GreeneKing Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 If you could go back in time musically and, knowing what you do now would bass be your choice of instrument? I was thinking that I am probably more naturally a drummer. It's not realistic now but looking back I'm probably better suited to being behind the kit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, GreeneKing said: It's not realistic now but looking back I'm probably better suited to being behind the kit. Same here, I think I’m more naturally suited to drums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Although I’ve tinkered with guitar over the years I’m a bassist so would have done things pretty much the same I think in respect of musical instruments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I've messed about with guitars once or twice, also with synths, but bass is where I feel at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) I play bass because I was the least cool out of my group of mates when we formed a band when I was 13. Unfortunately 25 years later I’m still the least cool, so I’m still on the bass 😐 Edited October 17, 2019 by CamdenRob 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Started playing bass, still playing bass. Dabbled with other instruments, but bass is best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) I took up bass after damaging my arm, leaving me with no feeling in 2 fingers and limited feeling in my thumb. I was struggling badly with the guitar after that - I could pick and strum so could do the basic stuff, but the more advanced finger picking that I'd taken years to master was no beyond me, which was very dispiriting. So on Mrs Bassfingers advice I turned to bass, where 33% less strings means less real estate for my working digits to cover, so, with practice, I'm hoping to be a better bass player than I ca be a guitar player these days. It looms like it might work. So if I knew then what I know now I'd cut out the middle man and go straight to bass. Having said that, I'm probably the better bass player because of my knowledge of other instruments, so I guess I can't give a firm answer. Edited October 17, 2019 by Bassfinger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathy Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Still the bass for me. Although my first instrument was a Casio keyboard, and I do wish I'd taken that a bit more seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I'd still have chosen bass, but I might have gone for some lessons and learnt a bit of music theory... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandad Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 If I could turn back the clock I wouldn't have waited until I was 50+ years old before I took to playing an instrument. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBunny Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I played guitar for years before switching to Bass, (never regretted it), but if I had my time again I reckon it would have to be Hammond Organ. There is just something about the Hammond/Leslie combination that really gets to me. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chezz55 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I don't think I would change my mind. Started out in 1966 with a 2nd hand Futurama Duo guitar (Christmas Present). Tried a friend's Hofner bass guitar in September 1968 and loved it. I'm now 67, still playing bass guitar and still loving it. Chris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 As a kid I started out playing piano with lessons etc, but back then the music being taught didn’t grab me. Then I discovered guitar, first on an acoustic my gran bought me back from a holiday in Spain and then on to electric at age 12 or thereabouts. All through my teens I didn’t realise that what I really should have been doing was playing bass though, and it wasn’t until my late 20’s that I decided to be a bassist. Whilst I love the piano and guitar, I do wish I’d graduated to the bass at an earlier age. I also aspire to be a better pianist and guitarist too though, although for me bass will always be my number one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obbm Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 If I could turn back the clock I would not have stopped playing and sold my bass and amp when I was 21, and then wait 23 years before starting again. I should have just kept going. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Bass from the word go (see (or rather hear) 14 seconds into Hanging Around by The Stranglers), I have a couple of guitars, more for faffing, and as I'm right-handed and left-footed, drums are...interesting. Still bass. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 16 minutes ago, grandad said: If I could turn back the clock I wouldn't have waited until I was 50+ years old before I took to playing an instrument. Me too, although I was only just over 40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 8 minutes ago, Chezz55 said: I don't think I would change my mind. Started out in 1966 with a 2nd hand Futurama Duo guitar (Christmas Present). Tried a friend's Hofner bass guitar in September 1968 and loved it. I'm now 67, still playing bass guitar and still loving it. Chris Just wondering where in NE Essex you are Chezz. We're a similar age and I hail from NE Essex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 29 minutes ago, grandad said: If I could turn back the clock I wouldn't have waited until I was 50+ years old before I took to playing an instrument. 12 minutes ago, GreeneKing said: Me too, although I was only just over 40. I played piano (badly) and guitar (very badly) as a teenager. I sang bass in various choirs (although I've always been a baritone) and would routinely sing along with the bassline of the big hits of the day - especially All Right Now by Free. Gave it all up when I was about 22 ... no great loss. Picked up a bass guitar for the first time on my 49th birthday (it had been bought for my teenaged daughter but she never played it) and I've never looked back. I grew up on Guernsey. Bass guitars were a rarity and I never even touched one until I moved to London in the mid-70s. Maybe things could have been different, then? Well, maybe. I remember sharing a flat with a bass player and it took both of us to get his bass rig up and down the stairs. I always was a lazy s.o.b. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentalextra Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I would love to be able to play sax. Back in the 80s everyone seemed to include a sax part 'middle eight' by Michael Brecker. Remember the then ground-breaking video Candy by Cameo using multi layering? That sax solo by Michael Brecker and the way he played the song out was nice. Maybe I'll have a poke around cash converters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Focusing only on fretless bass, that would be my point. Even if I started on guitar when I was 16 years old (a crappy ekectric with a crappy amp paid the equivalent of 150 Euros with the little money I saved over the years), I've always been in love with that boomy lovely melodic sound I heard on records and mentioned as Fretless bass, which to me was a brand name back then. After my studies, so at the age of 22 years old, I bought my first real fretted bass with my first salary, then a few months later I had an Aria Diamond (Violin shape) defretted by Christophe LEDUC and started my journey in the fretless world messing with other instruments too. Now, I'm 54 and discovered the ERB 8 strings fretless bass that I really love as fretless is my thing. So, except focusing on the fretless bass only, just maybe having an official paper for my knowledge of the theory of music (but I can still do it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 If I could wind the clock back, I'd wind it even further and take up bass sooner in life, and I'd probably have played more guitar too Also, I would have kept playing all those 25 years where I "gave up" playing - and just kept my hand in Then again, I'd probably only go back to last week.... with this weeks' lottery numbers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 14 minutes ago, Marc S said: If I could wind the clock back, I'd wind it even further and take up bass sooner in life, Likewise. In fact, I switched from guitar to bass in the early ‘80s but then someone asked me play guitar in a new project, so I went back again (of course the band only lasted a short while 😠) and was then back in the 6 six string groove. I only really committed to bass at the turn of the century. Who knows what would be different if I’d stuck with it from the get go? Also, I would have liked to had the confidence to sing more back then, as it seems I actually have a half decent singing voice these days. However, I did make the change and I do sing now, so I should be content, after all, I could’ve never have done either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knirirr Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Depending on how far back the clock could be wound, I'd either want to have gone directly for the bass in my 20s rather than mucking about on the guitar first, or if it could be 10 years earlier than that, double bass rather than violin at school (allowing me to drop the double bass in favour of electric later on, but with some useful skills). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Given what I now know, I would have concentrated on the bass much earlier in my musical "career". I didn't buy my first bass guitar until 1980 when I had been playing various instruments for almost 6 years. Or gone straight to playing synths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davo-London Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 For those who mention the drums, there's nothing stopping you starting right now. I started playing bass at 14. I started drums at 44. I'm going to take up the sax when I'm 74. That's my plan. 30 years is just about right to get to know an instrument. Peace Davo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.