Show me the child at seven...

[norvegicusbass]

...so the old Jesuit saying goes.

Show me the bassist and I will show you the ...

Did the music you listened to as as a kid before you ever handled a bass influence not only your style but the bass you lusted after? I was in my youth a bit of a fan of both Joy Division and The Jam. Both bassists played Rick's and so it was a Rickenbacker that I wanted Santa to bring me.

He never did.

Did you manage to listen to your favourite music without it developing into GAS?

[ambient]

I'm probably gonna be the odd one out, but definitely no.

I only play 6 string basses, and what I listen to now bears absolutely no relation to what I listen to when I was a child, or even 10 years ago.

[ezbass]

I didn't pick up the bass until much later in life, spending the many preceding years in the treble wilderness. Growing up, bass players that made me listen to them were John Entwhistle, Andy Fraser, Jack Bruce, Chris Squire, etc (it was the 70s). Then I heard Pino with Paul Young in the early 80s and my first picking up of the thick stringed happened (I got dragged back to guitar very soon after and didn't finally settle on bass until the turn of the millennium. Now 3 out of my 5 basses are fretless and I have a vintage P. Was I influenced by Mr Paladino? Probably.

[Dad3353]

Aged 7, I had no idea that music even existed, excepting maybe my father whistling tunelessly or singing the refrain from 'O, mein Papa' for hours (or so it seemed...).
That being said, at infant school, aged 2-5, a selected piece of classical music was played to the morning assembly each day. It was not until over 50 years later that I recognised 'Personages with Long Ears', from The Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saëns...), where the strident violins mimic the braying of asses. Why they played that to us at that age is a valid question. Has that affected my drumming..? I doubt it, but one never knows. [size=4] [/size]

[r16ktx]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1414939212' post='2594838']
I'm probably gonna be the odd one out...
[/quote]
+1 ;-)

[Coilte]

[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1414940888' post='2594861']
+1 ;-)
[/quote]

+2. [size=4] [/size][size=4]The music I listened to from the ages of say seven to fourteen did not continue for much longer. I first picked up the bass in my teens and while I had my [/size]heroes[size=4] as far as playing went, the type of basses they used had no influence on me. Just as well, because back then the choice of basses was very limited and even if they were easily available, I could not afford one. [/size]

[Lozz196]

Not so much at 7, but the music I really started listening to in my teens certainly influenced my bass playing, Jam, Stranglers, being major influences - even down to the Precision/Roto Rounds I currently use.

[Hobbayne]

As Loz said above, I listened to a lot of the Jam and Stranglers with Foxtons and Burnells plectrum powered basslines to the fore.
However, I was very heavily into the Ska 2tone genre too. Madness, Specials, Selecter with finger styles. So I incorporated all that into my playing style (Albeit subconsciously)

Edit. And they all played precisions 😀

Edited November 2, 2014 by Hobbayne

[lojo]

I think the answer is yes, but the problem is there are too many influences over many styles, so I want a "fender jazz precision stingray fretted fretless rick" fitted with round wound flats

Add to this I could afford even a basic 2nd hand bass until I started working , so I just brought the cheapest 2nd hand bass in the paper ads, a Rockson 2 it was called.

In my 40s now and slowly getting through all the basses I dreamed of

Edited November 2, 2014 by lojo

[BILL POSTERS]

[size=4]The Bass lines and the music yes, not the type of Bass though.

Pre Radio 1 there was only pop music on the radio occasionally, and only the odd 1/2 Hr TV program. My (much) older brother listened to swing or stuff like the Platters, and my sisters mainstream Rock and Roll like Elvis, Roy Orbison or Billy Fury. So thats what I was exposed to from very early on.

But we did have a big loud old valve Radiogram with a huge speaker in it, so plenty of audible bass, but pre Entwhistle or Mcartney, that meant mainly Double Bass, or electric Bass lines that sounded like double Bass line.

I love walking bass lines, and really only play R&B or Rock n Roll these days, and it shows. I dont enjoy playing much else, my days of trying to sound like Entwhisle are behind me, and I never got on with 80s stuff at all.[/size]


[size=4]Edit; Just had a look, No.1 on my 7th birthday was Mac the Knife. No 1s for the rest of the year were mainly Cliff Richards or Elvis Presley.[/size]

Edited November 2, 2014 by BILL POSTERS

[timmo]

On my 7th birthday, the song at number 1 in the charts was Can`t Give You Anything(But My Love). I have no idea what the song is. Then after that it was Sailing, by Rod Stewert. So I am going to say no.
After youtubing the song, i knoiw it, but it is still no a

Edited November 2, 2014 by timmo

[Drax]

Most of the basslines I listened to as a kid were played on a Fairlight, they were £25k then and I only had a paperround. I'd still love one now.

[miles'tone]

Interesting!
Never thought about this before but yes, you're right.

My first favourite band (at age 7 funnily enough) was The Police quickly joined by Madness.
Both used Precision basses.

I didn't pick up a bass until 1991, then spent 20 years avoiding P basses because I wanted to be 'different' to the masses.

Now, having come full circle as you do, I only play a P bass (happiness at last!) and not too strangely have always found it in my nature to create reggae and ska influenced bass lines quite easily!

Now doctor, let me tell you about my mother..

[xilddx]

It influenced my hair style, dunno about anything else

[PTB]

Having just googled what was number 1 when I was 7, it reminded me what utter crap was around back then. Puppy love, My Ding a Ling & Mouldy Old Dough. No wonder I was working through my Dad's old jazz 78s.

[Bobthedog]

I was brought up in a musical family with live jazz (father's jazz band with an amazing basement opened for other bands or musoes to practice in) or recorded blues music being played the whole time. Not surprisingly these are now my preferred musical genres. I only discovered the bass guitar as a "want to play" in the last year, however (I did start trumpet and drums from the age of about 8 but gave up before I mastered either).

I do too have a a great love for both classical music (mostly piano / string quartet type stuff) and Italian opera, but that is totally self taught from about my early 20's.

I am not beholden to any bass style but I do have both a Jazz and P bass alongside my G&L

Edited November 3, 2014 by Bobthedog

[Norris]

Enough to make my first "proper" bass a Rickenbacker - around about 83/84. Before that it had been a Franconia P copy bought from a school mate.

[TimR]

No. Only my style. I always just thought a bass was a bass and they all sounded the same.

30years on and I still think that.

[ras52]

Sort of... but more on the six-string front. Robert Fripp played a black Les Paul through a pair of Revoxes.... I played a black Avon LP copy through the mic input of my dad's old reel-to-reel machine (until smoke started coming out of it).

My first long-scale bass was a blonde Kasuga, whose design bore a slight resemblance to that of another manufacturer (say no more). I expect Chris Squire may have been influential in that, although I was more of a Van der Graaf Generator/King Crimson fan - VdGG didn't actually have a bass player and I had no idea what John Wetton played.

After that it was more of a quest for what I liked the feel and sound of.

[FuNkShUi]

The first band i really got into was Nirvana. Probably about 11 or 12, rather than 7 though.
They got me into playing music. Definitely.
But i didn't ever worry about what gear i had.
I was just happy to be playing something that sounded like my favorite band!
I think my first bass was a Tanglewood? Maybe.
So i'd have to say no. Come to think of it, i'm still not really sure what gear Krist used?!
And it's not the genre i play or listen to out of choice anymore.