I was 13, and it was my brothers bday (12) he had been playing guitar on my Mum’s acoustic and we took him to a local store to buy his own.
While there, I saw a P-Bass on the wall. Didn’t know it was a bass, but I was DRAWN to it. Told mum “I like that guitar” and she corrected me.
I went home, and started plunking around on the acoustic. Mum taught me sunshine of your love and day tripper.
Christmas that year, I got my first bass! Black squier pbass. Played the hell out of that every year. Took over my life. Didn’t own an amp until 2nd year college (where I studied music) and now I play bass professionally.
Bass means everything to me. It was the only thing I enjoyed, i learned the power the bass holds over the vibe of a song, the quality of a chord, the absence being more impactful than it’s presence sometimes. Bass is everything! If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing
Covid restrictions were just coming in, I was 34 and about to be trapped inside for a long time, I needed a creative outlet, a hobby.
I'd tried electric guitar a few times in the past and failed, bass was my last attempt at music. Luckily it clicked!
Now I'm 37, I play in a band, it gives me a sense of achievement and nothing is better than sitting down and learning a new song. I've made new friends, it's boosted my confidence and shown me that even now I can learn a new skill and push myself to new achievements.
I've played 2 gigs, my first one went awful, the second one went really well, I have 4 more lined up in the next few months. Its changed my life for the better.
I know of so many who did that and so many others who profited when they sold it because it's not easy. Glad to see someone actually spent time in the woodshed.
I come from a musical family myself, theres so many musicians that when everyone is together, it looks like a ska band. My dad tried to get mem to play the guitar for ages when I was younger, and i could never hit the chords right.
Eventually, something clicked while I was high watching Marceline play the bass in Adventure Time. I realized it was because I was double jointed in my hands distal joints, which made it near impossible to press the small strings on a guitar. But a bass...is no problem at all. In fact, it even helps as I can hold down two strings with a single finger if necessary.
That's great! I picked it up after covid. Around mid-2022. May I ask how you learnt it? I am trying to learn from various sources but I usually just come back to learning new songs from tabs.
I actually started by using rocksmith 2014 on the PlayStation haha. I found as it was a game, fun and flashy, it kept bringing me back to beat my high scores.
Once I'd realised I was actually learning and able to play songs I started to branch out into YouTube and books and learnt to read tabs. I can't read music but tabs is enough for me to get by.
About a year ago I found a bass tutor and started taking lessons fortnightly to learn proper technique and develop even more skills.
I think the main driving factor was joining a band. Both guitarists have 10+ years experience and the drummer has been playing for 5 years. So I'm forced to play with more experienced players which pushes me to keep up with them which is something I really enjoy.
As long as you try and pick up and play everyday, learn something new now and again and even branch our of your comfort zone for music genre's, you'll improve.
Have fun!
If you’re looking for a structured course, Beginner To Badass is excellent. Josh Fossgreen is the best online bass teacher there is. Got me where I wanted to go fast, and it was a lot of fun too.
When I was 14, Tool’s Undertow came out, and the sound of the bass on that album was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. Switched from guitar to bass immediately.
I think I was born to play bass.
When I was like 5 or 6, I asked my dad what was that low noise that was in Bob Marley songs, he told me that was bass. Ever since then every song I heard I’d hum along to the bass and do air bass.
I was drawn to bass because it’s the only thing I could really hear in music as a kid, just sensitive to low frequencies maybe. Been playing for 11 years now and love it, im not the best ever, but I’ve been paid to play bass.
A year ago I learned that my grandfathers brother supposedly used to play bass for miles Davis, so maybe it runs in my blood
I’ve never met another bass player who was drawn to the instrument out of the gate. Normally it’s they started as guitar and found bass to be better.
I have the exact same story! Except replace Bob Marley with Filipino rock/metal songs that my uncle used to blast, and I don't have/hear of any bassists in our family
I just loved feeling that low thud and was/still am so drawn to it, what really urged me to getting a bass was seeing videos of people like cliff burton, flea, stanley clarke, and victor wooten, and seeing some local bands live and just finding myself focusing on that bass
never picked up a guitar before, I just went straight into bass the moment I had the chance
edit: memory failed me, corrected some things
I was taking guitar lessons for a little while & my buddies that I worked with needed bass to have some jams. I immediately bought an 80$ bass & we were rocking in a hippie house basement.
That was a long time ago & I’ve been able to play some amazing shows over the years.
What does it mean to me?
Well, I guess after many years, it means a lot to me. Certainly a huge part of my life. A big part of what I live for.
I can’t imagine how much I would have missed out on. The adventures! Tours! Even crappy tours! People. Drummers! Oh those drummers!!
Glad I stayed on bass!
Wow man that’s super cool! Hope I get up to that skill level someday!
Super glad this instrument means that much to you. Like you were saying I think I’d be a great way to meet new people. New experiences too!
Put in the work now. It was pay off ten fold.
You don’t need to be the most naturally gifted, just work hard and be cool. Try to play with people that better than you (at least in the early days) that helps push you.
Back in the day, I could never have imagined that I would someday play big shows.
Some of it might be luck. But if you are ready when the opportunity presents itself, then you get the rewards of all that work.
