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why play bass

#201
I played electric guitar for 20 something years. My electric guitar skills are exclusively geared for metal, I can shred like a machine but can't play jack outside of that genre. I knew zero theory for most of my life. I played like a robot.

I've been in so many bands since middle school driven by the "hand the bass to the clueless guy" mentality that I never heard or understood the instrument. I never even cared to noodle in the studio, never touched a bass. I thought I was above that stuff.

As I got older I got more intimate with a wide variety of genres. Not "old person" genres, but everything from reggae to funk to kpop to chiptunes... all the stuff I used to turn my nose up at. I formally studied music theory. I learned harmony and understood what bass does. I trained my brain to isolate bass frequencies in music and heard that stuff for the first time in songs I've been playing for years. Then it just clicked and I knew bass was the more intellectually engaging instrument for me.

I bought my first bass sight unseen at my 30+ age, without ever having held a bass in my life. I bought a very expensive and gimmicky one too. Even bought a bunch of pedals! I'm glad I did. I love the ways of the instrument, I appreciate how different its role is to guitar, and I feel liberated being able to play whatever type of music sounds good to me on a particular day. I don't see bass as my side instrument, and I hardly ever touch my guitars these days. I really wish I didn't have my head up in my ass my whole life and picked it up early on.
 
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#202
Wretched Banana said:
I played electric guitar for 20 something years. My electric guitar skills are exclusively geared for metal, I can shred like a machine but can't play jack outside of that genre. I knew zero theory for most of my life. I played like a robot.

I've been in so many bands since middle school driven by the "hand the bass to the clueless guy" mentality that I never heard or understood the instrument. I never even cared to noodle in the studio, never touched a bass. I thought I was above that stuff.

As I got older I got more intimate with a wide variety of genres. Not "old person" genres, but everything from reggae to funk to kpop to chiptunes... all the stuff I used to turn my nose up at. I formally studied music theory. I learned harmony and understood what bass does. I trained my brain to isolate bass frequencies in music and heard that stuff for the first time in songs I've been playing for years. Then it just clicked and I knew bass was the more intellectually engaging instrument for me.

I bought my first bass sight unseen at my 30+ age, without ever having held a bass in my life. I bought a very expensive and gimmicky one too. Even bought a bunch of pedals! I'm glad I did. I love the ways of the instrument, I appreciate how different its role is to guitar, and I feel liberated being able to play whatever type of music sounds good to me on a particular day. I don't see bass as my side instrument, and I hardly ever touch my guitars these days. I really wish I didn't have my head up in my ass my whole life and picked it up early on.
Click to expand...

That's awesome :thumbsup::thumbsup:

It is ALOT harder to play Hell Awaits and Holy Wars on bass :D:D
 
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#204
It started with me in 4th grade, circa 1961. The music teacher spoke to the students one day.
I wanted to play something. My father played guitar but they didn't teach guitar in grade school. There was no place for it. BUT, dad had a violin and noodled on it because my grandfather played it when my dad was young.
So I played school violin from 4th to 8th grade.
My family didn't have the finances to handle guitar lessons for me, but my grandfather on mom's side offered to pay for lessons. I took lessons for about a year; strictly book stuff; mostly Albert's Basic Guitar Method, and then on to the Mel Bay Series of books, which was pretty tough, actually.
By 9th grade I got invited to join a band. The memory of that first practice is still fresh in my mind. I was just in awe of hearing a real bass through an amp. It was one of those cardboard Framus basses with some kind of contact paper on it. We played a few songs that day and then took a break. I picked up that bass and just noodled around for a few minutes. I was hooked already. I found my voice!
That band never went anywhere, but I did play lead guitar for two more bands and did most of the lead vocal as well. Heading into the 11th grade, a local well known soul band with a horn section was looking for a bass player. There's had moved away. I already knew the bass part for most of their songs in my head. I bought a new EB-3 and a Kustom 100 amp with a single 15. Two days later I got the job and never did pick up guitar (to this day I can't remember too many chords other than the usual ones).
I feel blessed to have discovered MY instrument. I played bass in probably 15 bands over the years.
I'll be 70 soon. Our weekly jam session has been put on hold. Just last week I learned the nuances to a half dozen Billy Joel songs, just because I felt like it.
Now I put my headphones and computer on, get my bass out, and play random tunes for maybe an hour or so three times a week.
I heard Rainy Night In Georgia on the way home from an errand today. I played that simple tune this evening. It still feels good.
 
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#205
For almost fifty years I played rhythm guitar and was often told I should play bass because I had good time and feel, but I didn't want to be encumbered by a big electric bass guitar, forget a standup bass. Then over seven years ago I took up the ukulele and joined a seniors uke group. I liked it so much, I never touched my guitars since (gave all four to my nephew). About a year later the leader of the uke group asked if anyone would like to take up the bass to fill in our sound.

That night I researched and discovered all the various sub-short scale basses and went for it. It's now my primary instrument, but continue to play uke as well. In the seven years I've accumulated nine ukes and thirty bass ukes/mini bass guitars.
 
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#207
"What was the draw that lead you to play bass?"

First stringed instrument I learned was the ukulele, so I liked only having to deal with four strings. Then I heard Cream and Jack Bruce. That led me back to The Who and John Entwistle. From then on, it was the bassline that spoke to me in the songs. The lead guitar was nice, but it wasn't what held the song together. Besides, there are lots of sloppy guitar superstars, but most of the bass players are tight. They have to be.
 
