstream and I got exposed to the Seattle bands and Rage Against The Machine. Not to say either Bolan or Simmons are bad bassists really, but they weren’t as interesting as the stuff that was becoming popular at the time. I still miss the early-mid ‘90s, when all sorts of weird poopie would show up on MTV. Creatively those were good times, both in pop music overall and in my area music scene.

 

[JohnArnson]

I had been playing guitar for a couple of years, then just for fun one day I picked up the bass player's bass at band rehearsal and jammed a bit on it, and I fell in love with how it felt and sounded right there.

Shortly after I joined a band looking for a bass player and bought my own bass, and bass fairly quickly took over as my main instrument of choice, and have stayed that way ever since, though I still play guitar on the sideline.

 

[Haroldo]

Oldest story in the book—high school rock band needed a bass player so I switched from guitar to bass.

Succinct and true. ('Cept for me it was junior high, if memory serves.)

 

[Wyvern]

Familiar story. Was playing guitar and realised the band needed a bass player. My ego was sufficient that I didn’t need the twiddle-dee spot light of the lead guitarist, so I made the conscious decision to become a bass-player, not just a guitarist playing bass because I had too.

For a while the place I worked was giving out gift-vouchers as bonuses and I used them to stock up on CDs I thought would help with my bass. I got Aretha, Sly Stone, Motown “Hits”, Santana, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Ben Harper & Led Zeppelin and started really listening to bass.

After hearing Jamerson on For Once in My Life & JPJ’s breakdown on Lemon Song I realised bass is where its at.

It's a stretch, but if you think about it, a complicated bass line is kind of a "lead" playing style since you typically play individual notes instead of holding a chord.

I had been playing guitar for a couple of years, then just for fun one day I picked up the bass player's bass at band rehearsal and jammed a bit on it, and I fell in love with how it felt and sounded right there.

Shortly after I joined a band looking for a bass player and bought my own bass, and bass fairly quickly took over as my main instrument of choice, and have stayed that way ever since, though I still play guitar on the sideline.

I'm attempting to play guitar, but me and picks just don't jive, plus I have really long fingers, chords are like a contortionist trick for me, but getting slightly better.