How come playing bass?

[Monz]

[quote name='MuseMatt' post='304888' date='Oct 12 2008, 04:48 PM']That's cool! I am currently studying to become a teacher of English, but I do want to get my qualification for [b][i]teachign[/i][/b] music too![/quote]

I would probably stick with your current study plan lol

I have spent about 28 years on and off in brass bands, the last 20 of which playing Bb Bass (Tuba) but finally got fed up of the regimented constraints of brass band music and I now live for playing bass. I wish I had done this 20 years ago

[aceuggy]

When I was a kid at school back in the 60's I played drums in a band. The bass guitarist was rubbish, but he had a really nice Fender and I was always dead jealous of it and thought I could play it better. After school I quit the band and gave up playing the drums and drifted away from music, playing at least. 15 years ago I started playing alto sax because I loved the sound and thought it was sexy, but the novelty wore off and I gave it up a couple of years ago, but now music was in my blood. I decided to take up guitar, bought a nice Fender Strat, found a great tutor and away I went, except there was something not quite right. I realised that whenever I listened to a band it was always the drummer and bassist that I took notice of. I thought that maybe I should buy a drum kit and start playing again, but because of the space and the noise that wasn't really practical, so bought myself a Squier Affinity P Bass and a 15W amp and bang! it all just fitted, I loved it, just wish now of course that I had chosen the bass all those years ago, could've been a half decent player now.

[MuseMatt]

[quote name='Monz' post='304930' date='Oct 12 2008, 07:05 PM']I would probably stick with your current study plan lol

I have spent about 28 years on and off in brass bands, the last 20 of which playing Bb Bass (Tuba) but finally got fed up of the regimented constraints of brass band music and I now live for playing bass. I wish I had done this 20 years ago[/quote]

can I see your grammar police badge?

[JimBobTTD]

[quote name='MuseMatt' post='305104' date='Oct 12 2008, 11:51 PM']can I see your grammar police badge?[/quote]

You won't believe what I found on the internet!

[MuseMatt]

auch anyways it was just a typo... and bear in mind that I'm Dutch and English is my second language.

[Mickeyboro]

The first band I was in, I played rhythm guitar badly and was tolerated cos I wrote all the songs.

The bass player was Jamaican and so cool that both the singer and myself became bassists in later bands!

Don did have a problem, however - our sole publicity shot (which we sent to the papers) was under exposed and, when reproduced in the local rags, showed four white blokes, a gap and a broadly grinning set of teeth...

[Mr Fudge]

2 words. Geddy Lee.

[Delberthot]

Me and a mate were doing a talent contest at primary school miming to Bruce Springstein of all people. Another mate of mine had an acoustic guitar and I thought it would be cool to hold the guitar pretending to play it. This was when i was 11.

My mate agreed to let me have the acoustic for a fiver and i mucked about with it for a bit. I was a huge Queen fan at the time and tried hard to play along but I didn't understand the concept of chords or anything.

Anyhoo it gets to Christmas and I'm asked what i want. I was leafing through the Littlewoods book and started looking at the guitars but spotted the bass alongside. Everyone wanted me to get the guitar so i picked the bass.

Christmas morning comes along and I get my Marlin Slammer P bass copy which looked a bit like John Deacon's red P elite that he used on the One Vision video. I also got a curly guitar lead just like Brian May's and played it through a Squier 15w guitar combo.

That was me until I was 16, same strings and everything.

I did consider getting a guitar a couple of times but when i went to a music shop to try some out I always felt that there was something missing and that it was a bit light on the loafers compared to the power of the electric bass.

I wouldn't be interested in any other instrument now

[stingrayfan]

Started off playing drums. Got fed up with lugging them about so tried bass because it seemed liked a cross between drumming and playing guitar. This was the 80s and Mark King was making bass look interesting. Learned to play guitar afterwards but bass has always been much more me, I think. Always liked the scale of it - guitars feel tiny in comparison.

Edited October 13, 2008 by stingrayfan

[BassMunkee]

It just seemed like the right thing to do.
That and the fact that that the first ever gig I went to was Godflesh and Loop, and G. C. Green was just the nuts.