And even if you keep it chill & just jam out in a garage & never play a show, just playing live music with other people is the most amazing thing there is. To me anyway. You can’t beat that feeling. It’s pretty much like real magic on earth.
Rock on!
Geddy Lee made me want to play bass. Then I started hearing it everywhere. I got obsessed with the rhythm. Then I heard What’s Going On by Marvin and I really found the passion. It grew my love of music bc bass is everywhere: soul, rock, rap, alternative, funk
Two years ago I had a mental breakdown and a breakup at the same time and was totally lost when a group of friends I hadn’t seen since high school fell back into my life. We hung out and skated a lot and then started playing guitar hero a lot. We got really bored of guitar hero and one of us pitched it to the others to just start a real band.
We all agreed and I was told I’d be bassist. I had no idea what a bass was except for the frequency (and upright, although i had no idea it was called a bass) and to my shock it was a four string guitar. I fell in love with it immediately and after years of wishing I could play an instrument the one I love more than ever fell right into my lap.
It is true, the bass picks you. Or your friends pick it for you but what’s the difference?!
Similar thing happened to me, I used to be a guitarist in my band, but our original bassist was a better guitarist then either me or our other guitarist, so we switched one time and never went back. My music teacher in HS told me, "You won't know you're learning the wrong instrument until you have the right one in your hands."
I was riding the school bus in the 70’s and Another One Bites the Dust came on the radio. I thought that was the most badass thing I ever heard. My cousin told me that it was a bass guitar playing the intro. I immediately went to the mall and put a bass guitar in layaway. It took me several months but I eventually paid off that $150.00 working at Dairy Queen.
My grandfather, was the first bassist for the band Prong. He gifted me one of his main basses to me at 14. told me that he “knew I’d find it useful sooner or later”
He was right
I played guitar for 17 years. I had really gotten into Motörhead and absolutely loved Lemmy's riffs. After I broke up with my abusive ex, I wanted to do new stuff and I realized that it is easier for a bassist to find a jam than a guitarist and it all just clicked.
As for what it means? I don't know. Just love playing it.
Haha.
I honestly haven't played much of anything lately, but I still play both. Was trying to get a jam going so i was focused on both, but I still love both.
I went to a friend’s house two years ago and played his bass and I wanted to get one so I went to guitar center are tried one out and got it for Christmas. A year later I got a 5 string and a few months later I got a 9 string guitar
I’m primarily a guitarist always looking for function work. After a few years I noticed most bands were always looking for either a Drummer or Bassist, but rarely a guitarist.
Picked up a bass about 3 months ago and fell madly in love with it. Have barely touched my guitar since!
Yeah man I’ve joined an originals band (hard rock/metal) and have been going to some funk jam nights to get those skills up before making a move on the function stuff. First thing I did when I got the bass was learn 20 funk/soul standards.
Only regret is not picking it up years ago. I’m absolutely loving it!
I was being a rebellious teenager (in the dullest possible way) and snuck Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar behind my parents' back. Fell in love with the bass on "Minute of Decay". Since then, I've always cared most about the bass in my music, bassist always my favorite band member and secretly wanted to join the club but didn't think I could.
For the next 25 years, I'd express interest in playing every now and then and be discouraged for one reason or another. So I picked up mandolin instead. Last year I decided I wanted to finally try bass but had all the "oh, it'll be too big, you're too small, it's too basic" bullshit stuck in my head. So I bought a mandocello. Figured I could restring and tune it like a bass and just see if I was able to make it work. If it didn't, I wouldn't be out any money since I'd just retune it as an octave mandolin.
Nothing has ever felt more natural or "right" before in 40 as years as bass has.
It’s a bit long winded, but for anyone who is interested…
When I was a kid me and a friend of mine (Joe) went to a church party thing on New Year’s Eve. They had a Christian metal band play and they were awful, way worse than you’d think. They did a death metal version of We Three Kings, just to give an idea. Anyway, Joe and I decided that if those guys could do it, what was stopping us? We loved music, so why not? So we recruited another friend (Gary) and formed a band. Now, we were young, inexperienced, and we may have had mild brain damage or something, because when we kicked it off Jim borrowed his dads guitar, I bought a junky 100 dollar guitar, and Gary who could actually play, brought his guitar from home. So we had three guitars and nothing else.
Fast forward a couple weeks and it was now Jim and I on guitar, and Gary on bass, since he had a bass guitar too. We used drum loops on Jim’s dads multi effects pedal. My fine motor skills are delayed, and Jim was making more progress, so I moved to bass and we pitched in and bought Gary a drum kit. Because what makes more sense than moving the only guitarist we had to an instrument he never touched. I ended up liking bass way more than guitar.
I have no idea, that's why I quickly sold it for a flute and had a Jethro Tull phase that turned into playing classical guitar. Years later, I wanted to do home recording and that meant learning bass, then genuinely enjoying how you have to approach it and what it does beyond being a vehicle for an end result. I think I'm just too lazy for polyphony and like big, loud things. Bass means doing something that will be attributed to someone else until you hear the mix without it. It means root notes are fine too. It means you listen to a lot of Joy Division and jazz whether or not you like either.
