Can anyone remember that point when they realised that bass was 'right' for them?

[Musicman20]

With countless friends turning to guitar, and a few of them drumming, we had no bass player in our group.

Now, I didnt just play bass because no one else wanted to, I actually thought it looked cooler to play bass. I liked the big fat strings, longer body and cross between being rhythm and driving the melody.

Back when I got into music seriously Nirvana were at the high point, along with many other grunge bands.

I was also into some 'good' and truly awful metal.

I noticed that barely any bass was audible when I listened to metal...and it annoyed me. Especially on 'And Justice For All' by Metallica.

I kept on going and loved playing bass. I knew it felt right.

BUT, I remember when I realised 'yes, this is a good choice'. I started to get heavily into the modern melodic punks bands that came about after the grunge scene started dying off. It was fresh, fun, positive, melodic, and some of it required being damn good at your instrument. About 60% of the records I listened to had really really strong and 'high in the mix' basslines. Some of the bassists were even playing solos! I was i my element. This was also when I realised how cool the Fender Precision was.

My best mate took the piss out of my vintage style White/Tort MIJ Fender P. He said it looked stupid in alternative music. Guess what, he was wrong. Now the Fender P is the instrument I feel at home on.

To cut a long story short, the modern punk scene, especially coming from America, had some amazing bass players, and I still listen to it on a daily basis, (as well as more subdued calmer music). Now I realise why I was always into the Nirvana songs that were faster paced!

Edited April 30, 2010 by Musicman20

[RussFM]

Pretty much the same as me, mid-90s I was listenng to Nevermind, Down On The Up Side, BSSM, One Hot Minute, RATM, etc, and the bass seemed to be the driving force for most of the songs, then once I started playing my taste shifted towards US punk and I've been playing that style ever since!

[JTUK]

When we started messing around at school, I didn't have a guitar but liked the sound of the bass.
I got one and worked on it and went out to play. The other guiys never got out of the bedroom then
and probbaly never did to this day, AFAIK...

[Jerry_B]

I just picked up on the sound. As I've said before elsewhere here, it was the bass line from the 'Space 1999' theme tune that really set things in motion, way back when. But bass [i]was[/i] there in metal - listenin to BOC, UFO, MSG and several other acronym bands reminded me of that. Plus Motorhead, of course. And hearing Discharge's first album. And 'Double Dare' by Bauhaus.

[Prosebass]

Before getting a bass I was introduced to Weather Report by my older brother in 76 and decided then that I wanted to play bass. 3 weeks later his mate gave me a bass......simples

[Tech]

when my older bro got his first electric guitar i used to pick it up and play along to songs... i was always more interested in picking out the bassline than anything else (especially following stuff like motown, ska, and funk) even though at the time i don't think i knew what a bass even was!

Edited May 1, 2010 by Tech

[JimBobTTD]

I've loved bass since I started playing. My first love was the guitar, but my first [i]passion [/i]was the bass. I had a road to Damascus moment a couple of years ago regarding bass, a mere fifteen years or so after I started.

I loved And Justice For All. It was like a huge backing track for bassists.

[Pete Academy]

I started on guitar and never even thought about bass. I was part way through Bert Weedon's Play In A Day book, using my brother's acoustic, when he (my brother, not Bert Weedon) turned up one day with an old Vox bass he'd bought for a tenner. He thought it might be worth me playing the bass and jamming along with him.

Loved it straight away. I remember one of the first songs we jammed was Hey Joe, with me playing it wrong, of course.

[Stu-khag]

I think my moment was when I heard stone roses "I wanna be adored" bass intro, just remember thinking that is the coolest sound ever.
It all just clicked and I started listening out for the bass on everything- Pixies "debaser", Breeders "last splash" Nevermind was up there as well, especially that cool little bass type solo on"in bloom" and the bass sound on "Lithium".
that must have been around 93-94, didn't get a bass for a few years after that though (although I used to have a nasty marlin strat copy that I tried to play like a bass)
It was then going to watch bands live when I knew I had found numer one.

[thisnameistaken]

It was a while after I'd started playing bass, I realised all the songs I liked the most when I was a little kid (Ghost Town, House of Fun, Rhythm Stick) had great bass parts. I was way too little to know that at the time though.

[burno70]

I was learning guitar for about 6 months and doing well - then "Cliff 'em All" came out, I got paid, bought a bass and knew it was for me as soon as I picked it up.

[richrips]

That would be the day we formed our band at school and i turned up to play Smells Like Teen Spirit and Bombtrack...... with a saxophone.

[essexbasscat]

Three of us in our school band played guitar. One of us had to take the bass and it ended up being me, for non musical reasons. Once I'd got to grips with it though, I realised it was actually really fun to play. That's when I took the paper round to pay for my first bass and and speaker.

Always been keen to play every instrument I could get my hands on though and discover how it fitted in with the whole picture, whatever that landscape was at the time. Years later, ended up with 14 different instruments and sold most of them to get my first Goodfellow once I realised my true love is the bass.

More recently offered to play guitar in my band when the right guitarist couldn't be found (at the time). Found myself soon after contemplating watching someone else play bass in my band. After a while, I realised I felt really sad and upset at the thougth of it

Backed out of the guitar thing and stayed with my bass

You know when something is instinctively right.

T

[Musicman20]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='824902' date='May 1 2010, 03:08 PM']Three of us in our school band played guitar. One of us had to take the bass and it ended up being me, for non musical reasons. Once I'd got to grips with it though, I realised it was actually really fun to play. That's when I took the paper round to pay for my first bass and and speaker.

