How come playing bass?

[likelylaz]

I was asked to learn to form a band about a year ago.

One of the best things ive ever done as i love everthing about being in a band and playing bass and feel asif i will play for the rest of my life now whether our band is successful or not.

[fumps]

I wanted desperatley to play an instrument & create something with music, all the time i was a kid, i always wanted to play sax but would never afford one in my life time.

So when i got my first proper job at 17 i bought a guitar & instantley started having lessons but after a while i just could'nt get into it (was never that good or enthusiastic), I always loved hearing Bass on it's own & always had a respect for Bass as a stand alone instrument but never even thought about playing one, then a friend lent me a 3/4 bass just to mess about on & i instantley felt comfortable & at home on Bass.

My dream is to learn upright because when i hear one i just become transfixed. But i need really to get back on the horse & re-learn what i've tried to forget lol.

[BigBeefChief]

Won an electric guitar, bass, keyboard and drumkit on a game show as a kid. Played the guitar a bit, sold the bass (I think), gave the drum kit away, and eventually sold the guitar for £20 so I could go to the pub (I was 15 at that was a good evening out at the time!).

When I was 17, decided I wanted to be in Oasis, so bought an accoustic guitar off a mates mum (still got it). Played off and on for a fe years - more off than on. Went to Uni. Took the guitar with me, didn't improve much. Never felt I really got into it.

2 years ago my missus was pestering me about what to get me for christmas. I'd been watching a really bad covers band on youtube and kept finding myself drawn to the bass. Did some research, seemed like a good hobby, so asked for a cheapo starter pack for christmas.

Loved in instantly, suited me much better than a guitar (always felt to small). Last christmas got a serious bass, also improved amps etc.

Auditioned for a band in March this year (thanks to Jakesbass), joined them.

Recently bored an electric guitar and amp, mostly to help with songwriting and bass playing. Keen to get competent oin guitar but no interest in being good.

[Tig]

Guess it's a tale thats been told before but me best mate wanted to form a band, I was 15 and wanted to be cool too. He already sang and played guitar and knew a drummer, so the only way to join in was play bass. Ended up getting a columbus or summink from the catalog along with an amp. The amp kept blowing the power transistors at inopportune moments (I'd started work as an apprentice sparky so that helped getting stuff fixed). We started playing country stuff then rebelled and joined a ska band. Never really got to gig much as the pair of us were always changing bands (punk, rock, new wave etc think late 70's early to mid 80's) but we rehearsed a lot. Anyway the line up eventually sort of stabalised and we rehearsed for a twice a week for a year before playing to a live audience with our own material. The guys wanted to get serious but I'd never give up my day job. So we went our seperate ways. Played in loads of cover bands after (sometimes 3 -4 times a week) It all got a bit too much what with shift work and stuff but I still record with my best mate now and again. He's never given up hope and has gained a reputation as an excellent producer locally. Gave it all up to persue my other hobby (see avatar) about 10 years ago but still have all my gear. Still get pangs when I go to watch the bands locally. Maybe one day.

[LukeFRC]

I didnt like music. I went to high and music and the sounds coming over the radio as i did my homeowrk in the evening amazed me. Cue teenage years spent in HMV, Andy's records and our price.
At 16 started runing PA rigs at church. Learnt to hear thing in music, and devalop a musical ear.
I wanted to learn guitar, my mum had an old acoustic kicking about but couldnae get my head around it. Kept trying.
Wednesday afternoons at 6th form were a period to do extra curricular stuff. Formed college mag. Relase one amazing issue. Run out of jokes. Still get to do mag but spend most time hanging with the cool kids in the most musically inept band ever. One day the bass player gets so pissed off he puts his 6 string peavy in my hands and runs off. Someone shows me how to play seven nation army.
My friend sticks his £2k+ warwick thumb 5 in my lap and shows me how to play 7 nation army better. Am hooked.
borrow an old bass/someones tec project. take it apart and put it together. learn to set up a bass before i can play it.
borrow a massive trace stack off firend with the warwick. have to have it as low as it will go.
spend my last summer before uni saving up and playing along to CDs with tabs.
Go buy a bass (status shark)
move to uni
practice lots, it was my way to unwind, i could suck at it where as i had to be good at art in my studies.
get stuck rather too fast into playing a church
played lots, was always trying new things.
formed a band on the way to see franz ferdinand and the fire engines. decide to headline our college revel next year.
a year later actually do something, steal my brothers toy keyboard for my other band member (there was to of us) make music as part of an art project.
write other songs
found folk other than bass and toy keyboard
play more
tour scotland a wee bit
headline the revel
graduate
leave band
and what next?

