What Made You Play The Bass?

[SimonEdward]

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[size=4][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Bass is my 3rd instrument. I started playing violin at school (aged 7), and always liked playing piano, which I consider to be my other instrument.[/font][/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]
[size=4][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]1990. I was 17 years old. I wanted to play keyboard’s in a church youth group band that was forming. I started on the piano, but another guy was a better player, so I played bass lines on a synthesizer. I migrated to Bass guitar when I could afford to buy one. Absolutely no regrets and I’m loving the journey![/font][/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]
[size=4][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Two weeks wages from my first job paid for my first Bass (an Aria Pro II) and a ‘Cobra 90′ combo by Carlsbro. The Aria had a high action, which made it difficult to play. I didn’t have much of an idea of what that was at the time. At first, I used light gauge round wound strings (30-50-70-90), so my fingers didn’t get too sore! The combination of strings, bridge pick-up and the amp produced a bright, punchy sound which I liked. [/font][/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]
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[size=4]The Carlsbro was not too heavy and fairly easy to carry around from place to place. It was noisy (plenty of hiss) and the 15″ speaker sounded a bit boomy to my ears – but did the job. I remember the knobs were quite small and flimsy. They would fall off or break on a regular basis. Many players keep the first Bass and amp they play, but I don’t remember being particularly sentimental about either the Bass or amp, and they were moved on after a couple of years’.... [b][color=#0000ff]http://infinitybass.com/faq/[/color][/b][/size][/size][/font][/color]

[Thump]

I always liked the sound and would fart about on my high schools bass during 5th year music. Despite this I took up the guitar and stuck with it for nigh on 23 years , finally picking up my own bass a year or so ago. I might be new to this but I'm picking it up quite quickly all things considered, (wife , two kids , full time job etc.) If only I had stuck with it all those years ago but at the time I reeeeeeally wanted to be Slash.

Eventually got sick of playing through my Marshall Dsl so I ordered myself a little Orange combo. Should arrive tomorrow.

[Norm]

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1424251332' post='2694259']
mum and dad said no to a drum kit.

That was 18 years ago, and the rest is history 😂
[/quote]

+1
38 years ago for me though.
No regrets though, like playing drums & guitar but love playing bass!

[lee4]

The classic route of being a crap guitar player sealed the deal for me.
29 years on I am happy playing root/5th lines in a country rock band.
I've gone from a Marlin Sidewinder and a Marlin amp(which I still have!) to a Retrovibe Evo and a Status Groove put through a MarkBass head and a Zoot 2x12 cab.
Nothing beats that locked in feeling you get when,as half of the rhythm section,you provide the foundation for everyone else to shine.

[kulabula]

Cash!!! I'm a time served drummer, the recession was hard, don't know many bass players. Know loads of drummers and guitar players. It made sense at the time

Now I am obsessed with da bass hahaha

[KingBollock]

[quote name='Norm' timestamp='1426851507' post='2722666']


+1
38 years ago for me though.
No regrets though, like playing drums & guitar but love playing bass!
[/quote]
I had the opposite problem, my dad [i]wanted[/i] to buy me a drum kit. Fortunately, after I explained that I knew people who played drums (and guitar) and it made more sense for me to play bass, he bought me a bass. Probably the best thing he ever did for me. Though I would still like the radio controlled monster truck that I really, desperately wanted at the time, and I keep dropping hints to my wife that I would like an electric drum kit.

[kulabula]

Do it!!

[Donnyboy]

When I was 14/15 I got a nylon strung acoustic guitar & because my older " cool" cousin had Lp's of Free, Status Quo, Nazareth, Bad Company etc, I wanted to Rock!

Guitar lessons followed , using my money from my paper round. However playing Ode to Joy, or Micheal Row the Boat Ashore wasn't my idea of Rock n Roll heaven.

Two pals had electric guitars - played through a radio speaker I think - another pal had inherited his Dad's jazz drumkit from the '50's. So " If you get a bass Donny we can form a band !!!
So I did , £5 well spent on a noname shortscale, banana necked, untunable virtually unplayable thing. Probably now a rare collectors item.

35 years or so later , with quite a few breaks , I'm still living the dream!