[rjb]

As a very young kid I'd always noticed the guys at the back next to the drums with the "long guitars" and had wondered what they were playing. Later as a teenager a guitar playing friend suggested I give bass a go when I kept unwittingly attempting to do basslines on his guitar. I used to play violin (poorly) as a kid, so I was playing non-chorded melodies on the top four strings that closely mirrored the beats.

After that I got myself an old Ibanez Roadster and went from there.

Edited October 13, 2008 by rjb

[bassatnight]

I have heard that there is another instrument that has six strings.... But less is more! ;-)

I grew up in the late 70's early 80's listening to the likes of JJ Burnell, Derek Forbes and Mick Karn who were clearly the 'lead' instrument so why take a back seat!

Steve.

[johnnylager]

Failed keyboards, guitar & vocals

It was [& still is] - Cliff Burton, Steve Harris, Geezer Butler, John McCoy, Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Rob McKillop, Cliff Williams, Jimmy Bain, Bob Daisley, Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, Neil Murray, Phil Lynott, Klaus Flouride, Peter Baltes, Cronos the rabid captor of bestail malevolence.

Now it's Les Claypool, Larry Boothroyd, Rob Wright, Trevor Dunn, Brian Fox, Matt Freeman, Dave Ellefson and that bloke off Helloween.

And [s]most[/s] all of you bastards for playing far better than me at the SEBB. w***ers.

Edited October 13, 2008 by johnnylager

[bass_in_ya_face]

[quote name='bassatnight' post='305419' date='Oct 13 2008, 12:47 PM']I have heard that there is another instrument that has six strings.... But less is more! ;-)

I grew up in the late 70's early 80's listening to the likes of JJ Burnell, Derek Forbes and Mick Karn who were clearly the 'lead' instrument so why take a back seat!

Steve.[/quote]

I don't need to type any more...the above sums up why I play bass in a nutshell.

Add to that Hooky, Paul Simenon & Andy Rourke.

I tried the six string and didn't get on with it as I have children size hands so I gave the bass a go and just though it was so much cooler looking than lead guitar and felt like you had an offensive weapon in your hands....not a kids toy.

[Bilbo]

My first ever gig was Gillan at Cardiff Top Rank on the Glory Road tour supported by White Spirit (inc Janick Gers on guitar) and a band called Quartz. Remember when the bands used to do 30 date UK tours in the little clubs with support bands like Diamond Head and Trust and Rose Tattoo? I used to see some quality stuff then. Now the name bands all do 4 nights at Brimingham NEC, Wembley Arena, Manchester Apollo and sod all else. Shame for the little people who can't afford £100 for a night out.

Rock On!!

[molan]

Easy - less strings

Shame my favourite bands when I started playing were Yes & Genesis, that put paid to my 'bass is easier to learn' thoughts pretty rapidly

[Balcro]

[quote name='KERMITNT' post='303774' date='Oct 10 2008, 12:34 PM'][font="Comic Sans MS"]I remember myself like the bass since I was a kid I loved the bottom end from the beginning.
When I listen a song the first thing I concentrate is bass. Nothing more or less.

There always bass to me when I am listening guitar and play it I don’t feel like bass and I stop after 10 minutes, I am a bass player never liked other instruments like bass I don’t know to play other instruments.

I love BASS

So what about you?[/font][/quote]

A long story, timewise anyway.

Piano lessons at 5; church choir at 6; school choir at 12; voice broke at 13 so shifted to bass and then tenor. First bass nodule implanted in brain. Still doing piano but hated practice - got to grade 7 at 18 - stopped.

1969. Went to college and started growing up. During a break in the canteen one afternoon, I moaned about the boring lifeless music from people like the Moody Blues. I wanted action, power, pace. A young girl at the table (from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire) said to me "I know oo'll you'd loyke". Listen to some friends of mine, they're called Maart the 'Oople".

Went to one of their very early gigs at a pub called the Cooksferry Inn on the North Circular Road. Me and 15 others! BANG. Deep growliness embedded in the brain. WoW, what a sound. It was really the bass and the organ combination. Thanks Phally. Second bass nodule implanted in the brain.