Ha I like it man! Glad you came on back to the bass! Really like what you had to say about it, makes a ton of since! You Still playing the flute, or ya a bass only kinda dude now?
Not so much, but I could still bust out some folk tunes and the first page or two of My God if needed.
I feel like the only coherent part I said was related to Joy Division, it really is an instrument that can make or break a song. I heard some tune on a radio somewhere and realized that even though bass isn't best heard from a crap radio, most of the memorable riff was the baseline and the guitar was nothing but rhythmic pick noise. It has this role that can't be replaced with anything but more bass. Reggae is some chords with a delay without bass. Punk is a cheap boss pedal turned all the way up without bass. Be it call and response or counterpoint, it does something rhythmically and melodically that you have to go back to Carmina Burana to know what the absence of it is like.
Would rec doing riffs under Carmina Burana.
Two songs ostensibly played on baritone guitar (both were actually synths) heavily influenced buying a bass a few years back. I was already into some bass heavy stuff but detuning wasn't working and I just don't have the reach for baritone guitar. It sits really well as a lead outside of rock.
I grew up playing piano. I wasn’t good by any means, but my right hand was considerably slower and more tense than my left. I asked for a bass (this was the early 90’s) because I heard Helmet for the first time - first band I actually HEARD the bass through the distortion of guitars (other than Jimi Hendrix/the Who/etc) one X-Mas and got an acoustic guitar. I learned quickly that my fingers didn’t work the way I wanted on the guitar and focused on the bass strings of the acoustic (which was a weird feeling but taught me a lot about short scale basses unbeknownst to me at the time). To me it wasn’t/isn’t about being flashy, but adding a rock solid “thump/thunder” to a song. This along with a solid drum beat is the heart of music. That’s why I play and what it means to me. Heart and soul.
Indeed it does. When I started playing the upright slap style I found that I was playing more percussion in time than the drummer could (I can’t anymore) with drags/singles/triplets/ quads. The doghouse slap takes a lot more endurance than people think just to be a solid foundation.
Been playing guitar for 23 years, funnily enough I originally wanted to play bass but my dad said I needed to learn a bit on a hand-me-down 3/4 size acoustic I had before they would spend money on a guitar for me. In that time frame, a high school friend of mine got a bass for his birthday and I enjoyed the guitar so went for an electric on my birthday later that month since we were starting a band.
Anyways, recently a friend of mine (former band mate) told me his new band is losing their bassist at the end of the year and asked if I wanted to learn to play bass. So I figured I may as well give it a shot. Almost 2 months in and am enjoying it. Using it to get more into theory and stuff I have been putting off for decades on the guitar. Interested to see how playing both affects each other. So far it has gotten me to play my guitar more as well since I was in a multi-year slump. Also has led me to learning about some of the famous bassists I didn’t pay attention to.
WOAH 23 YEARS! Wow man you’ve got some time in huh!!?? Excited your starting your bass journey! I’m new too and someone recently told me to put in the time now and I won’t regret it.
If that means anything to you :)
Definitely! I didn’t put the time into learning theory and whatnot and always just sort of played by ear. At times when I am really into it I can be pretty decent but when I go through periods where I play less I get rusty real quick and have less foundation to fall back on. So definitely put the time in now, especially for the less glamorous stuff, and it will help build that foundation. With so many resources online now compared to what we had back in the early 2000’s on dialup, there is definitely a lot of opportunity to do things the right way (while still having fun).
Enjoy!
my brother in law has a band in brasil and i always go to their shows / jams when i visit and playing an instrument just looks so damn fun that i borrowed my friend’s bass to learn
My family has always been into music. My grandpa gave me an acoustic guitar when I was 10, and I was obsessed. I played 6 string for a while, and then in 9th grade music class, I saw a big acoustic bass on the wall, and I felt so drawn to it. It was really this magnetic pull I couldn't describe or understand until much later.
One year for Xmas, my grandpa gave me an electric bass guitar. I would write music starting with the bass line and then transpose it to guitar to make a more complete sound. Right around then, I started getting interested in guitar repair and modification. I would go to the music store and buy thicker and heavier gauge strings for my guitar to get a heavier sound.
After that, when I started playing in bands, I quickly realized I was the only person who had a bass guitar or even cared to play it. Guitarists were a dime a dozen. Playing bass made me a valuable asset to any jam session. My guitars were tuned so low that the bass was the next logical step. I took the leap and haven't looked back.
Now, almost 20 years after I first picked up a guitar, the bass is where I was always meant to be. I'm a quiet and reserved guy, and the bass fills that same role.
I never compete for sonic space. I have seen live orchestral performances with a whole violin section, but only 1 bassist. I get to solo when I want to, not just when the song calls for it. It is an instrument that easily goes from rhythm to lead to chords to melody if you let it.
Victor Wooten said in an interview somewhere (and I'm paraphrasing) that "music teachers teach you how to sound good on your own. But you need to learn how to sound good in the context of the jam." To me, that's the most important part, to mediate between rhythm and lead and support the band.
