I loved music, knew a ton of guitarists, and needed something to occupy my free time besides weed after high school. 5 years later I think I'm much better off because of it.
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 Maxpowweer
- Start date
I play bass because I was too lazy to invest the time needed to learn how to play guitar and all I was really looking to do was get in a band so I could get laid.
It worked,,,, and its still working.
Cheers
Davyo
It worked,,,, and its still working.
Cheers
Davyo
I REALLY like to play guitar - but the truth is - I am not very good at guitar.
I am a MUCH better bass player - and actually DIG working in the Engine room with most good drummers!
It make me feel all warm inside!
I am a MUCH better bass player - and actually DIG working in the Engine room with most good drummers!
It make me feel all warm inside!
Seems like a lot of people "settled" on playing bass. I, on the other hand, started out with bass. It was what moved me and still does to this day. I don't see people dancing to guitar, I see people dancing to bass and drums...'nuff said.
I read a signature on TB that said (paraphrased) "it only takes me two fingers to make your girlfriends butt shake" <---this
I read a signature on TB that said (paraphrased) "it only takes me two fingers to make your girlfriends butt shake" <---this
Played guitar when I was 12 and was pretty good at it too! Went to high school and there were tons of guitarists. After 3 years I decided that guitar was too mainstream and there were lots of posers. Bass being easy to start dint hurt either.. Its been 6 months and Im happy. Also realised I listened more to the basslines of my fav MIJ bands.
My GCSE choices didn't work out, and I was sort of forced to do music. My dad being a guitarist, I picked that up too. After about a year, my church was making a youth band, so I went along to play. There were twelve guitarists, two drummers, a keyboard player and a couple of singers, but no bass. I'd wanted to play the instrument for a while (I had (have) a crush on Tal Wilkenfeld) but my dad wouldn't buy me one, so this was my excuse! I was a hero for taking up the role, but I fell in love straight away! Also, I was naturally good at it, much more so than I was at guitar.
At 10, it was because Gene Simmons did it, and he was terrifying and strange (what was I thinking?)
At 14, it was because I saw a picture of Sting with a Steinberger XL2, and I just loved the idea of playing a plastic stick-so punk. When they came out with the guitar, the ambition changed accordingly.
I didn't take up the bass until this year, however, when my friend needed a bassist for his new band. I had been a good, if rather garden variety, butt rock guitarist for years, but decided that I at least needed to work as a weekend warrior instead of merely dedicating myself to the unheard songwriting that I had been doing in solitude for decades.
That being said, I'm not someone who plays bass as an afterthought. I'm obsessed, seeking out a serious teacher, and, for the first time in my life, am practicing with a metronome.
I play like a "real" bassist, without a pick. It's a completely different instrument, and I'm back to almost being a beginner, but the intrinsic rewards are, for me, huge.
I love the rubbery, strange sounds you can only make with a bass, and, how, with the punch of an old fuzzbox button and a pick hidden up your sleeve, you can switch back to guitar playing as an onstage gimmick
At 14, it was because I saw a picture of Sting with a Steinberger XL2, and I just loved the idea of playing a plastic stick-so punk. When they came out with the guitar, the ambition changed accordingly.
I didn't take up the bass until this year, however, when my friend needed a bassist for his new band. I had been a good, if rather garden variety, butt rock guitarist for years, but decided that I at least needed to work as a weekend warrior instead of merely dedicating myself to the unheard songwriting that I had been doing in solitude for decades.
That being said, I'm not someone who plays bass as an afterthought. I'm obsessed, seeking out a serious teacher, and, for the first time in my life, am practicing with a metronome.
I play like a "real" bassist, without a pick. It's a completely different instrument, and I'm back to almost being a beginner, but the intrinsic rewards are, for me, huge.
I love the rubbery, strange sounds you can only make with a bass, and, how, with the punch of an old fuzzbox button and a pick hidden up your sleeve, you can switch back to guitar playing as an onstage gimmick
Been playing guitar for about 30 years. Professionally for a chunk of it (major label deal, then studio work). Truthfully I got bored with the instrument. When the current project I'm in got together I agreed only if I could play bass. My friend of 25 years is at least equal, if not better than, me on guitar and neither of us really needs help. I'm still light years ahead on guitar than I am on bass. But it's mainly due to building my hands up and breaking the habits that go with playing guitar on a bass.
I'm not sure why anyone would think bass is easier or harder than guitar. There's different levels of a difficulty in songs and different levels of proficiency of the player on either instrument.
I'm not sure why anyone would think bass is easier or harder than guitar. There's different levels of a difficulty in songs and different levels of proficiency of the player on either instrument.
Sometimes I rock back and forth, asking myself this very question, over and over...........
In 1982 I was at Berklee studying jazz violin, and some classmates wanted to start a pop band. They didn't have a bassist, and I was tired of just playing melodies and soloing. I wanted to be part of the rhythm section, so I borrowed a bass, learned some Police, Mellencamp and Toto songs, and the rest is history.... kind of. I haven't played the violin in years, it's just too much work and the sound of the bass really draws me in. You can groove on a fiddle but it's not the same.
The responsibility that comes with the power to take a song in many different directions.