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#208
bass theory said:
I think most of us, as kids, when we first become aware of music, dreamed of being a rock star. But, not just a rock star, the guitar playing front man and BL.

This site is full of talented professional musicians, intermediate players and beginners. But we all share a love of playing Bass.
I am curious as to when and why each of you determined, or discovered that Bass was the instrument for you. What was the draw that lead you to play bass?

For me, I was hyperactive, and drawn to playing drums, which I did for many years. so when I decided to expand to a new instrument Bass was the natural choice, after so long sharing the rhythm between the drums and the bass.
Click to expand...
I'm still not completely sure it's the instrument for me, but I love the tone I can get from it, love playing it, and find that the limitations have made me into a far better musician.
 
#209
  1. There are many songs (especially outside of the conventional rock genre) where a guitar wouldn't fit into the arrangement, but there are very few songs where a bass wouldn't fit, so logistically if you play bass, you can fit into far more songs than if you played guitar.
  2. Bass is a lot more visceral to play physically because of the larger/stronger movements required, thus making it more satisfying than the dainty movements required to play guitar.
  3. The low-end is very satisfying.
 
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#211
bass theory said:
I think most of us, as kids, when we first become aware of music, dreamed of being a rock star. But, not just a rock star, the guitar playing front man and BL.

This site is full of talented professional musicians, intermediate players and beginners. But we all share a love of playing Bass.
I am curious as to when and why each of you determined, or discovered that Bass was the instrument for you. What was the draw that lead you to play bass?

For me, I was hyperactive, and drawn to playing drums, which I did for many years. so when I decided to expand to a new instrument Bass was the natural choice, after so long sharing the rhythm between the drums and the bass.
Click to expand...

I picked up bass because our old bassist unexpectedly quit the band, and after auditioning several replacements, we just couldn’t find someone who was a good musical fit. So, since I had recently paid off my music store credit account after buying a guitar three years earlier, I went back and bought a bass. I discovered I really enjoyed playing bass.

As a child, I never once dreamed of playing guitar. I wanted to play drums, but my mother didn’t want to hear that, so instead, I learned to play piano, so my rock star idols were Thomas Dolby, Depeche Mode, Kate Bush, etc. I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was 20, and didn’t pick up a bass until I was 24.

When I joined my band in 1990, I was on keyboards, just teaching myself guitar. Within a year, I’d dropped keys entirely for guitar, because I thought guitar fit the sound of the music better. And then three years later, our bassist quit.
 
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#212
Beatles. Day Tripper. When the bass doubles the opening guitar lick. Didn't even know there was a thing called a bass! It was like a switch inside my soul that's stayed stuck on "ON" ever since. Taken on some other stuff since but bass is and always will be first and foremost.
 
#213
Because in 4th grade '66 the orchestra teacher asked my grade school assembly if anyone wanted to play bass. I really wanted to play drums, but there were already 20 drummers = "I DON'T need any more Ringos." Nobody raised their hand, so I thought "Well, Paul plays bass and I already play guitar AND I would get out of class for a half an hour on Wednesdays and an hour Fridays... this could work out alright." and it did!
 
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#215
bass theory said:
I think most of us, as kids, when we first become aware of music, dreamed of being a rock star. But, not just a rock star, the guitar playing front man and BL.

This site is full of talented professional musicians, intermediate players and beginners. But we all share a love of playing Bass.
I am curious as to when and why each of you determined, or discovered that Bass was the instrument for you. What was the draw that lead you to play bass?

For me, I was hyperactive, and drawn to playing drums, which I did for many years. so when I decided to expand to a new instrument Bass was the natural choice, after so long sharing the rhythm between the drums and the bass.
Click to expand...


Fore me, I love feeling what I play -love the lows - in your bones. I am learning Guitar now too, I like it, but it is totally different for me.
 
#216
What someone once said to me: "The instrument chooses you." That was true in my case. My dad was perceptive enough to notice that I was picking out bass lines and playing them on the guitar (my first instrument). Shortly after that (age 10), my parents gave me my first bass and I never looked back.

Not being as spotlight hungry as some musicians, but also having some control-freak inclinations, bass is the perfect instrument for me. Having enormous influence over the harmonic and rhythmic content of the music without being front and center is a role that suits me.
 
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#217
My story is the same as OPs started out (and still) play drums in mid 90s. Bass player in my hs garage band brought over a copy of Pork Soda....when I heard My Name Is Mud I just HAD to be able to do that. Havent looked back since 20+ yrs later.
 
#218
-I like low sounds.
-I realized that playing bass and reading charts meant constant employment.
-I realized that the bass player has incredible control over the ensemble (witnessed several hours of Mingus)
-I realized that mistakes in the bass part were less obvious than with higher pitched instruments.
-I the symmetrical note placement on the bass made is easy to learn. (I was gigging 3 weeks after I learned to hold the instrument; it is the embodiment of music theory, and I already had a music degree).
 
#219
Growing up in the 60's & early 70's I sang in school and church choirs and was schooled in SATB arrangements. I always listened to the interplay beyond melody and soloing. I think that is the foundation for my attraction to bass players (don't get all creepy) and playing bass.
 

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