Why do YOU play bass?

[Dragonlord]

Hello fellow bassists!

I just thought that it would be interesting to know why we are playing bass,and not,say,guitar like all normal people?
Well I started writing lyrics,listening to heavy metal,and I wanted to transform these lyrics into songs...that could only be done by entering a band,so I had to learn an instrument.My voice sucks,so I had to chose between guitar,bass and drums.My parents wouldn't let me play drums at home,so it was guitar or bass...
Well there are soooo many guitarists around,that you have to be a real good one to make it in a good band...and also one of the days I had to decide,I saw Iron Maiden live and Steve Harris has been a great influence to me,mostly as a writer...so it was decided!I never regret my choice-I only wish I hadn't seen John Myung live
I'd like to hear what made YOU pick up the fat-stringed babies!Take care ppl!

 

[Craig H]

I knew these two guys in high school -- one a drummer and the other a guitar player. They said, "We need a bass player." I said, "If I buy a bass, can I be in the band?" They said, "Sure." So I did. No dreams of popularity or "making it" as a band...just a way to have fun.

Seventeen years later, bass is a huge part of my life. And I still have fun playing bass and making music with friends. Ain't life grand?

Craig

 

[Sheep Man]

I was kinda like Craig. Only I started on guitar and switched to bass.
Except for the "Seventeen years later...", because that's already 1 year longer than I've been in existance. More like "Seven months later..."

 

[geo?]

I started playing bass because it's what I was born to do. Literally.

From my earliest memories, if I wasn't singing along to a song...then I was tapping my stomach with the side of my right thumb. Family friends would always try to "show" me how one should play air guitar. When I turned 13, I saw my first RHCP music video (Higher Ground) and knew that that was what I had been meant to do all this time!

-geo?

P.S. True story.

 

[furtim]

It started when my school stopped taking new applicants for its Russian progam. There is a connection. =) That year (three years ago now), I told myself that I needed an elective to fill out my schedule... I decided to either take Russian or Orchestra. Well, the Russian program was just shut down, so I ended up going to Orchestra. I did plan in advance for this, so I had already decided that I would pick up the Double Bass for its versatility. Plus, it's not a violin. Violins are evil instruments. EVIL! Anyway, I was just starting to get into jazz and swing-type music, so picking the bass was a natural choice for breaking in on those styles without having to play brass and work my way through years of marching band, which would suck. I don't march, dammit! But I quickly discovered that I had a real love for the instrument, which lead to my eventually buying my Fender last year with my Christmas money, so I could practice on my own time and break out into serious playing. DB is sooo sweet, but I can't afford one of those big mothers. =) But, it turns out that there's alot you can do with a BG that you can't do on a double, so I guess it all works out for the better.

 

[john turner]

i would've been interested in playing guitar, but guitars don't have enough strings .

 

[jfsjbb]

As a child (10 years) I started to learn piano (whioch is an excellent basic musical instrument, as you learn independence of both hands, reading music in both clefs, ...).

One day, when I was 14, I went into a music store to buy Beethoven's piano sonata "Pathetique". They had some basses hanging on the wall, and one of them said "I wanna be played by you, just you and nobody else but you ..."

That was the beginning of a long friendship, and I still think that it was not me who selected the bass, but the bass who selected me.

 

[gruffpuppy]

i play bass because it is the most powerful piece in any band. the bass is the instrument that decides the flow of the song. drummers and guitar players belive its them and its best to let them think so, but it you need to prove the point to them just start putting quarter note rests into a song and watch it fall around them.

 

[Erlendur Már]

When I was 13, I tried a bass for the first time, and I decided then I would be a bass player...and in september 1997 I got my first bass! Yamaha bb1200.(the only problem was that it was WAY too big for me)

 

[SlapDaddy]

The first time(a long time ago)I saw the air moving my pantslegs as I thumped on the E string I knew "this is power"!!!!!

 

[wolfmn26]

I got my first bass on a deal. I did a favor for someone, my payment was the bass. Then I was sittin around one day and realized that I had a bass and no clue how to play it. So I starting takin lessons. After learnin what the bass is for and what it can do...I feel in love with and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world

 

[Boplicity]

Way, way back when I was a little kid and swing music was the dominant style with the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Millar, Arty SHaw, Benny Goodman, etc, I used to sing along. But what I sang was the bassline! I loved the sound of those swing orchestra double basses. I especially loved and sang walking bass lines. I didn't even know then that what I was hearing was a double bass. I hadn't even gone to school yet.