Parents bought a home organ and with pedals! Built a 1x18" speaker and shook the whole house!! Yea. Third Bass nodule implanted. Joined some mates in a group and tried playing Atomic Rooster and Deep Purple. Bought a Selmer TnB 50 watt valve amp. We practised in a college room about 6 times, but it all faded out - I played too much like a piano. Went back to studies. Time passed. Caught Hi-fi-itis. Built 2 sets of speakers.

Late 70's. Came across Uriah Heep. Fourth bass nodule implanted. Listened to the climax of the "Live" album. Blown away by the power of Blue Suede Shoes. Bass & organ combo again. Also heard the 3rd movement Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony. Now you know why they need 32`pipes. Simply Oooh. Nodule number 5 implanted in frontal cortex.

"What would like for your 40th", said the missus. "Something special". "Fizz! Pop!" said the 5 nodules in harmony. "I'd love a bass guitar please." Work got in the way of the fun. Aaargh! Parked the bass in the corner. Discovered computers. Retired early -Yippee!!. Bought myself a proper big practice amp and off I go. Even after all those years I still find nothing goes low enough & loud at the same time. That's the hi-fi-itis. It keeps coming back like a good cold-sore. Lower, lower.

Even so I love it.
Balcro.

[thedontcarebear]

I got an acoustic guitar when a kid, and it sat there and did nothing, my folks got me a bass from a catalogue (Encore) when I was around 17 as I was mates with a dude in a band and that inspired me, but I did nothing with it and it sat there again.

Went to uni, took the bass, it sat there doing nothing until a few months in when someone down the hall showed me a song on it, then I went to the ELC, printed loads of tabs off and learnt them, the following academic year I joined a band with my mate I mentioned earlier (he was at the same uni) and that is how it all started.

[peted]

I had piano and keyboard lessons forced upon me as a child and rebelled by wanting to play guitar. I got an old spanish guitar for a birthday present and learnt about 4 chords, this was enough to be let loose playing along to the piano during the school morning assembly. At these assemblies I was fortunate enough to be sat in front of the school electric bassist and soon forgot about practicing on my Spanish guitar.

It wasn't until a few years later when I saw a mate of mine play in his first band in our early teens that I remembered how cool the bass was and immediately pestered my parents to get me a bass guitar for my next birthday (they were already unimpressed that the spanish guitar they bought me had collected a fair amount of dust by this point).

I've practiced and gigged ever since. The bass is definitely the instrument most suited to me.

[lee4]

Keyboard as a kid;hated it.
Acoustic guitar in teens,graduated to electric,realised that I was crap.
Offered bass gig at 17,borrowed bass,loved it.Still playing 22 years on.

[franzbassist]

I played cello as a kid, was pretty good at it too, but I gave up when my tutor died during my first year of Secondary School. Almost straight away some friends asked me to play bass in their new "rock" band (we were all 12 years old), and my Mum and Dad bought me a little Satellite P copy to get me playing music again. First song I gigged was "Since You've Been Gone" by Rainbow, and I've been playing pretty much ever since.

[chris_b]

I discovered I didn't have enough attitude to be a guitarist, not enough ego to be a singer and too many O levels to be a drummer!

[MacDaddy]

Started with classical guitar lessons age 9. First electric guitar age 12. First bass age 16.

2 reasons:

- Classical guitar technique adapted to bass better than to electric guitar.

- Nikki Sixx running around on stage like a loon, and being the coolest one in the band.

:brow:

[tauzero]

Started on violin, which didn't last long.

Then my little brother bought a classical guitar and I kept borrowing it and learnt to play it. Bought an electric guitar. Played rhythm guitar in Glen Miller tribute band.

Went to university, formed a band in the hall of residence, and was volunteered to be the bassist. Put together a Hayman 40/40 from bits sold off by the Fender Soundhouse after a fire. Played two gigs. Dropped out of university and went home.

Something of a musical hiatus for two or three years. Then moved to Tamworth and decided to get back into it, so advertised myself as a lead, rhythm or bass guitarist (I'm crap at lead, as it happens, but in those days so was almost everybody else...) and was recruited to a heavy metal band as a bassist. That has been my main instrument ever since, but I use guitar for songwriting and acoustic duetting.

[William James Easton]

Jeff Ament