how did you end up as a bass player?

[Mr. Foxen]

A guy said to me 'You have a ridiculous beard, and thus must be a bassist, if not, here is a bass, play in my band'.

[Doddy]

I honestly have no idea why I decided to learn bass.

[retroman]

I was, and still am, a massive Motorhead fan, and seeing Lemmy out front, trusty Rickenbacker being strummed within an inch of its life, I always thought how cool is that!

Steve Harris was another good reason. Hearing bass lines for the likes of "Number Of The Beast", where the bass just rules the song from start to finish, also made me take interest.

My School mates were all into the goth stuff, like Sisters Of Mercy, and Fields Of The Nephilim, and I especially noticed the bass pounding along on the Nephilim stuff.

Hawkwind, with either Lemmy, or Alan Davey got my attention too.

So that was it, hooked! My first bass was a Precision, with the "Legend" moniker on the headstock, and still have it to this day. My second bass is the Rickenbacker that I still own, and the Rickenbacker certainly inspired me to start taking playing bass a bit more seriously, and it was so lovely to play after learning the basics on a cheapy.

I still sit up and take notice when I hear music where the bass is at the front. I can remember years ago watching a TV music awards type thing, and Mogwai were on there. Got it on video somewhere. The bass player was using a Rickenbacker, and switching between nice clean sounding melodies, and raging, overdriven power chords. Just how a Rickenbacker should be played

[Spoombung]

4 strings

[rOB]

Had been playing Blues and Jazz clarinet for about 5 years so had a decent idea of how music worked and what sounded good.

Went to see a local gig (probably charity fundraiser) when I was 13/14 for my first experience of live rock. Felt the bass in my feet and loved it but didn't really pick up an electric instrument till I could afford to buy my own maybe 5 years later. It was a starter pack (bass & amp job) by Hartke, bass was horrible but the little amp was alright, I gave it all to a friend who was just starting out, I think he still uses the amp for home practice now.

[the_skezz]

All my mates were picking up instruments (ie. guitars). One of my mates was on about getting a bass (to this day he still hasn't got one) and it sounded like an interesting idea, so I started messing around with my Dad's bass when I was over his house the one time. He taught me a simplified version of 'Master of the Universe' and offered to put some cash/lend me the rest towards my own bass.

He then got assassinated by a guitarist who burned his house to the ground. I rose from the ashes, brand new Ibanez in hand, bloodthirsty and screaming for revenge.

[Delberthot]

There was a talent show at my primary school when I was 11. Me and my best mate at the time were going to mime and dance along to Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen.

Another mate of mine suggested that I should borrow his acoustic guitar to look the part. I ended up buying it off him for a fiver and playing along to Queen songs. Got another acoustic for my 12th birthday which was better.

Christmas of the same year I was asked to choose what I wanted out of the Littlewoods catalogue so the choice was obvious, or was it?

Everyone wanted me to get a guitar but I noticed that the bass they had, a Marlin Slammer, looked identical through 12 year old eyes to the Precision that John Deacon used on One Vision so it had to be that.

That was accompanied by a Squier 15 watt guitar combo and a yellow curly lead just like Brian May.

I played every hour that I could, played every song I heard and joined my first band when I was 14

[TransistorBassMan]

It's a long story, I'll try and keep it short

I didn't really start playing bass guitar until I was 20, but in the previous 12 years I'd been playing basslines in some form or other. I played classical piano, keyboards in synth-rock bands, euphonium/tenor horn in the school brass ensemble. I was also fond of working out basslines on piano and guitar, just to see how they fitted in the arrangement. When I was 20, my band had some studio time booked, but our bass player was away. I could play the basslines on guitar, so I borrowed a bass, played on the recordings and quite enjoyed it. This was 1988 and I was primarily a keyboard player who was fed up of carting loads of stuff to rehearsals and gigs. The idea of turning up with just a bass, a combo, and a tuner really appealed. How times have changed! There were also more bands looking for bassists than keyboard players!

There are a couple of other reasons....

There are two songs from my teens that really made me want to play bass (although I didn't do it straight away)
Paul Gardiner's "Stormtrooper In Drag" (bass played by Gary Numan) and "Good Technology" by Red Guitars in 1983 (bass played by Lou Howard) I love both songs for many reasons, but in both cases the bassline made me think "I want to have that power." Neither song has a technically spectacular bassline, but there's something about them and the way they drive the song!
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLNNq3mxrEw"]Stormtrooper In Drag[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs0OkiCZNRI"]Good Technology[/url]

The first 4 gigs I ever went to featured Joe Hubbard on bass, and then Tony Butler was the next bassist I saw play live. That's something to aspire to....