[blue]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1424310306' post='2695072']
Hearing The Four Tops [i]Reach Out (I'll Be There)[/i] in 1966.
[/quote]

Makes sense, kick arse song with a land Mark bass line.

Blue

[MacDaddy]

2 things.

Seeing Nikki Sixx running around, posing and throwing shapes.

Being able to better transfer classical guitar technique to bass rather than electric guitar.

[Norm]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1426978097' post='2724456']

I had the opposite problem, my dad [i]wanted[/i] to buy me a drum kit. Fortunately, after I explained that I knew people who played drums (and guitar) and it made more sense for me to play bass, he bought me a bass. Probably the best thing he ever did for me. Though I would still like the radio controlled monster truck that I really, desperately wanted at the time, and I keep dropping hints to my wife that I would like an electric drum kit.
[/quote]
Cool
when I'd showed intent & saved hard my folks chipped in the other 50% to get me that columbus jazz copy, bless them! Got me started & hobby keeps me out of mischief still! ;-)

[Old Man Riva]

Slade for me too - surprised/chuffed how many on here were influenced by them.

Slade were my first 'hero' band, and Jim Lea my first musical hero. I'd played cello in the school orchestra - sounds grander than it actually was and I was only selected because I was taller than most kids at the time. Loved Slade's music (mainly from Radio 1 and the telly) and then saw this cool looking bloke in a rock band playing an "orchestra instrument" (violin) on Top of the Pops - pretty sure it would have been Coz I Luv You.

I was bought Slade Alive as a Christmas present and played it to death - on a crappy mono record player. It was the most amazing present.

Jim Lea and Don Powell were cool as you like, Nod the God had the amazing stage presence and voice and Dave Hill was plain bonkers. Still love them to this day. Massively overlooked and underrated when it comes to British pop and rock music, but they were the band who really got me into music and Jim Lea the bloke who really got me into the bass and the sound of the bass.

I think I'd always been (unconsciously) drawn to the sound of the bass - I'd hum Trevor Bolder's chorus bass part in Bowie's John I'm Only Dancing while other kids were singing the vocal line, and the the first Roxy Music album had a small bass motif (not even enough for a solo) on Re-Make/Re-Model - it's actually only the first two bars of the Beatles' Day Tripper riff - which I used to listen to over and over again (lifting the needle off and on the record manually just to hear the 2-3 seconds of solo bass). Similar thing with the live version of Bowie's Panic in Detroit (B-side of Knock on Wood) which had a small bass solo in it - needle off and on the record just to hear the bass bit.

The biggest one for me in terms of wanting to go from listener to player was hearing David Live with Herbie Flowers playing bass. Was never the same again. Herbie's playing on the album is from another world - groovy, funky, odd, dirty and just plain out there.

It's always been bass for me, nothing else comes close!

Edited March 27, 2015 by Old Man Riva

[lou24d53]

At school in 5th year, had to fill a few timetable slots, so took a music module and then found out my fingers were too fat to play guitar!

[simes]

Some bigger boys made me do it....

[Mr Thumb]

Hearing Mark King for the first time back in the 80's blew me away. But then I spent years with my bass glued to my chin and far too much insulation tape cutting off the circulation to my thumb Notable mention to Pino & Bernard of course.

[denosaur1954]

I was a guitarist for 40 years until I saw the light, that and the fact that our fifties cover band had 4 guitarists and I decided to bite the bullet.Influences are Jameson and any bassist that makes me tap my foot.

[Leon Transaxle]

35 years ago so a bit half-remembered. One or more of these.[size=4]Take your pick.[/size][list]
[*]Loads of guitarists and no bass players at school.
[*]Two strings less when starting from scratch so easier to play right handed for a lefty (LH guitars were rare and expensive at the time).
[*]Instant gratification. I tried a guitar and couldn't cope, whereas on a bass I could play something recognisable immediately.
[*]JJ Burnell, Entwistle and Foxton basslines heard through a crappy bass-heavy radiogram.
[*]The picture on the back cover of "This is the modern world".
[/list]
After a couple of no name horrors my parents bought me a Westone THunder I for my 18th. I still have it. Strung with flats and an ashtray fitted to stuff a lump of foam under when I don't want an active roundwound PJ sound.
At home I plugged in to the aux socket of my mother's home organ. I have part shares in a 100W selmar solid state bass amp and 4X12 cab. The guitarist had a matching 100W selmar guitar amp and the same cab. The other co-owner of the bass amp & cab lived the other side of Colchester to me so we moved it the two miles or so between houses using a 'borrowed' Sainsbury shopping trolley. The quickest route by far being off road over Abbey Fields (past the assault course for anyone who knows Colchester). We did a few gigs, he did none. So fortunately never had to deal with a clash of bookings.