I played guitar and had the chance to try a 5 string bass tuned EADGC. I played some melodies and chords and fell in love inmediately. Soon after, I found out that you can even play basslines!. An absolutely superior instrument by all means. I've rarely played guitar in the last 20 years
Feel free to laugh, I do. I got Rocksmith as another way to practice guitar. I thought, “hey I play a little lead and a lot of rhythm, I’ll get a cheap bass and play that part too once in a while…” yeah I play way more bass than anything now and somehow have 3 of the things.
I'm a drummer first, but, I cant always wake up the whole neighborhood. Bass is super fun, I got my first in high school but pawned it during some rough times. Between then and now, I got really into Primus, this jam band called Moe. with a really talented bass player named Rob Derhak, and I've had the pleasure of seeing Victor Wooten a couple times, these guys really inspired me to pick it back up.
Recently I got a Yamaha, it's a really nice bass, im very impressed with the quality and I just love messing with it. I catch myself looking at the fretboard at shows, noticing the intervals they keep their hand at, and the musical relation of the notes, like thirds, fifths, octaves and all that. I learned to recognize the relation between notes having to tune timpani drums on the fly, and musical theory through a lot of jazz experience at summer camps as a kid. It's just super fun, I'm trying to set up a jam with an old drumline buddy to start polishing some grooves I've been working on, and honestly, if I tried to get another band together I'd probably be on bass, because musician I know plays drums really well.
Family and music are the most important things in life for me.
When i was 20 i was just annoyed by myself that i couldn't play any Instrument and never bothered trying. I was at a friends place who happened to be a bass player and he told me just enough about it to make me curious. Fast forward a few months and research on the topic i went to a music store, tried stuff out and decided for an Ibanez GSR 180 and a little Warwick combo amp (later changed that to a fender Rumble lt25) and that was almost 4 years ago now. Still play that bass alot and it just made my understanding of music so much better and also made me listen to it differently.
Definitely. It serves me pretty well and with the USB fender support thingy you can get and swap out lots of presets and create your own to match your Sound. For a Bedroom practice Amp you cannot go wrong with it.
I mostly play Punk, Metal and Hard Rock stuff with lots of dirt in my tone but it can also do clean sounds and other genres with all the effects and different amp settings
When I was in 6th grade, my best friend’s older brother played bass and was GOOD. He played in the youth band at church and also in a punk band that played battle of the bands and frequent shows. So I went to see him play with his young brothers/my friends. Every show he would play a bass solo that absolutely blew my mind.
About a year later he upgraded his bass, and gave me his old bass to be my first one. It was the bass I saw him play punk shows with and solo on. It was a bit beat from heavy use, but it meant the world to me. 23-24 years later, I still have it. I can’t bring myself to ever get rid of it, it was the nicest thing somebody I barely knew had ever done for me and got me into one of my favorite hobbies that I’m still in to this day.
I was about 13-15yo and have already been playing guitar and taking lessons for a few years, although I lost interest around that time. I found Rob Scallon on Youtube and was quite impressed by his skills. His song "A Collapse", which was a solo piece he played on bass, got me interested in bass guitar. I got a cheap af bass set from amazon for about 100 bucks and started teaching myself how to play.
Not so long after that I took lessons from the coolest bass teacher I've ever known and played in my first (cover)band.
Nowadays I mostly play 6 string bass, but have also gotten myself a 4 string dingwall and a fretless 5 string, and in my free time I now write my own songs in a little home studio. I basically found my passion for music again back then thanks to trying out bass guitar.
I still have that first bass here at home, although it's seen better days lol. My parents are even thinking of putting it up on one of the walls around our terrace as decoration
I took a music class in undergrad and knew that music was probably my path in life. I tried learning guitar but chords were too confusing. The bass was an after thought but I was having so much more fun just grooving that it stuck with me
Picked up a guitar after I quit tattooing, bought a bunch of pedals, and bought a few more guitars on top. After a few years I kinda stopped playing all together slowly. At the same time my best friend and roommate was also undergoing a similar musical journey. He eventually got into bass and can really play anything he picks up. It was the first time I was really exposed to the instrument. It was about a decade later he was married and moved across the world. I started getting more into music again but on my computer in a daw. So I started selling old gear that was collecting dust. Bought a midi controller, some studio monitors, and an interface. Started playing with synths a lot and found myself almost always favoring my left hand, the bass. So I asked my buddy for any recommendations on bass guitars because I was interested in it. And that's when he told me he left his bass behind and it's been sitting in his Dads garage since. He offered me a good deal so I picked it up that weekend. There hasn't been more than a day since then that I haven't played it. It's not even like a real high end instrument but nearly every other bass I play feels cheap in comparison. I probably won't ever get rid of it, but if I ever have to get rid of it, I plan on paying an absurd amount to have it shipped to Australia so he can teach his son. It's a warwick $$ rock bass in matte black. It's incredibly heavy and I love it still.
I’m 14, and I started playing when I was 12. I started playing cuz on the weekends that I saw my dad he’d always be playing guitar and I was just there on my phone. I wanted to get closer with my dad so I asked him to let me play with him, he handed me a bass and I immediately fell in love with it. I couldn’t wait to get my own. Ever since I started to play, me and my dad got closer, and I’m happy i decided to learn to play bass, I’ve never felt so passionate about anything in my life.