Always been keen to play every instrument I could get my hands on though and discover how it fitted in with the whole picture, whatever that landscape was at the time. Years later, ended up with 14 different instruments and sold most of them to get my first Goodfellow once I realised my true love is the bass.

More recently offered to play guitar in my band when the right guitarist couldn't be found (at the time). Found myself soon after contemplating watching someone else play bass in my band. After a while, I realised I felt really sad and upset at the thougth of it

Backed out of the guitar thing and stayed with my bass

You know when something is instinctively right.

T[/quote]

+1

I still flirt with guitar; nothing like a Telecaster cranked through and Orange Dual Terror...awesome. I really like using delay on guitars.

BUT, it feels different. I pick it up and think 'what is this child's toy I have acquired?!'

[Jarhead]

My moment of realization was the first time I heard Tommy The Cat by Primus, and I said to myself "One day, I'm gonna play that song".

That day hasn't come yet.

Zach

[ThomBassmonkey]

I play various instruments, took up bass 10 years ago because a friend got given a guitar and I wanted to jam with him, but not on the same instrument. Spent 6 months learning bass, then picked up guitar, then got a drum kit a year later.

Always came back to the bass though, I've only ever played bass in bands (at least as my main instrument, done bits of backing on guitar) though I would like to try guitar in a band, it just doesn't come as naturally to me as bass. Probably due to my fat fingers.

Each time I drop into a groove with a good drummer, it reminds me why I love playing bass over any other instrument. Other instruments can feel the groove, but they never quite feel as good as the bass.

[flyfisher]

I can't recall any particular moment but I do remember picking out bass lines whenever I listened to music, right from a very early age. Like a lot of kids, I started playing on a regular acoustic six-string but, like a previous poster, I found myself picking out basslines as well as the usual chords and rhythm playing. For some reason I never did get the hang of playing lead guitar.

It was a long time before I got a real bass guitar but I've never looked back since.

Also, although I really love playing in a band, I've never craved any limelight and am very happy being 'in the background' and just getting great satisfaction from a good song well-played.

My musical fantasy (don't we all have them?) would be to be a session musician - you know, the people that play on all the best recordings, are highly respected among their peers yet remain publically anonymous. That would suit me just fine.

Fat chance though.

[bottlebassman]

My ear has always been drawn to the bass it seems! I think it probably has a lot to do with The Stranglers being the first band I really "got into" in the late seventies, JJ Burnel's bass lines being extremely prominent, particularly on the first 3 albums. I just always seem to listen out for the bass, no matter what style of music it is! (Maybe that's why I found "and justice for all" a poor album after "master of puppets")

[Musicman20]

[quote name='bottlebassman' post='825599' date='May 2 2010, 04:06 PM']My ear has always been drawn to the bass it seems! I think it probably has a lot to do with The Stranglers being the first band I really "got into" in the late seventies, JJ Burnel's bass lines being extremely prominent, particularly on the first 3 albums. I just always seem to listen out for the bass, no matter what style of music it is! (Maybe that's why I found "and justice for all" a poor album after "master of puppets")[/quote]

Master of Puppets was awesome. I do like And Justice but Tallica wasnt the same. I cant understand why metal wont let bass be prominent. Some bands do, but not many. Then again, most modern metal is boring to play anyway....just mindless chugging.

[Cat Burrito]

In terms of listening to music, I've never really connected with music that features bass prominently like funk. I did like stuff where the bass has little florishes that on repeated listening really got inside my head & in my mind made the song. It'd be those bits that I liked. Then in an early band a guitarist said I suited bass because I was 6'3" and I liked that comment at the time.

Years later I went on to play guitar for 5yrs until recently. It took me probably 3yrs to stop feeling like a bass player masquerading as a guitarist. Just as I got to that point where I was happy with my lead playing I was offered a gig as a bass player and it just felt natural the moment I hit the first note.

[Delberthot]

I can be a very violent player - no I don't whack old ladies over the head with my bass and steal their scone money - I have a tendency to whack the strings and stuff and I simply couldn't do that on a guitar

I've tried picking up the guitar but cannot get past the fact that they feel so small and sound so screetchy, not to mention those tiny strings.

In a band context, my experience is that after keyboard players, a good bass player is almost as hard to find. I could never have become as good as I am by jumping from instrument to instrument.

A bass feels like home to me. It feels like the most natural thing in the world as I have now been playing over twice as long as I haven't ( I started when I was 11 and am now 34)

[bottlebassman]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='825744' date='May 2 2010, 06:33 PM']I can be a very violent player - no I don't whack old ladies over the head with my bass and steal their scone money - I have a tendency to whack the strings and stuff and I simply couldn't do that on a guitar

I've tried picking up the guitar but cannot get past the fact that they feel so small and sound so screetchy, not to mention those tiny strings.

In a band context, my experience is that after keyboard players, a good bass player is almost as hard to find. I could never have become as good as I am by jumping from instrument to instrument.

A bass feels like home to me. It feels like the most natural thing in the world as I have now been playing over twice as long as I haven't ( I started when I was 11 and am now 34)[/quote]
When I was younger and used to play thrash/punk with a pick, I used to play so violently on my "westone thunder 1" that I used to snap bass strings! (When I say "snap" what actually happened was, because I used the pick so hard and close to the bridge the strings would eventually just come apart, like uncoil ) This also probably had something to do with playing through crap amps, so trying to play harder and being skint, so never putting on new strings.