[MM Stingray 62]

JJ burnel in 1977 can't remember how many times I have seen the stranglers.
Seen them twice this year once in Camden and again in newcastle.
JJ was as good as ever and his new shuker bass sounded fantastic.

[operative451]

When i realised all the really cool weird noises off sonic youth songs were kim gordon's bass, not guitars. And then i saw a thing where Henry Rollins was going on about p-funk and i looked it up. And was lost, forever...

[MJChappers]

I started out learning guitar and continued to try my hand at that for a few years but with little effort. I always found myself paying more attention to baselines of songs and being fascinated by how simple or complicated they could be from song to song.

Watching a Thin Lizzy live performance with my Dad got bass in my head, just how Phil commanded the stage despite playing an instrument I was always told by some of my friends was meant to support the guitarist and was part of the background, also his baselines weren't too shabby either.

Listening to more and more music and getting into other bands helped, being introduced to players like Justin Meldal-Johnsen who can play pretty much anything got me hooked!

Now I am a little older I understand and appreciate the significance of the bass so much more and have long since fallen in love with it.

I still have a fiddle on my guitar but somehow bass just feels right to me.

[Machines]

I started in 2000 when after watching Metallica DVDs at my mates house whilst skiving off college. I bought a guitar and of course learnt lots of heavy metal riffs, then decided I liked the bass playing on Cunning Stunts (Jason Newsted's Bass Doodle, to be exact) and bought a Squier Bronco just to learn that. It all went from there, I play guitar too, but not much and certainly nothing above the 12th fret !

[KingBollock]

[quote name='Leon Transaxle' timestamp='1427984718' post='2736705']
35 years ago so a bit half-remembered. One or more of these.[size=4]Take your pick.[/size][list]
[*]Loads of guitarists and no bass players at school.
[*]Two strings less when starting from scratch so easier to play right handed for a lefty (LH guitars were rare and expensive at the time).
[*]Instant gratification. I tried a guitar and couldn't cope, whereas on a bass I could play something recognisable immediately.
[*]JJ Burnell, Entwistle and Foxton basslines heard through a crappy bass-heavy radiogram.
[*]The picture on the back cover of "This is the modern world".
[/list]
After a couple of no name horrors my parents bought me a Westone THunder I for my 18th. I still have it. Strung with flats and an ashtray fitted to stuff a lump of foam under when I don't want an active roundwound PJ sound.
At home I plugged in to the aux socket of my mother's home organ. I have part shares in a 100W selmar solid state bass amp and 4X12 cab. The guitarist had a matching 100W selmar guitar amp and the same cab. The other co-owner of the bass amp & cab lived the other side of Colchester to me so we moved it the two miles or so between houses using a 'borrowed' Sainsbury shopping trolley. The quickest route by far being off road over Abbey Fields (past the assault course for anyone who knows Colchester). We did a few gigs, he did none. So fortunately never had to deal with a clash of bookings.
[/quote]
Yeah, I "borrowed" a trolley from the local co-op. It wasn't a shopping trolley, it was a heavy duty thing from the storehouse. It wasn't very high, about six or eight inches, and easily slid under the big gates out the back of the shop. Little thirteen year old me was only just strong enough to lift my 1960s 4x12 onto that trolley and I used to push it the hundred yards to the local youth-club where loads of bands rehearsed. The trolley, despite having heavy duty wheels, squealed like a banshee the whole way there and back; fortunately I only had to pass four houses.

[Big_Stu]

Summer of '73, my first concert was seeing this mob & I wanted one. Took me 6 six years to get one but it was my first bass.