[BassCat]

I wanted to be a guitarist after hearing Mark Knopflers solo on Sultans of Swing from the Alchemy live album, but after 10 years attempting to play more than 3 chords (and failing miserably), fellow BC'er Stag suggested I try bass instead. 5 years later and I'm gigging every weekend (but still can only play 3 chords on guitar)!

Edited November 4, 2010 by BassCat

[Bassassin]

Me & a couple of underage mates sneaked into a local pub and simultaneously experienced our first pint & first live band. For me it was a genuinely life-changing experience, and we staggered home choosing instruments in the band we were going to start.

Watching the gig I had been most struck by the drummer, but realising that I'd have a job persuading my mum & dad to let me have a kit in the house, I went for bass. My listening at the time revolved around bands like The Stranglers, The Jam, The Who & Motorhead so it wasn't exactly a hard choice. A year later I heard Rush and my fate was, as they say, sealed.

Anyway our "band" never played in the same room, although the singer fronted a few bands I know of. I seriously doubt any of the other guys are still playing, but you never know.

Jon.

[Mog]

This....... (we need a phil smiley)

[RockfordStone]

i decided to get back into music again at the age of 18, was originally gonna go for a guitar, but my friend (a guitarist) convinced me to take up bass so we could start a band.

i was at the time unconvinced, but when i first picked up a squier pbass they had in the shop i was sold

[dougal]

Steve Harris and Frankie Bello seemed to be having much more fun than Adrian Smith / Dan Spitz.

That and it was bass or not gig.

I'd been playing classical guitar for several years, and wasn't the worst guitarist in any of the bands I joined. I was given a Westone Thunder 1 and 30w Aria amp by my parents. I've never really thanked them properly.

I love playing bass, I'm not sure I could play guitar in a band (although I still play classically and write predominantly on the guitar).

[thisnameistaken]

I had two friends who started playing guitar.

But once I bought a bass and started paying attention to bass players, it turned out all my favourite records I remembered from when I was a little nipper (Specials, Madness, Blockheads) had awesome bass lines. Coincidence?

[tauzero]

I started on guitar, and still play it (doing a gig tomorrow night, in fact). Went to university, put a band together with another three students in our hall of residence, and sort of got relegated to bass. After dropping out of university, didn't do anything for a while, then when I moved to Tamworth I put up an advert saying "Lead/rhythm/bass guitarist available". Got recruited as bassist by one of the local bands, and that has been my main instrument ever since - I'm definitely a better bassist than guitarist, though I enjoy doing both.

[SaxxyBass]

I can't wait til I can actually call myself a bass player!

My reasons for taking it up - always fascinated by Stanley Clarke and Mark King's playing many years ago and having failed miserably mastering chords on the guitar gave up and carried on with piano and woodwind. I love picking out bass lines on the piano and having managed to end up in a band on my Sax at my ripe old age I just decided to go for it! (not sure I'll ever be a slap and popper now though ! - I'm really into blues walking bass lines).

[risingson]

Got asked by a mate if I wanted to join his band. I didn't play anything at the time but told him I could probably play bass. Our other mate got drums, he got a guitar. They gave up after a year, and I've been playing for the 9 years since then.

[danhkr]

Tried to organise soooo many bands with people and got sick of them never happening because there were no bassists around. Still love guitars and guitar playing but probably prefer the bass now.

[RhysP]

Couldn't afford synthesisers, and I'd tried my elder brothers electric guitar & that didn't really appeal to me.
There's no way my parents would have let me have a drum kit, so it was bass or f*** all really.

What my initial motivation was to try & learn to play an instrument I simply cannot remember.

[Spike Vincent]

I thought JJ Burnel and Paul Simenon looked cool.

[charic]

When I was at college a girl mentioned I looked good with a bass (was helpeding setup) when I was in Uni I remembered this comment and started teaching myself

[Mr Fudge]

Played lead guitar for a decade in bands. Took a punt on a bass because of my love of Rush and Geddy Lee and a few years later found myself with 4 mates, one a great drummer and the rest of us guitar players. I had a bass and we wanted to gig. 15 years later I'm still at it every week.

Best thing that ever happened to me ....

[Cat Burrito]

I'm just lucky I guess


And far too cool to play the other band roles

[BassPimp66]

I don't have an over-inflated ego, and I quite enjoy playing root notes

[blind pilot]

[quote name='Mog' post='1012072' date='Nov 4 2010, 02:09 PM']

This....... (we need a phil smiley)[/quote]


ERM 5:52 long and not once did i sex Rex Brown! Shocking camera work!