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Your First bass and how it mattered...

S

sturoc

Dec 12, 2009
382
6
#1
In line with the thread of ' are you attached to your basses...'.
What was your first bass and how did it help or hinder your playing and future as a musician ?

I start here :

In 1971 My folks wanted to buy me a White Fender Strat, I played it but something was saying you don't want to be like George Harrison as much as I like his music !
" hmm Berry Oakley now that's a sound !"
So in 1972 My first bass was a Tiesco sunburst single pickup. Given as a birthday present. Which after doing something bad the next day (i can't recall what ) my parents hid it in their closet as a sort of "your grounded from playing it " for a week ! I would steal away to their bdrm when they weren't home and play it there unplugged.
It played pretty good but I knew there was better, having used the school band's old olympic now blonding Fender Precision prior to getting this one. I kept the Teisco for along time a couple years passed into High School I felt it was holding me back from playing better. I jumped to a Guild then back to Fenders forever.
From that I have this opinion;

Give a beginner a good quality instrument from the get-go and they will grow into it keeping for along time, becoming proficient and enjoying all that bass playing can give.
Give that same beginner a crappy playing bass and they will struggle, being hindered by the low quality,tone etc. Possibly frustrating them to the point of changing instrument types or stop playing all together.
 
#2
I started on a REALLY bad bass - it was a short scale Gibson EB3 copy with action a mile high and super tight flatwound strings which were unravelling.... but this actually gave me an appreciation for what a good bass feels like. I'd see other people playing these great looking long scales that looked so EASY to play.. and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one.
 
#3
my first bass was a squier p-bass special. what i learned - i like p-basses, i dont like jazz necks, i like p/j pickup combos. didnt hinder me as it was a pretty decent beginner bass, and that was back in '01. i do like some modern basses, but i have an almost unnatural obsession with p-basses. i just love'em.
 
#5
My first bass??? The Spider Queen!

blackbass-e1319839022915.jpg


How did it matter? Because, had my older brother not given it to me 26ish years ago, I not only would not have become a bass player, but may very well have never pursued the desire to learn an instrument at all! Though i had already written a couple of dozen songs before the bass was given to me, I just didn't have the drive to actually learn to play anything... figured I would never be good enough. Having the bass around, knowing it was a gift, kind of made me pick it up and play with the thing. I also figured he would not expect me to actually learn how to play, and I just had to prove him wrong!

I really did want to add music to my lyrics, and now that I had a bass, I knew McCartney wrote and played on bass, so it seemed like the obvious place to start. And now, here I am, starting to record my solo album
 
#6
My first bass was a Silvertone/Dano with round wound strings bought used for $40 as a Christmas gift. That and a $5 guitar amp bought from a classmate was all I needed to send me to my room woodshedding to records played on my stereo. Despite being downright cheap those old Dano's were very easy to play.

Six months later I was a bass player in a rock band taking the money I made to move on up to a Fender Jazz Bass and a little later a Precision Bass. Those models are still my favorite basses and what I really learned to play on.
 
#7
My Squier Affinity P is my first and to date, only bass. I have played mandolin for a few years before getting the bass in January. I have come to love it and after playing some other Affinity Ps at the shop, I believe I was lucky and got a gem among that line. The neck has a great smooth finish, though the frets are a bit sharp. I have no complaints about the body, except I wish they were making sunbursts when I got it. It could use better pickups, but as I'm not in a band, the stock ones suit my purposes, which are learning like crazy and the occasional jam with friends. I'll make a few mods eventually, and I'll probably take this bass to the grave!

Sure, I've played basses that sound better, but this one isn't junk (I think Squier deserves more credit than it gets). I daresay that, with new pickups, this humble Squier could contend with its big Fender brothers.
 
#9
My first was a Gibson Ripper.
I owned it for about 4 hours.
My dad bought it for me to play in a band when I was 16 (I think). He drove me to the rehearsal studio, and there was another bass player there.
So we returned it, but I kept the Polytone Brute.
I didn't by another until I was about 20. Then it was a U.S.A. Fender Bullet Deluxe which I stupidly sold a couple years ago to fund a cab purchase.

How it mattered....
It was the first time I remember my dad taking interest in MY interest. It was a great day when we got that bass and amp, and I'll never forget it. Taking it back does not even matter.
 