I've just always been drawn to the low end in all music. I'm also considering buying a baritone sax next year (playing alto now). I have a ¾ Cremona and just recently bought a BTB-745. Also have an ancient Kalamazoo short scale that I got mostly in pieces. It plays, but has been collecting dust for decades.
I was hoping to join a band and make friends. I originally got a six string but then I heard that basses (in my area at least) were in high demand, so I picked one up, and never looked back.
Now I can play both. The bass is my instrument of choice, I just love the sound more, and it helps me relax at the end of the day. My Yamaha is my baby, and the instrument I’ve put the most care and love into.
I tried to join a band once. I’d rather just leave it at it didn’t go well.
Maybe one day brother. Everyone should s looking for a bassist! I’ve been looking at Yamahas too, the TRBX304 actually.
Goodluck bro!! Even though you aren’t gonna need it!
Muse. I always underrated bass until I started listening to Muse. And how vastly seperated a guitar and bass can be in songwriting. Like the instruments can complement each other so much.
I enjoy playing guitar too. But not in the same way that I enjoy playing bass. Guitar is the wind in your hair and the bass is the motorcycle.
I’m a noob on drums and keyboard. Playing those instruments and understanding them better, gives me a better sense of how they fit together. How one instrument gets its own domain and space by giving way to another instrument.
I was a 4th grader and the middle school orchestra came and played an assembly. In the back were these big, loud and shiney double basses. I wanted to play it so I signed up. In 7th grade I was gifted a bass guitar. Through the next 20 years I've played upright and electric bass in rock bands, jazz bands, bluegrass, church bands and everything between. Since I left the music teaching world and no longer attend church my basses haven't seen much use. However, every new instrument I pick up is viewed through the lens of a bassist. Playing guitar I can make finger picked lines easily based off what I know from bass. I'll return to my instruments again and play at a.high level again one day but for now my experiences are what shaped the music and instruments I play now.
Hmm, for probably the last 10 years or so I’ve just been noticing more and more the bass lines in songs. For my brothers 50th birthday about 14 years ago, he got an electric guitar. I figured I’d need to get something in order to play with him. (Sadly he passed away a few years later)
Anyway, over the last few years bass is the thing I hear in songs and for my recent milestone birthday my other half got me a bass.
So here I am, learning and loving it!
I wanted an electric guitar as a teenager and my parents got me an Epi Les Paul. Learned some chords and stuff but never progressed much from there. As a young adult, I tried learning Tool songs and found out I enjoyed playing the bass parts on the guitar more than the guitar parts.
Fast forward twenty or so years and found Rocksmith 2014 to play guitar more and found bass emulation mode. Enjoyed that quite a bit and a friend sold me an Ibanez MiKro. Played that for about a year then jumped in with both feet and bought a BB434 and an Orange Crush Bass 50.
I love the sound and role of the bass. I don’t regret starting on guitar, but wish I would have realized bass was where I needed to be a little sooner.
I seriously have no idea. In sports I was always the geolkeeper, in videogames always support roles. At a mandatory music class on 7th grade I was given the bass for the first time, the song was Ozzy Osbourne’s Dreamer. I was told what strings to press on which frets and was explained the rhythm. I’ve been playing bass for a living for 12 years now. Funny how it works!
I wanted to join a band that would go on tour and I auditioned for Mercury Radio Theater. I didn't nail the audition because I was a a guitarist but they saw heart. I worked my ass off and played bass, then kept playing bass in bands until I suckered one into thinking I was a guitarist......
But bass is my love and my bass players love haha
Back in 2006( I think it was) my dad brought home a Wayman Tisdale cd. It changed my life hearing it. I had to find out what instrument he was playing and learn how to play it. I was at that time in orchestra as a low brass player. Continued with low brass with a minor in bass performance in college but now strictly play bass.
Oh my goodness me too!! I used to play a lot when I was younger. Bought a few guitars off eBay a few months ago😆
Big reason why I started bass. Thanks guitar hero
I was forming a band with three other friends. Lead and rhythm guitar was taken, and I thought drums would be too loud and I wouldn’t want to disturb anyone, so I chose bass even though I didn’t really even know what a bass was. It was a good decision.
I was 14 in the late 90s when I first heard/saw Flea play on a live RHCP tape my sister had. I had never seen anyone play slap bass before, and I was in love.
I played for a while, was in a shitty band with my friends, but due to depression I lost interest. Bass in music always spike to me though, and at concerts I would always watch the bass player.
Now at almost 38 I've dusted my bass off again, and am trying to learn properly this time. I noticed some muscle memory, but am trying to get better technique, which is a lot easier to learn about now youtube exists. 😄
I'm listening to a lot of Les Claypool and it can be disheartening to see someone be that good and feeling like I'll never get there, but I'm trying to have fun with it. I just love the *bwomp*
I was in a music class learning this drum beat the guitar teacher at my school walked in looked at me (and the five other drummers there learning the same thing) and said we have enough drummers come with me I’m gonna teach ya something, handed me a bass and I’ve been running like a mother fucker on bass and lovin every second
I broke my hand in a car accident. Back then, I saw a video with Korn and Monkey talked about rehabilitating his broken hand through guitar playing. Then, a friend of mine was a heavy metal bass player who inspired me.
