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Why do you play bass?

Maxpowweer

Maxpowweer

Guest
Apr 4, 2011
27
0
United Kingdom, Leeds
#1
I play bass because I love it. I love the sound of the bass on it's own and in a song. I love the look of a bass, I love the feel of the bass in my hands and I love what the bass does for a song. For me it adds the depth and fullness to a song that would just seem incomplete without bass, and how it is what people dance and move to. I love how it grounds the song and locks it together, and keeps the song moving along while the guitarist boosts his ego while soloing

It just seems that a lot of people who I know, don't get this. They see it as the instrument in the band that the guitarist 3rd in line after lead and rhythm gets "demoted" to. Or they play it because they think it's easier than guitar, and just want to be in a band to pick up girls. I've even spoken to people who want to know why my "guitar" is missing two stings. Some "musicians" (guitarists surprise surpirsie!" can't see the point in it, or again assume I play because I can't play guitar, which I can, but I'm a bassist 1st guitarist 2nd. Everytime.

So my question to you fine people is, what made you decide to pick up and play bass?
 
#3
I was already in a band of sorts at age 12 when the Beatles and Stones hit town in '64. The model of two guitars-bass-drums was established. I had grown up listening to my father's jazz records ... Ray Brown in the Oscar Peterson Trio, Scott La Faro in the Bill Evans Trio. I was more than happy to be the guy who moved to bass because I knew what it could do. I still played some guitar, and for a long time was a better guitarist than a lot of guys I played with. But I became known as a bass player.

That was then, this is now. Today I play upright bass as well. I really don't have to explain anything to anybody. I do what I like, which is play bass. :bassist:
 
#6
Because bass just plain ROCKS and it's waycool too! Everyone plays guitar...
Bass is also the link between rhythm and melody/harmony that ties it all together.
Besides, Jesus would have played bass... The foundation. The ROCK!
 
#7
I was 11 or 12 and decided to learn how to play guitar. I was listening to Welcome To The Jungle and 38 seconds in I heard a pretty gnarly sound. I asked my guitar teacher how I could get that sort of sound and he replied "With a bass." And that's about it...
 
#10
I play because it feels right. With a guitar in hand I feel too much like the center of attention. Behind the drums I feel alienated from the rest of the band. I've tried violins and cellos and each time I was left wanting more.

Yet on that fateful day when I picked up an old Yamaha, it just felt right. That was a good few years back and now I say that I'm a fairly competent bassist and my guitarist (Who has 8+ more years of experience!) has repeatedly said that he'd be lost without me.

Bass is just... there, you know? I can't really describe it...

(Also, the lows and mids are what does it for me!)
 
#14
Bass is beautiful. When a bass line is played "right" (not strictly note-wise, but feel-wise) then it takes any song to another level.

Also, the way a bass feels - it's big and resilient - is special. The resistance the strings give my hands is weird to describe, but it's perfect for just... jamming. Love it.

Also, James Jamerson.
 
#18
There seems to be a lot of people who started off because they were told to by the rest of the band.
I was inspired to learn by bassists like John Decon, Steve Harris, Cliff Burton and Billy Shehan. They showed me that the bass can be the lead instrument in a song, and how it can be at the forefront of the song and in the lime light. (Ironically John Decon's stage presance always seemed to fulfill the sterotype of the bassist as the guy in the background).
 
#19
I play bass because I simply love music. Second to that I love moving with the music and making people move. I couldn't do it on the guitar, at least the way I wanted.

I strongly agree with what gnjpowell said:

gnjpowell said:
Because bass just plain ROCKS and it's waycool too! Everyone plays guitar...
Bass is also the link between rhythm and melody/harmony that ties it all together.
Besides, Jesus would have played bass... The foundation. The ROCK!
Click to expand...

Plus, I also feel Jesus would've played bass.
 

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