#10
My first bass was some fender jazz copy thingy. Had no brand name on it so not sure what it was. Sounded like crap, played like crap, but it was the first thing I used so I thought it was cool. Wasn't mine though it was borrowed to learn on.

After "learning" what I was even doing, my abilities quickly surpassed what the bass itself could offer. Moved on to Traben for my first purchased bass, and now own 3 of them and an acoustic cheapy dean playmate for quick inspiration.

Couldn't be happier with my Traben's. I know they don't get much love on here and they seem to be going the way of the dodo as a company, but I'll be an owner for life. They have some models out there that were very limited runs and I HAVE to get my hands on the bootsy star some day. Its obscene but won't be complete with out it.
 
#11
My first bass was a rogue lol. Unlike many of the complaints on here, it really was about as good as one could hope for. Came with a 30 watt amp as well. It came set up well enough and I learned how to dial in the set up about 6 months after buying it.

Like many I was a guitar player looking for something "more" and I found it. Over the 7 years I've been playing I have turned to guitar, drums, and harmonica. But I always come back to the bass and it is where I'm going to stay.
 
#12
Mi first solid body bass was a Westone Electra X640N.

It is the best bass I have ever played.

As soon as I got it, I got in a country & western band.
Then two more C&W bands. Then a rock band.

Then we had kids and it all went to shi+. In my old age,
it's more of a hobby,

Tabdog
 
#13
My first bass was a squier affinity P. it sucked pretty hardcore... But it was my first bass, so I didn't know what to expect. Even though it played like crap it sounded good for such a cheapo instrument.

With that bass I learned how to read music and chords, change strings, set intonation and set action. Bought it for $130 in "like new" condition and sold it for $100 in "good" condition. I'd say that was $30 well spent since it got me into bass playing and got me hooked on music:)
 
#14
First bass was a Westone thingy - black, with a cream P-type pup. Did the job - got me started. First bass I owned that I loved was a Tokai Jazz Sound clone. That was the start of a love affair with the Jazz shape that is with me to this day. Other non-Jazz shaped basses I've played and owned may sound or play better, but they've never looked right to my eyes.
But, in all honesty, I'd happily play the Westone plank - if it means playing with other musicians and playing to an audience.
 
#15
My first Bass was a Fender JP 15 years ago. Got it real cheap with EMG pickups. Sounded awesome, but hated the body. Somehow got a Jazz body copy and switched the neck and electronics onto there. Years later I realized why it was so cheap. There was a crack in the neck, so recently I bought a new neck for it. It was the only bass I played until recently. It still is the bass I only use even though the only original thing on it are the pickups, which weren't even original to begin with for the bass. Action sucks, but everything else sounds good. Don't even no how it is to play an expensive bass :)
 
#17
An awful Heit short-scale electronics store special. I pulled the frets out, painted it, painted it again, than bought an new 1976 Fender Mustang when I saved up enough $$. That bass was great - the Mustang was as pro sounding as any bass and I'm glad I had it. Sold it for $100 towards an awful new 1980 P Bass, my first Precision.
 
#18
My first bass was a '65 P bass. It taught me that I would never be a P bass guy. Ultimately I bought a '93 American Precision Deluxe Plus, though. Its saving grace was that it had a J pickup, so it sucked less than most other Ps. I'd think about a later vintage American Deluxe Precision V, the best P bass Fender ever built.
 
#19
First bass was an Epiphone ET-280
Epi-ET-280bass.gif


Short scale, single coil pickups, strung with flats. Better than average starter instrument for the time (mid-70's), especially when compared to the usual Silvertone/Sekova/etc. crapola that it was competing with in the student market. Good quality Japanese craftsmanship and a decent setup courtesy of the previous owner - I bought it used

How did it matter? I got me started playing, that's about it. I've never owned another short-scale bass since, and up until the beginning of this year I also never owned another fretted bass either. Made the jump to fretless in 1976 and never looked back
 
#20
My first bass was a 5-string Ibanez bass.

The bass played nice but it turned me off to 5-strings for a long time because the b string never sounded good.

The tone of the bass also left a lot to be desired, but I didn't realize that until I had listened to enough bass to know what I wanted in regard to bass tone.

Now I own a P bass.
 

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