I didn't get to "take up" any instrument until many years later, but when I did, the one for which I had the most afinity was the bass, of course. I kind of figured that at fifty, it was too late to learn to play a double bass, so I studied bass guitar. Now, at nearly sixty, I am re-evaluating that strategy. I think maybe I'd like to at least try to learn to play double bass, not to get in a swing band or a symphony orchestra, but just for my own satisfaction and enjoyment. For me, there is almost no sound as wonderful, rich, and full as that of a double bass.
Also, they look terrific standing in the living room. They almost seem alive. Maybe because of there size and beautiful color. They add so much class to the decor, but don't take up the space of a grand piano.
Jason Oldsted

 

[Deynn]

Jason....I can relate so well to what you just wrote. I have realized even more lately....as I try harder to find "my sound"...that it is the doublebass sound I am really wanting. So I think that now, that we are settling into our big old house....a doublebass would look pretty good in the music room...
It's not the swing bands for me though. I love the piano, drums, and bass trios. I spent a lot of nights as a kid listening to them.
I WILL keep playing electric bass though. I've come too far to give it up now.

 

[furtim]

Double Bass is where it's at. Those things are EXPENSIVE, though. But you old fogeys with jobs and stuff can afford them, maybe. In which case, I say BUY ONE! I only wish I could.

 

[Old Blue]

Kinda like a moment of satori. When I became aware (back in the 60's), it was the BASS portion of the music that seemed to capture my attention. That deep, heavy, hard driving, relentless tone that pulled the music along its path. I also play guitar (poorly) and I'm split between which of the two I like better. But bass comes to me more effortlessly, so that's more my 'natural' instrument.

 

[Blackbird]

Originally posted by Dragonlord
Hello fellow bassists!

I just thought that it would be interesting to know why we are playing bass,and not,say,guitar like all normal people?

What, you mean the guitar players ar ethe ones who are normal???

Will C.

 

[Stu]

I play Bass still after many years because of several reasons, but mainly it's power. The Bass has it and no other instrument does, Bass is the only instrument that can make a hole in your chest, can knock you off your feet and then make you want to stand up and do it all again !

And we are the normal band members !!!!!

 

[The_Bass]

when I was youn, 5 years, I started playing piano... at 10 I was REALLY bored of playing piano and started playing guitar instead... and at 12(if I remember correctly) me and couple of friends decided to make a band.. and I said that I would like to be the bassplayer (probably because I thought it was the easiest instrument to play on )... so now I both play bass and classical guitar and have a good experience in piano..

here you have it... my life story

 

[Nails]

I started because of my older brother. We're three years apart in age, and he's been playing I guess it would be somewhere between 7-10 years (I didn't care about music that much when he started so I can't remember exactly how long it's been.) During his senior year/my freshmen year in high school he formed a band that played at an Christmas assembly, and the school talent show. After about 2 weeks of hearing "When are you going to be as cool as your brother?" I started getting very tired of hearing that. So me and a friend decided we'd show everyone how cool we could be by starting our own band. I picked bass, my logic was "it's just whole notes." Which shows you how little I knew. A month after the talent show I got a MIM Fender P-Bass. When I first took it home I learned two songs in a matter of minutes (of course I watched my brother's bass player play these songs 100s of times.) Me and my friend couldn't make a band happen, so eventually me and my bro started our own band, went through a few guitarists and several drummers. Now he's living in Austin, TX., I'm moving there next year, we'll see what happens.

 

[cliff the 2nd]

I have a friend named William McFarland thats like a bro to me now, but back in 8th grade, the high school jazz bands bass player quit, and he was asked to play bass. He had no real experience, but he had a bass, and the teacher was offering him free lessons. I had no knowledge of music whatsoever, and I sat buy him in History, and I was like"Dude that would be cool to learn. I wish I could learn something like that" And he was like "That would be awesome man! Ask him if you can learn too!" At the time he didn't know jazz bands had one bass player or he probably wouldn't have said it, cause I usually beat him down on bass now.
But it was just so freaky 2 yrs. later we got people telling us were like 5 yrs ahead of our skill and were kicking ass. Nothing ges you banging like the bass!
I couldn't have made a better choice