As my son wanted to play guitar, I bought an instrument to complement.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Why do you play bass ??
- Thread starter loie1987
- Start date
Reason: My mom said I wouldn't be able to practice my drums at home. Time for plan b! My brother was going (and did become) the guitarist so in Kiss-like fashion, I took to bass. I've enjoyed the ride and still at it.
I started off on rhythm guitar in 60s garage bands. That developed an inherent talent in my timing. When the bass player/singer opted to be a front man lead vocalist, I tried the bass role. Bingo - an instant connection for me. It still took a long time to become a better bassist but I know it's my musical destiny. I am much better at it than guitar.
Because there is a lot of discovery hiding within a bass fretboard that i need to find before i get to old and cannot play anymore.
FullumMusic
Commercial User
- Oct 13, 2022
- 2,008
- 5,683
- Disclosures
- Audio/Music software developer, contracted with a company you've heard of and deving my own stuff.
I wish I knew why when I was 11 and my mother asked if I wanted guitar lessons, I insisted on bass lessons. She repeatedly tried to talk me into guitar lessons but nope. I wanted to play bass.30 years later and my mother still occasionally asks if I ever wish I learned guitar instead so I could “play a song.”
Answer is still no. (And I still can’t play guitar more than copping a few power chords.)I guess it was a mix of things that drew me to the bass. It was the dawn of the grunge revolution and a lot of those tracks got all their power from the bass which filled up so much of the sonic space under and around the distorted guitars. In hip hop it always seemed to be the bass line (sampled or synth, or Ron Carter
) which made the tune. There usually wasn’t even a guitar to be heard. And oddly enough, I also listened to a fair bit of old school mowtown, soul, and R&B. In the early 90s, an age where most people associated a guitar riff with a song, so much of that old school stuff had the most recognizable aspect of the song be the bass.In all those styles, it really felt like the Bass “owned” the song. I wanted to do that. Even if guitar solos got all the glory, I wanted to own the song.
The reason I still love the bass? It’s the physicality of it. Whether I’m playing my 4 or 6, or making electronic music, the bass is what moves your body. The bass guitar, the kick, the snare, and the subs or bass synths? They make your whole body move. Playing the bass can literally move people emotionally AND physically.
Most other instruments people hear. Bass people hear AND feel. It’s why people dance to a song. Its huge warmth can fill up the space of sad song like a big hug people can just cry into. Headbanging turns into mosh pits when the bass joins guitar riff. Oh, and the power of the bass when you stop playing and the entire bottom drops of the songs and there’s this huge hole where the bass used to be? Yeahhhh.
Bass is just the best.
Last edited:
The bass player gets all the chicks, isn’t it?
Not sure how to tell you this, but.....
My left hand was severely burned when I was a baby. The scarring prevented me from being able to make chord shapes on a guitar, but a four string bass felt just right.
Because I control the tonality.
Guitar dude: "I'm playing E minor."
Me, as I lay a big fat low C under his E minor: "Uh, no, you're playing Cmaj7."
Guitar dude: "I'm playing E minor."
Me, as I lay a big fat low C under his E minor: "Uh, no, you're playing Cmaj7."
JeezyMcNuggles
Inactive
- Feb 23, 2018
- 14,723
- 20,970
- Disclosures
- I suck, but nobody really notices
Band needed a drummer, so I sat down and started playing drums.
I bought my first bass a couple months after that.
Interesting. I also have a hand injury that prevented me from playing guitar.
After an initial frustration I felt a eureka moment and urgently went to my local pawn store and bought a bass. I played a little and then started to “hear” bass lines and was hooked.
I’ve since gone back to guitar, figured out some work arounds and can play just fine.
We were 12. I wanted to be Paul, he wanted to be John, so i naturally got a bass and he got a guitar.
46 years later I still want to be Paul.
46 years later I still want to be Paul.
I burned my hand in a frying pan full of tugboat potatoes when I was as 18 months old. When I was 16 and already playing bass for several years, I had my second of two reconstruction surgeries and they were able to get my fingers to move normally. Before the operation my index and middle fingers had scar tissue that kept them from straightening out. They would get about halfway and then ‘pop’ into full extension.
After the surgery, they work just fine.
Ive had 1 skin graft, 2 reconstructive surgeries and over 500 stitches in that hand. 45 years later, and my poor Mom still feels bad about it. Lol.
I love bass because I’m a guitarist, so when people tell me my bass playing sucks I can just say, “Hey, I’m a guitar player. Whaddya expect?” 
But seriously…studying bass (not just playing, but listening) has really helped the way I think about playing the guitar. Plus who doesn’t love the feeling of their bowels shifting every time they hit the low B!
But seriously…studying bass (not just playing, but listening) has really helped the way I think about playing the guitar. Plus who doesn’t love the feeling of their bowels shifting every time they hit the low B!
