What song or songs inspired you to pick up the Bass?

[BobW61]

Although a very late starter myself I didn't pick up a Bass until I was nearly 40, there are 2 songs that I used to love the bassline too, the first that grabbed me was Blue Turk from Schools Out by Alice Cooper also Moondance by Van Morrison must have a thing about walking basslines both cracking songs there are many more but they were the first 2 that started the ball rolling.

[Frank Blank]

This...

...I had been playing drums for a while in various short-lived punk bands but this track made me want to play bass and I sat on the doorstep of my friends house playing his ‘bought from his Mum’s catalogue’ bass along to the single, played it over and over and loved it, I was fifteen. I carried on playing drums until I was twenty five but always sneaked a go on the bass in rehearsal breaks, this song was the catalyst.

[chris_b]

No songs.

I was trying to play guitar and couldn't, because it was a very badly made, cheap and rubbishy Spanish guitar with an action so high I couldn't hold down any chords. . . . but I could play bass lines. I then discovered I could play bass with my friend playing his Futurama guitar.

What we played is lost in the mists, but I seem to remember some Bo Diddley songs being played at one point.

[Dan Dare]

Tears of a Clown. Smokey Robinson. Bass by Bob Babbitt. First time I noticed how the bass drove the whole song. 

[lozkerr]

Queen - Hammer to Fall. And My Generation.

Still trying to play them properly, though 🙂

[miles'tone]

This was it..

 

Edited June 6, 2018 by miles'tone

[Lozz196]

Three:

Seasons in The Sun by Terry Jacks -  was the first time I recall noticing the sound of the bass, though in all fairness at the age of 6 or 7 at that point I didn`t know what the bass was yet, I just liked the sound.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen - as soon as I saw the "live" bit in the video I knew I wanted to be a musician.

Pretty Vacant by The Sex Pistols - the energy from that song told me my musical direction, and as bass was pretty up-front in the mix for many of the punk bands I knew it was that that I wanted to play.

[WinterMute]

Spirit of Radio by Rush...

I blame Geddy Lee for my habit of hitting the strings so hard... According to Melodyn I push the bass 10-15% sharp...

[discreet]

Reach Out (I'll Be There) - Four Tops. For obvious reasons. Didn't know it was Jamerson until way after I'd been playing bass for years. Driving, melodic, inventive... Jamerson has to be one of the most influential bass players in modern music.

 

[Roger2611]

Paul Young's Wherever I Lay My Hat, Pino sat next to Paul playing that intro, I was hooked from there on in

[dmccombe7]

Not sure any particular song made me want to play bass but if it did then it was probably Deep Purple Smoke On The Water or Thin Lizzy Jailbreak

Was so long ago now its all a bit vague. 

Dave 

[bassbiscuits]

Running Free, by Iron Maiden.

My brother had loaned the Live After Death album from the record library, and it's one of the first rock songs i got into when I was 11.

At that point I was learning violin in school (i was awful at it), so worked out the bassline by playing the violin like a bass.

I got my first bass just after i turned 12, and the violin never came out of its case again.

 

[jacko]

Yours is no disgrace - Yes. Saw them mid 70's and was blown away by squire's overall performance but it was the walking bassline in this that really got me interested in playing bass. 

[tb4sbp]

There are so many

I started playing guitar very young

and then picked up the Bass by necessity 

When I decided the bass would be my main instrument was when I heard Running with the Devil by Van Halen when it first came out

That thumping Low E got me hooked and I still love that today all these years later

[ambient]

Michael Manring's Thonk.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/thonk-mw0000622623

 

[musicbassman]

I changed from guitar to bass not long after I first started playing in the late 60's - because there was always a shortage of bass players and endless numbers of wannabe guitarists (only guitarists got the chicks, allegedly)

Then Chris Squire and prog came along and demonstrated that bass could be a key feature in a band's compositions and overall sound - and bass was suddenly cool.

Of course, later on with the benefit of maturity I realised that bass had always been cool, but maybe in a way much too subtle to grasp at 17 yrs old.

[silverfoxnik]

4 hours ago, BobW61 said:

Although a very late starter myself I didn't pick up a Bass until I was nearly 40, there are 2 songs that I used to love the bassline too, the first that grabbed me was Blue Turk from Schools Out by Alice Cooper also Moondance by Van Morrison must have a thing about walking basslines both cracking songs there are many more but they were the first 2 that started the ball rolling.

Love Blue Turk !

In fact almost any of Dennis Dunaway's bass lines on School's Out are great..

Luney Tune and Gutter Cat vs The Jets in particular. ☺

[Luckystrike]

Fat Mike from NOFX got me into it. I loved the band anyway and the bass had such interesting lines and runs, especially for a punk band. I quite like underdog stories anyway, and the bass felt like the underdog of rock instruments. Fat Mike was the underdog winning against the odds.

 

Edit: The Decline is a pretty thorough showcasing of the variety of bass sounds in NOFX, but I don't expect anyone who isn't into punk to listen to 18 and a half minutes of it

Edited June 6, 2018 by Luckystrike

[BreadBin]

3 hours ago, tb4sbp said:

 

When I decided the bass would be my main instrument was when I heard Running with the Devil by Van Halen when it first came out

That thumping Low E got me hooked and I still love that today all these years later

One of the first songs I learned to play.

I wound up playing bass by default - my 2 best mates both played guitar and insisted I learn as I wasn't doing anything else! One of them sat me down with a bass, stuck on Van Halen 1 and showed me what the notes were. 😈

[lowdowner]

The funk-meister… 

 

 

[josie]

I've told this story before elsewhere - we only had classical music in the house when I was a child, but I can clearly remember, aged about 6, sitting on the floor beside the one speaker of our mono record player tracking the cello lines in Mozart string quartets. Nobody suggested it, it was just instinct.

So of course many years later when I discovered the Byrds, Eric Burdon, etc it was the bass I latched on to and wanted to play. My mother beat it into my head that I would never be able to, and I believed her. Children believe that sort of **** and it can cripple them for life.

Finally at 59 I just got angry and decided not to believe it any more and went out and bought a good bass and found a good teacher. By then I was well into electric blues, and the first thing I learned to play had to be a classic 12-bar. The first time I played a turnaround was a huge, demon-killing joy.

You were wrong, Mum. I still enjoy Mozart cello lines though, thank you for that.

[T-Bay]

Peaches by the Stranglers

[BassTractor]

Two songs in particular made me look with new eyes at the bass in popular music, and they did heavily influence my wish to play bass. Many other songs could and should be mentioned, but initially I was totally floored by:

Yes: Roundabout

Yes: Close to the Edge (especially the "Total Mass Retain" part)

[Ashweb]

For me, it was Nirvana's Come as You Are - always loved the bass line to that track and the seeming swagger that Krist Novoselic played it with.

I was working away from home and looking to fill the evenings.  One morning, I had the Nevermind CD playing in the car and Come as You Are came on; I just thought 'I'm going to learn how to play that' and set about finding a bass and amp on ebay.  Still have that bass and amp, plus two more basses and awaiting delivery of an amp with a bit more oomph.

Looks like you're stuck with me for a bit... 🙂

[NancyJohnson]

I think I sat up and listened when I heard the break at the end of Sweet's 'Rock and Roll Disgrace', the b-side of Ballroom Blitz.

 

Edited June 6, 2018 by NancyJohnson