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Why do you play bass ??

#141
I have played keyboards and guitar for many years. At some point I got good at playing left-hand Bass on keys. Since not every song needs keys I took up Bass guitar to use when appropriate. In one of my current bands I initially joined as keyboard player. They had a couple of guys who played Bass depending on who was available. One time neither one was available to do a gig and they asked me to if I could play Bass. I said "Sure". They liked my playing so much I became the full-time Bassist and now they use whoever is available for keyboards.
 
#144
External factors: Been playing electric guitar for years and occasionally got to fill in on bass. Eventually started filling in on bass regularly. While I still play guitar more (I sort of have a distinctive rhythm/lead style that works well for P&W, so most of the churches I've played with want me there), I think I enjoy playing bass more, so I've been trying to find more places to do it.

Internal factors:
* I like how my body gets into the music when I play bass more than with any other instrument -- I can't bass play without dancing!
* I like laying down a bumpin' groove more than playing melodies or strumming chords.
* I love to experiment with how moving lines can be used to reinforce the harmonic structure of a song. Bass is a really crazy instrument where you can lay a foundation while you are improvising (and I'm not referring to solos and licks). You keep on the pulse, but you can find an infinite number of ways to imply the chords, use passing tones, create tension with unexpected inversions, etc. That's probably my favorite thing about bass. It's also a big part of my strategy when playing guitar, but I feel like it's somehow much more profound (and exhilarating) on bass because you're doing it from the drivers seat, so to speak.

Is anyone feelin' me, or is that just crazy talk?
 
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#154
fatt matt said:
What was the reason you chose to play bass ? I get people who ask me this all the time and for me it's the low end that makes me want to move. I love a song with a great groove , besides I really suck at playing a guitar. Hope everyone posts ! My Fender P bass was the first instrument I ever held ; so glad I did .
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I think that sums it up for me, too. Actually I wasn't all that interested until a friend of mine made me listen to something through headphones on his Sony Walkman (one of the old cassette-eating ones, it was 30 years ago, after all!) and was instantly hooked. Or more to the point, I was instantly hooked by the bass playing, it just really spoke out to me. Although I've joked about guitars having too many strings and keyboards just being ludicrously profligate with all those keys, the truth of it is that the low end really called to my soul.

And basses just look so awesome.

Odd thing is that my hearing actually has some gaps at the low end. I thought that was just a personal peculiarity until I mentioned it to another bass-playing friend and she said she had the same thing going on.

Spectrum said:
One time I got really drunk at a party and woke up three days later with an unexplained talent for playing bass...no idea exactly what happened in between there...
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:D

Strangely enough, I remember picking up a bass after several years of not playing and discovering to my surprise that my technique had improved in the meantime and I could now play fretless, which was bizarre.

Well, "technique" excepting my right hand dexterity* which has always been a bit rubbish in spite of me being right-handed, so I still find it hard to keep up an even rhythm. But who cares! Well, other than anyone unfortunate enough to be listening... :p


* argh, just spotted that one. Oh well, I may as well leave it in to secure my continued membership of the Association of Tautologists Society.
 
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#155
I heard Grand Funk Railroads live album and that did it for me. Some amazing playing for that time period. I also noticed the bass guitar on TV whenever I saw a band playing it just stood out. It just looked big and powerful and guitars looked and felt like toys to me. Started playing in 1973 and it's the only instrument I have learned to play. Nothing else really interests me to learn to play.
 
#156
cbh said:
Well, "technique" excepting my right hand dexterity* which has always been a bit rubbish in spite of me being right-handed, so I still find it hard to keep up an even rhythm. But who cares! Well, other than anyone unfortunate enough to be listening... :p
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Eh, not to be a jerk, but this definitely sounds like the kind of thing people might care about! Rhythm, like almost everything else, is something that can be trained if it does not come naturally. I wasn't born with much sense for rhythm either, but practicing with a metronome or drum machine will definitely help!
 
#157
ninjaaron said:
Eh, not to be a jerk, but this definitely sounds like the kind of thing people might care about! Rhythm, like almost everything else, is something that can be trained if it does not come naturally. I wasn't born with much sense for rhythm either, but practicing with a metronome or drum machine will definitely help!
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I was being facetious, I dare say most people would care quite a lot, not least other band members! :D Strangely, it's not something anybody else has ever commented on, though I remain acutely aware of it as a problem and I am clumsy and poorly coordinated. Which is strange as my left hand seems to be able to position itself wherever it needs to go on the fretboard without much supervision.
 

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