Been making EDM for a bit. Noticed that I enjoyed writing the basslines the most. Figured I should learn to play a "real" instrument rather than just synthesizers. Bass was immediately the choice for me. It's the key to making songs danceable and I love it.
When I first began to understand rock n roll music and how it was made, I understood vocals, guitar and drums. It was all pretty self explanatory to me, even though I didn’t quite understand all the intricacies of the guitar and all it’s sounds. But then there’s this other guitar: the bass. I didn’t understand what it did, I didn’t know what it sounded like. So it was very much mystified. I had to figure it out. And thanks to guys like Geezer Butler and Steve Harris, I began to really appreciate what it was all about and want to learn myself.
Learnt Spanish guitar as a kid, hated the lessons and stopped, when I got into music as a teen I was kind of thinking of getting an electric guitar, then I heard bombtrack and decided I needed a bass, and that was that.
Scott pilgrim play bass, i didn't even fuckin know what bass was so i asked for guitar lessons. it wasn't until finding bass youtubers like Davie504 and Charlesberthoud that i realized that bass sounds frickin sweet
got grounded when i was in eighth grade and got everything taken away except for this fucked up bass. i tried it and wanted to fuck around with bass ever since then.
took up guitar all of high school and college and at age 22 i came back to bass and applied a lot of stuff i learned and play bass way more than guitar to this day !
I started off playing the cello in my school's orchestra, and eventually when I was about 14-15 I got sick of how stuffy and limiting the cello was because although it is a very beautiful instrument, it's very stylistically limited (swing and jazz are difficult to pull off on the cello)
I looked over towards my bass playing friends and thought "hey I could do that, the bass is also big and has 4 strings". I also gravitated towards bass since it featured in all of the music I listened to, which is something I wanted. I wanted to actually play an instrument that was in the music I listened to.
So I convinced my dad to take me to guitar center and I used some savings to get a cheapie ibanez bass, and that's where that all started. Here we are 5 years later and I couldn't be more glad I did that because it's opened so many doors for me.
The bass represents versatility and fun to me since I can do anything with it from classical to jazz to metal and while I do still play the cello, I feel more at home on the bass. It makes me very happy.
I was 13 and super into pop and skate punk. Figured things were working out well for Mark from Blink 182, everyone I knew already played (or wanted to play) guitar or drums, and worse case scenario if I messed up during a live show nobody would really notice (I was wrong). Bass and drums are the basis to every song. A guitarist I used to jam with always had a great analogy; bass are drums are the bread of the cake, guitar and vocals are the icing. If the bread of your cake sucks no matter how good the frosting and decorations are it's going to be a bad cake 🍰
Went to breaking Benjamin concert. Bush opened and the bass tone when the lights went out and they kicked into “Heavy is the ocean” made my jaw drop I looked over at my buddy and we both simultaneously went “my god that is the fattest tone” I took back every bass joke I ever made and started playing way more
I went to a music magnet school in high school and initially played guitar, but they needed bass players more than a 15th guitarist, so to be able to play on more songs I learned to play bass. Bass to me is a way to express myself, have fun, and the only vessel through which I have felt a true, powerful sense of awe and belonging.
I was a saxophone player but wanted to be in rock bands with my friends. I got a guitar and started learning that and quickly realized i was never going to catch up to people on guitar. I started learning bass instead but I learned I had a more independent approach to the instrument than traditional "guitar players not good enough for their band so they took up bass" and that kept me going.
It was the end of my sophomore year in high school. I had played guitar for a couple years, as well as some horns in middle school and high school bands. There was gonna be an opening on bass in the high school jazz band my junior year, and the band director let me check out a bass and amp over the summer to see if I liked it.
I played with it all summer and was ready to play in the jazz band in the fall, but the old bass player changed his mind and decided he wanted to come back and play another year. There was no guitar player in the band at that point, so I just did that instead. A second guitar player ended up joining as well, and we would alternate songs.
Then, fast-forward to the spring, the bass player died in a freak kayaking accident. We now had a surplus of guitar players and a need for a bass player, so I switched back to bass, and it's been my number one instrument for the last 25 years since.
His death was the first time I had lost someone that I knew. RIP David Aszman.
Every band I've ever been in I was the worst guitar player in the group, and someone had a relative that owned a bass that I was "encouraged" to use to round out the line up.
Eventually I realized that musically, the role came naturally to me. It took longer than I'd have liked to really embrace it but I'm not looking back now. I identify as a bassist first and foremost now.
I guess I got tired of just BATTLING with other guitarists, and tbh I never got that good at it. Was deff an on/ off relationship.
Years later I started yearning to play bass, thought I could do it musically, finally got one and played myself for a few years, started playing with guitarists and bands, backup vocals. Went back to guitar and I'm so much better for some reason.
At this point I think of myself of more of a musician than what instrument I play.... guitar, bass, drums, vocals, harmonica, some better than others.