[LukeFRC]

learn to edit thoughts

[fekalizatorius]

Well... Ever since my parents bought a stereo (in 2000, i think), i would save up my allowance and spend it on rock/metal CD's. I learned how to use the EQ, and all knobs except one were kept at "stock level", but the bass one would be pumped all the way to the max. I fell in love with the low end. Ever since then I wanted to learn bass :] I couldn't afford a bass/amp and my parents didn't think that I would learn at all, since my whole family is not very musical. At one point (2002 perhaps) they decided to let me go to classical guitar lessons, but come on - when you're ten and love sabbath/maiden/accept do you really want to play "happy birthday"? :] Didn't play anything for 5 years, until I decided to just go ahead without the fooling around. In half a year i saved up enough money to get myself a half decent 4string full scale bass and a 10w practice amp. Started learning by myself (Hail youtube/tabs), just to prove my point to my parents. That's basically how i got on the 5 string beast :]

[Bassman101]

I actually bought a bass by accident off ebay whilst looking for a guitar, i couldnt be assed to refund, so i just took to it, never looked back since (only been playinf 2 and ahalf years though) im still loving it.

[Sarah5string]

Started on clarinet. (lol)
started learning guitar
found I was playing guitar like a bass
got a bass
never looked back:D

[Golchen]

Started with piano, then guitar, then got a bass, then Chapman stick, recently got a drum kit. I'd like to get a mandolin, banjo and accordion as well but the wife is sick of instruments around the house! I told her I was sick of kids around the house so it's currently a stand-off!

My main influences to play bass were Geddy Lee, Billy Sheehan and later Stu Hamm.

[paul h]

My mate played guitar and talked me into playing bass so we could form a band and get girls.

It didn't work.

Paul.

[WarPig]

i still dont know.

[foal30]

it's...just..the..vibe

It feels right
also on further investigation the pivotal songs of my childhood have killer basslines

[Paul S]

I love music, always have. When I was a teenager, back in the early 70s, I bought a series of electric/acoustic 6 sting guitars and messed about for a few years, but never seriously. Then life moved on, all the guitars went.

About 5 years ago reached my mid-40s and got that yearning to do something (you all know how it is, guys). Decided it would be cool to pick up the pieces of the old days again and re-learn an instrument - this time bass. So I bought a cheap Peavey kit, played it every day for a month then it gathered dust in the corner.

About a year ago I decided to get a bit more serious, practiced like mad, bought a better bass and amp, practised some more, auditioned for a few bands, got involved with current lot and have started gigging for the first time in my life at 51. Now got even better kit and practise even more.

Have to say it feels like the small piece of my soul that has been missing all these years has finally dropped into place. I love every second of being involved in making music and playing the bass and would say it is one of the most satisfying things I have ever done.

[ARGH]

When I was 12 I discovered Heavy Metal,and a mate in the village had an uncle that in the 60s was part of the distro for Rotosound,Vox,and Futurama guitars...so there was a Phantom III 12 string,converted to 6,and various old Tone bender pedals lurking around,and he started to learn...its was typical of the time,Def Leppard,Maiden,Guns,Crue...whatever it was 1990. He was a few years older than me,and it was the coolest thing ever to hear distortion beside your ears,and I wanted to be in...so he passed the guitar over,and I tried,a chord...now I learnt a little piano when I was really small,so I'd heard of chords,and the guitar didnt hang right on me...so after 5 mins,my mate had a revelation

"Man..I play guitar,and we cant form a band with 2 guitars..You have long arms...why dont you try Bass?"

In hindsight,it was probably because I sucked,and he didnt want a challenger to his mantle,but I knew I wanted to play something...

"WHATS Bass" Was my reply.....

Now,being a small kid in rural Devon...literally nowheresville Exmoor,next to a town where NO bands come to,nor anything makes it out,I would have latched onto anything,maybe the guy was a psychologist or summat,but he said two words and being a massive Maiden fan..this guy was a god already..

"Steve Harris"

I spent the next 10 months hassleing my parents for an instrument,I watched every vid,on Raw Power/Noisey mothers...to pick out a Bassplayer and what they do,I was getting into heavier music ,Megadeth,Motorhead....and the day came ..I remember it as crystal..

28.11.91..around 4:30pm..I had stinking flu,but I WANTED A BASS MUM AND DAD....

They went to a small local shop,they had a Marlin Jazz Bass in black,which was cheaper,and dad wanted to get me that one (£129) I wanted the Hohner HP P bass copy..in red (169) coz it looked like Harris's Bass...They both thought I was mental,whats the difference,I still think to this day If they'd bought the Jazz,I would have given up..it HAD to look like Harris's bass...so I pleaded..and Dad relented "Fine...If its that one he bloody wants.."

I picked it up and plucked on the E string,Fingerstyle,like I'd seen on tv...."Feels just right Dad" (as if I knew ANYTHING!!!)

SO they paid...with a quizzical look in their eyes....it came in a BIG brown box,I bought a strap,and a cable...But I had no amp..and when I was better a week later I marched round to my mates house,plugged into his guitar amp,quietly,and made noise....