The authority and confidence you can instil into a band by holding down the bottom end, the foundation and the groove to which others can fall back on.
The sense of satisfaction to do all of the above in the shadows, mostly without any recognition other than knowing you made those around you sound better because of it...
The authority and confidence you can instil into a band by holding down the bottom end, the foundation and the groove to which others can fall back on.
The sense of satisfaction to do all of the above in the shadows, mostly without any recognition other than knowing you made those around you sound better because of it...
I play bass because I must. If I don't play for a day or more, it's almost as if a crucial piece of myself goes dormant: I'm in a fog, things don't line up during the day, I'm off my game in the other things I'm involved in. I'm absolutely convinced I was wired at conception for bass guitar. Seriously.
I play bass for the same reason that the OP stated at the beginning of this thread. But, I didn't start out on bass. I was a guitarist first, and I still play guitar, too. But, I've been full-time on bass as far as gigs go since 1988 til now. My first experience with bass was at a friend's house one day messing around, when I was 14. That was 1964. It was a '50s P bass, as I remember. Then, in 1965 I had a band going. Our bassist had a Gibson EBO. I was the guitarist, but we switched back and forth a lot. He often got to play my '64 Gretsch Tennessean while I played that EBO. We were good, too, and played all over the state. We were kids who could "cook." he also had an upright that I messed with, but not on any gigs.
So, after high school I majored in music and took up upright as my instrument. I played in the university orchestra and later in the Columbia Philharmonic for six years. Already I had learned how much I liked what bass did, and how it felt. I also had a full-time guitar gig in the early '70s, six nights per week, locally. I was playing, still going to school, and teaching guitar and bass all at once. It was all I did---and playing.
In 1988, after being out of the circuit for a few years, I wanted to get in a band again. I heard about a beach band looking for a bass player. Hm, I thought, if I can't play beach music on bass I don't have a hair on my ass. But, I had never been the actual bass player in a band, except for the times in high school when I swapped with the bass player (who, btw, was Don Dixon, if you've heard of him---a well-known producer). But, I didn't even have an electric bass, and I didn't know many tunes just on bass. So...I went and bought one ('87 Jazz Bass Special) just to go to the audition. Heh, heh, they liked me and the rest is history. I've played bass in several bands since, to this day. It's who I am. Folks still remember my guitar playing days, too. There's another guy in town who did just the opposite, from bass to guitar these days.
So, after high school I majored in music and took up upright as my instrument. I played in the university orchestra and later in the Columbia Philharmonic for six years. Already I had learned how much I liked what bass did, and how it felt. I also had a full-time guitar gig in the early '70s, six nights per week, locally. I was playing, still going to school, and teaching guitar and bass all at once. It was all I did---and playing.
In 1988, after being out of the circuit for a few years, I wanted to get in a band again. I heard about a beach band looking for a bass player. Hm, I thought, if I can't play beach music on bass I don't have a hair on my ass. But, I had never been the actual bass player in a band, except for the times in high school when I swapped with the bass player (who, btw, was Don Dixon, if you've heard of him---a well-known producer). But, I didn't even have an electric bass, and I didn't know many tunes just on bass. So...I went and bought one ('87 Jazz Bass Special) just to go to the audition. Heh, heh, they liked me and the rest is history. I've played bass in several bands since, to this day. It's who I am. Folks still remember my guitar playing days, too. There's another guy in town who did just the opposite, from bass to guitar these days.
Was working in Singapore in my late 20s (2004-2007), bored out of my mind and possibly the ugliest drunken barbarian on the island. A stash of Zappa music came into my possession. When not programming computers, I stumbled around the island, repeatedly listening to the incredible playing of the "Roxy" band and on the 80s material.
Anyway I very much liked those bassists, the other instruments were nice and all, but had no balls. Around the same time I read about the circle of fifths, which lead me into diatonic theory, and the wonderful discovery that I could construct any chords in a deterministic fashion and that people were not just playing "randomly" or playing "shapes". So I bought me a bass as I wanted to make the sounds on "Chungas Revenge" and "Echidna's Arf".
Fast forward five years to today, am back in Ireland, I do a 40 hour programming week and another 40+ between practice, rehearsal, and gigs. I still suck but the aul' precision keeps me sane, purposeful, and to my surprise, musicians as a group are so much more deterministic, organised, intelligent and funny than the dipsh*ts I deal with in corporatesoftwareland.
Anyway I very much liked those bassists, the other instruments were nice and all, but had no balls. Around the same time I read about the circle of fifths, which lead me into diatonic theory, and the wonderful discovery that I could construct any chords in a deterministic fashion and that people were not just playing "randomly" or playing "shapes". So I bought me a bass as I wanted to make the sounds on "Chungas Revenge" and "Echidna's Arf".
Fast forward five years to today, am back in Ireland, I do a 40 hour programming week and another 40+ between practice, rehearsal, and gigs. I still suck but the aul' precision keeps me sane, purposeful, and to my surprise, musicians as a group are so much more deterministic, organised, intelligent and funny than the dipsh*ts I deal with in corporatesoftwareland.
I play bass because it is the coolest sounding instrument in the band. You don't need to be up front to draw attention to yourself when your bass can do all the talking. It just depends on who is listening in the audience.