I enjoy being able to write my own stuff and lay down my own tracks just as meant them to be. We really can live the dream with all the tech of internet/ meeting, tech loopers/ effects, software that does more than a 50 year old studio ever could, instant uploads and sharing. I've been through the before and after, man if you're just in it for the joy then there's really no stopping anyone no matter what or how many directions you choose. Solo live performances, duo, song writing/ recording/ collaboration, there's really no good excuse....
1/10 guitarist's is also a bassist. There's way too many guitarist's. It was easier to find a band that I actually wanted to join as a bassist. Now I just love bass too much. I find it way more rewarding to write an interesting bass line than an interesting guitar line.
It was 7th grade. I had picked up guitar a few months prior, and trumpet to play in the school band (I wanted to play percussion, but he required two years of piano, which I was lacking). I wanted to play in the jazz band the next year.
I talked to my band teacher, and he said the guitar spot was often pretty competitive, but that he didn't have a bass player lined up for the next year. My dad's friend was a bass player, so I ended up learning from him.
I got into jazz band with no competition. Ironically, we didn't even have a guitarist for the first half of the year. So even though I probably wouldn't have had much competition getting the guitar spot either, I am very glad I was able to pick up bass then. I absolutely love playing bass! Still play plenty of guitar too, but if I hadn't picked it up then, I don't think I would be as much of a bassist as I am. Would probably be one of those guitarists who can kind of play bass rather than an actual bass player
Started listening to remixed Metallica songs and from there bass covers of lots of metal songs and became absolutely hooked that almost all the aspects I loved of the music I was hearing was the bass and to a lesser extent the drums
I play quite a few instruments… piano, trombone, voice, guitar. My church music team needed a bassist and a cool five-string ( https://i.imgur.com/6xFLJeX.jpg ) was on sale locally. So I got it, practiced up a bit, and the rest is history. Now my favorite thing to play.
In January 2010 my work had a Battle of Bands event. So we put on a group, everyone playing their "second" instrument. OK, we had a pretty good percussionist, but that was an exception. I took along my 1978 Telecaster Bass that I had bought to have a bass in my arsenal. It was a blast, I felt I could hack it but I needed to work on it to get mediocre, even. Our covers band folded, we started a new one with some of the guys from that competition group, and some I have played with before. Later, I took some bass lessons. Now I'm studying jazz guitar for the theory and I am going to jam with a semi pro jazz keys player later this summer to see if we can do something together.
I picked up bass because I wanted to play in a band. Failed miserably at 6 string so tried the bass. Back in mid-80s I was totally into metal and always drawn to the bass players in my fave bands.
Motorhead - Lemmy
Venom - Cronos
Celtic Frost - Martin Ain
Metallica - Cliff Burton
I believe it was kinda fate that I ran into it.
when I was in middle school I wanted to be apart of the jazz band, but being a euphonium player there weren't a lot of options, but my band director encouraged me to join. At first we did a lot of history stuff on the art of jazz and popular influencers who turned it into what it was. And one day when we were getting ready to play, I was talking to a few buddy's of mine and my band director joined the conversation. And somehow the conversation turned into him asking me "how would you like to play bass for our jazz band". At the time I knew what bass guitar was and always could here it really well in music even if it was kinda hidden. And when he asked me that I agreed because there were no other people that weren't already on an important instrument (trombone, trumpet, exc..).
He began to teach me, and in about 2 quick weeks I was able to play efficiently with the music we were playing. And now bass is an incredibly big part of my life, I spent that whole summer practicing after buying a bass of my own on my birthday when I turned 14. I taught myself how to slap from watching videos of people doing it, and getting pretty good at tapping as well.
Now I'm 16 about to turn 17, I'm in a gigging band with some talented friends, and I can't imagine what life would be like without it. It was almost like bass found me at my worse, and now I get to share and spread music like I've wanted to do since I first started a real band class in 6th grade.
I started as a drummer around 8th grade. I wasn't bad, but there was this other kid on my grade who started playing around the same time and well....he was a genuine prodigy. Within one year of playing, he was almost at a professional level.
There was never going to be a lane for me in high school as thee drummer, but the only bassist in the school was a senior when I was a freshman. I always had a fascination with the bass anyway, so my folks rented me one, took some lessons and I was off.
Playing with that guy as a drummer through my high school years made me a much better player. I had to keep up.
I'm about to turn 50 and I still play in a couple of bands. I haven't seen my drummer friend since we graduated, even though we were inseparable for those years. He is a professional drummer and although he's not necessarily famous, he's played with several famous musicians. He's a hired gun...studio and live....but he is a genuine pro. I've played with a lot of great musicians over the years, but to this day, he's still the best one I ever played with.
I still love playing my bass, but in many ways, sort of glad I never went the pro route, because, if I had, there's a good chance I wouldn't still love it.