December and xmas came,and the cash I saved..I went and bought a 'Rhino' 15w bass combo..it still sits beside me now,and always will,its a fabbo little amp,and that was me at 14 years old...Im 31 now,and Ive played a lot of gigs and done pro recordings,play a 9 string Bass and plunk on uprights,but still...still....I recall that fluey day (when I get ill,it REALLY reminds me) and my 1st red P-Bass copy.

[The Burpster]

^great story


Mine is quite simple, I have always found the basslines the easiest to pick out of any recording..... I have no idea why......

As an adult I have had no hankerings to play anything else other than bass. (Although I am being tempted to get a 6 string to play the odd rythm parts!)

Maybe some peeps are just more 'in tune' with the low end?

[gafbass02]

I've only ever played bass, never wanted to play the guitar or any of that nonsense, still have no desire to either bass all the way for me.

[mrcrow]

i started playing an instrument...the clarinet when i was 25..1968
then followed all the saxes
and the oboe
played a lot of pit orchestras and amateur string orchestras
joined a worship band when i became a christian in 1989...at 46
played saxes and clarinet
then in 1984 i took up bass when moving church and they needed a bottom end
played bass ever since

[skankdelvar]

When my Gran died in the 70's, she left me £100, of which £19.99 went on a Woolies 'Kay' Spanish Nylon 6 string. After struggling for 6 months, I was on the point of giving up playing music when I borrowed the album 801 Live (a Phil Manzanera solo project). One of the tracks was a cover of Tomorrow Never Knows, which opens with a bass figure by Bill McCormick. (Perhaps it was another coincidence, but the album cover shows a Fender bass headstock...)

This was the roundest, plummiest finest thing I'd ever heard and the hairs went up on the back of my neck. A few weeks later, some kid from school was flashing his Columbus P-copy to an admiring crowd. I knew I had to have one so I could do that TNK intro.

Since then I've flipped and flopped between bass and (brief) periods on Rtm Gtr. Weirdly enough, I never learned that intro...

[xgsjx]

I started my musical life off on keys when my parents got me an organ for my 5th Christmas. Then when I was 12 my dad took me to get another mono synth (Jem SX1000) & my wee bro got an acoustic guitar, needless to say he never played it so I decided to learn it & then decided I wanted to play bass when I was 14 as I kept coming up with basslines on the synths & the guitar. I still have a semi acoustic & play regularly & considering getting a decent keyboard in the near future (something I can use in the band to play basslines on!).

G

[noirpunk]

Started off with violin at primary school (was desperate to play guitar but my fingers were too small), then at aged 11 once the fingers were big enough I put the violin down and picked up the guitar.
8 years later I had a bass floating about and got asked to join a band on bass. Truth be told I prefer bassing to guitaring these days.
Funny going from 4 to 6/12 strings back to 4 again.

[stoo]

[quote name='noirpunk' post='366798' date='Dec 31 2008, 01:32 AM']Started off with violin at primary school[/quote]

Me too.... never really got that far with it because I wasn't particularly into music back then... it was just a convenient way of skipping a few classes here and there!

A few years later on, my folks were running a scrapyard and at some point in the late 80s the portakabin that the boys used as a tea hut got lined with several layers of old crusty carpet.. and the lorry driver's blues/rock band started using it for practice and rehearsals on weekends and evenings. I used to go out there on summer evenings and sit on top of a 3-high stack of cars and listen in.

I got a few drum lessons at school after that, but soon realised that carrying around a whole drum kit would be a right pain in the arse, so started getting guitar lessons with one of the guitarists from the blues band. Messed around with a couple of bands doing a fairly mediocre rock/metal kinda thing but it never went anywhere and gradually fizzled out. At some point, my folks picked up a really sh*tty SG copy bass for £20 at a car boot sale, but I couldn't set it up to anywhere near playable, so I stuck with the guitar pretty much exclusively. I still kept practicing and at one point had myself convinced that I was almost quite good.

Then I went off to uni and pretty much forgot about playing... none of my social circle were into playing anything, and those that were into music were evolving their tastes more into hip-hop and dance music, because that's what tended to be on in the more fun places to go out drinking where we were. My musical interests inevitably followed suit somewhat, although I still listened to a fair bit of rock / blues / metal, and still picked up the guitar once in a blue moon... but found it increasingly frustrating cos I was always having to relearn stuff to get back to where I was rather than really progressing any.

After uni I decided to try my hand at DJing, reasoning that my musical background thus far would make it fairly easy to pick up and get good at... it hasn't quite worked out as simple as that, but I'm still sticking with it and enjoying learning it.... but I was also finding that there was lots and lots of dance music out there that I kinda liked, but couldn't really get into cos it was so mind numbingly repetitive.... and thinking "I could do better than that.... surely...."

Am now trying to get my head round cubase and all manner of other technological stuff, but one of the things I wanted to do was to create more organic sounding basslines.... so I now I've got an OLP twin pup ray-a-like and a fretless MIM Jazz to try and get my head round as well!

No doubt I'd be better off just trying to concentrate on getting good at one thing at a time, but I never was one for the sensible approach.