Are you born to be a bassist?

[lowdowner]

I took 18 months off bass playing to learn to play drums. I had an itch.

I didn't really think I could do justice to learning the drums without giving it 100% and I just put my bass away and took weekly drum lessons and ... well ... just played and played.

I've enjoyed every moment of it.

But over the last few weeks I've felt a calling back to the bass and this evening have had a reunion with my 4 stringed buddy like a long lost lover returning from oversea, and I realised that nothing feels quite like it.

So here's my question - do you feel that you are born a bassist? Do you think that even though you might scratch an itch and learn to play other (lesser?) instruments, that you'll probably always return to the bass? Just like I feel now?

I admit, I've had a few ales officer, but perhaps I'm at my most honest and clear thinking when I've had an ale or two and pick up my old friend?

So - are we born bassists, or is it just a romantic dream?

[Chiliwailer]

Absolutely!

I enjoy playing other instruments but bass is always where my soul will be, and given that soul is required to play bass I don't think twice about being a natural born bass player

[lowdowner]

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1409256427' post='2538102']
Absolutely!

I enjoy playing other instruments but bass is always where my soul will be, and given that soul is required to play bass I don't think twice about being a natural born bass player
[/quote]

Good answer

[stingrayPete1977]

I started on guitar and was very average, but rather than the failed guitarist we are often known as I think it was because I was drawn to the bass, even when I bought a good guitar at the age of about 15 I still played the Avon SG bass when jamming with my mates, which was a very accurate copy of an SG bass and therfore terrible I find most bass players are frustrated drummers as we have an understanding of what goes where so we can often knock up a shed or two.

[lowdowner]

Not frustrated anymore. I can play some grooves on drums but I choose bass...

I like to be able to determine note length - seems important somehow

[RhysP]

No.

If I'm brutally honest with myself I wasn't born to be a musician of any kind.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1409257424' post='2538119']
No.

If I'm brutally honest with myself I wasn't born to be a musician of any kind.
[/quote]
Nor me, I am not a natural at all compared to many players.

[Lozz196]

I think so. I`m generally invisible to many (make that most) of the audiences, my natural personality is to stand in the background. Even my friendships are usually based on me being mates with someone more outgoing and lively than myself. However I`m the person many people turn to for support as I`m the "rock-steady" person when they`re floundering.

I reckon all the above translates pretty well into bassist.

Edit - I should also add that whilst I can play guitar, and am a pretty good rhythm guitarist, I don`t really understand the guitar, whereas I feel I do with the bass.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Lozz196

[HowieBass]

Bass seems to come easier to me than other instruments I've had a go on (drums, guitar, keyboards, clarinet) and it does feel natural though I might well enjoy something like cello or upright bass just as much - I must admit that had I the space and the cash I'd probably get a small arsenal of synths to keep the basses company...

[theyellowcar]

I deserted my basses and spent a few years astray playing angsty alt-folk songs as a solo act. It was fun (still is) but coming back to bass in the last 12 months is definitely the best choice I have ever made musically. I'm a mere bedroom rocker these days, but jamming along to all my favourite tracks is immensely satisfying, as is challenging myself to learn all the songs I deemed "too hard" as a 14 year old first picking up the instrument.

I wouldn't say I was born a bassist, but there is something in the root of me that will always joy in 4 strings.

[deepbass5]

I feel have the right temperament if you can say that, I love it with a passion but I am not a natural I have to work very hard at it. I Consider myself average after 30 + years with no chops just head full of melodic support lines.

[4 Strings]

I remember when I was very, very young, at a holiday camp with the March of the Mods being played, and us all marching round as you did, I was fascinated by the bass. Still young, I often went stock-car racing and the whistley tune they played as the cars paraded I remember the bass line (and can still sing it) more than anything. Equally young I used to mime to Happy Jack in the living room, but playing the bass - not that I really knew what it was. It seems I have always been fascinated by the bottom end as I have been playing bass for over 30 years now, even both my sons play bass - very well too.

[TJ Spicer]

Absolutely, I can go to any of the other instruments with which I have (some) ability and enjoy it for a while, but I'll always get bored after a while. I never do with bass! Plus being on stage with 4/5 strings instead of 6 or a brass instrument feels so much more... Natural, I guess! I also love that feeling of tying everything together with the drummer and being that essential foundation layer whilst influencing all three of rhythm/time, Harmony and Melody. Just being in that musical pocket, just out of the limelight, having a great time whilst linking up with a group of other musicians is where I feel I'm meant to be...

[Allie]

I started on Banjo. Then went through a whole range of instruments and had to work hard at them all. So - not a born natural by any means and needless to say, the history doesn't detract in any way from the enjoyment I take from playing.

[Marvin]

People actually want to play other instruments? This is all news to me

[Myke]

I wish I was born to play bass. I don't feel I am though.

It's certainly my favourite instrument and as others have said, it seems to suit my personality well and most of all I just love knowing that I'm part of the glue in a band

My favourite playing moment was playing with a brass section and I was there like, I can't be seen because this damn trombonist is stood in the way but I couldn't care less right now! Best thing ever!

[Bassassin]

Bass was my first instrument, and I learned guitar a couple of years later really so I had a vehicle for composition. So while I can play guitar well enough to play anything I can think of, I've never wanted to play it live, and bass remains "my" instrument.

Dunno if I'm a "born" bassist, I don't think I have much natural aptitude for any instrument - learning to play to a reasonable standard always felt like a struggle with my innate ham-fistedness, and I still think I'm a terribly sloppy & inconsistent player. Can't remember who it was who said it, but there was an observation that the very best players are those whose talent is equally balanced between what's in their head & what's in their hands. Mine's probably 75% in the head. And arguably my head's full of rubbish!

Jon.

[yorks5stringer]

I was 14 in 1968 and I remember the school disco playing "Reach out and I'll be There". Just before the chorus there's a little Bass run after the words "Reach Out" and before " I'll be there" and I thought I want to play that instrument. To this day I hardly listen to lyrics - I zone into the bass lines. In fact it took me till Tuesday this week to realise the Beatles were singing "Got a good reason" on Day Tripper and not "God is the reason" !! I kid yee not!!

[icastle]

I play several other instruments but I always gravitate towards bass if I'm given the choice.

[MacDaddy]

I play guitar in the band I'm in (& have been for the last 3 years), but I'm still a bassist who plays guitar.

[Thunderpaws]

Two things for me that make me a natures born bassist.

All of my friends at school played guitar.

I have freaking big hands that make me clumsy with a guitar, though when I do pick one up it grooves.

[discreet]

I like to think so - otherwise I've wasted a LOT of time.

[Ticktock]

Started out a drummer but.....bass is the place.

[phil.c60]

I've never really heard anything else when I listen to music - from Blowin' Free Wishbone Ash to Soul to Motown and even disco (Bernard Edwards, anyone? what would you give to play like that!) - I always loved it. Took me many years to get the confidence to learn to play (I didn't start 'till I was nearly 50) but it's the best thing I ever did. I have no desire to play anything else. As others have said, it's more hard work than talent, I'm not a born musician like some of my friends,but I now gig regularly and never lack motivation to practice or learn a new song - just ability!!! Even simple stuff, the feeling when you get the groove [u]just[/u] right - can't be beaten. I've never had the desire to go "widdly widdly widdly kerraaang!) and I don't think I ever will. Thank god. There's too many of those f***ers. (only kidding, folks).

Edited August 28, 2014 by phil.c60

[phil.c60]

Sorry, that's the long version. The short version is "Yes".