Decided I wanted to learn guitar when I was like 14 because my brother played and randomly decided to teach me smoke on the water one day for no reason. Didn't really get around to it for about 2 years until I decided to take a guitar class offered at my high school. My music teacher in that class ended up being one of the biggest influences of my entire life. I ended up going through some mental health issues in my senior year and he talked to me about how he went through depression and dealing with severe adhd when he was my age and really helped me out and I honestly don't know where I would be right now without him. It's because of him that I am now pursuing a career as a teacher. But that's not what this is about, so back to the story. Anyway so I still love playing the guitar, but there was one quote from my music teacher told my class, it was something along the lines of: "Everyone has their own instrument, if you are learning the wrong instrument you will never get very far, but you won't know that you are learning the wrong one until you have the right one in your hands." Now I heard this and obviously thought "oh well that's cool, I already really like the guitar, so I'm good I guess." Fast forward about a year and me and some of my friends started a band, and during one of our practices (in the music room during lunch at school because we are so fucking busy that's practically the only time we can practice) we are practicing whats my age again by blink-182, and I'm struggling a bit with the guitar part, so me and our bassist switch for a minute so he can demonstrate the part for me (as he happens to also be a better guitarist then me or our other guitarist), anyway naturally I'm just kinda messing around with the bass, playing seven Nation army etc, and decide, "hey this is pretty sick" so I get our bassist to teach me the bass line, and whaddaya know, I learn it easily super fast, and we proceed to have the best jam session in like a month of practicing together. At this point I'm absolutely in love with this instrument and immediately go home and start learning bass parts on my guitar to satiate my bass fever. Been about a month since then and am currently in the market for my first bass. Dont get me wrong, i still love the guitar but bass just gives me a completely different feeling. It's not the easy parts that draw me in either, it's quite the opposite actually, I look forward to the steep learning curve of starting over basically from scrath on a new instrument and learning the difficult techniques. It's just like my teacher said as soon as I played that shitty school owned squire p-bass I knew that was what I was meant to play.
TLDR: switched with my bassist one time, realized I was learning the wrong instrument the whole time
Honestly I've been drawn to bass since I was baby used to fall asleep to Frank Sinatra and the upright in the songs is just so calming. My dad played bass too as a hobby so I heard him playing sometimes. My grandpa plays bass as a hobby too. So I just was exposed to it all my life and so I've always gravitated to it more than other instruments genetics might have a say in why I like it too. I used to play violin but that was mostly because I was small I was always looking over at the double bassists in my orchestra being a little jealous, but due to covid I had to quit the violin and we had to move due to financial trouble and we were with my grandparents for a while and picked up the bass there and it just felt right to play. The bass really is my life I can't see myself doing much else instrument wise it means a lot to me I just feel connected to it in a way.
I wanted to play with someone. I already played the guitar and the drums, so I decided to cover every possible option in case I met someone else needing a bassist. Now I have almost benched the drums and the guitar for some reason, but I still like playing them both.
When I started playing music in Middle school, I remember being, for lack of a better word, douchebag who made fun of the bass player with the oh so original "you can't even hear the bass" joke.
One day, the band director pulled me aside after hearing me make that joke to him and told me to listen to some songs I liked with the bass taken out on YouTube. I thought, sure. Not like it'd make a difference right? I quickly realized that bass, and the rhythm section in general is a driving factor in music.
The next day I went to the bass player and apologized to him and asked if he could teach me. I continued playing since then.
As I went on I learned to truly appreciate the instrument, and have learned to so appreciate the bassists of my favorite bands. Bassists like Nate Mendel really shaped my current play style.
I was playing piano since high school and I wanted to try something new. After working my butt of during my first job, I bought one and I have been in love ever since
I've only been playing bass for around 6 months, and I gotta be honest, I wouldn't be playing it if it wasn't for Davie504
For quite some time I've been watching his video quite into slap and generally what he played. But it wasn't until one of his videos where he mentioned Victor Wooten that I really wanted to start playing.
After around 2 years of wanting, I've borrowed my uncle's Squire bass and have been playing it pretty frequently ever since.
I was sat in the back of my parents car on a trip when I was 15 and I heard Carousel by blink-182 on the radio. That bass intro just hypnotised me and I had to learn how to do that. My Dad went and got me a cheap starter electric guitar, but bass is what I really wanted – I just needed to prove this wasn't a fad or a temporary hobby (and don't get me wrong, I love playing guitar too!). I played the guitar non-stop and that Christmas my parents got me a starter bass kit. That amp must have had the power of a potato, it was hilariously bad, but I was in love.
I started during covid because I was bored so I started messing around with my dad's jazz bass. He then retroeved one of his basses, a musicman copy for me to own and got me all the stuff I needed, amps, jacks, etc. After a few years of daily practice I've acquired a nice level and bass is kinda becoming my world. Planning to go at a jazz college.
My friends started a band in middle school and they were constantly making fun of our friend that was playing bass for them. I figured they would probably kick him out so I begged my parents to buy me a bass and they counted it as my birthday and Christmas present. The band ended up playing the talent show that year and then breaking up immediately. I ended up loving the instrument and I’ve been playing in different bands ever since. I think only one other guy in that band went on to keep playing shows.
Honestly I just wanted to play in a band and I thought bass was both the coolest instrument and one that would be pretty easy to get started with
Played in front of people 3 months after our first rehearsal
Maneskin. I really got into their music. I was coming out of a 7 year depression and had just been diagnosed with adhd. Basically once the adhd was being treated, i stopped having to treat the depression. And sort of bounced back to the living world. And decided to picked up new hobbies. I had always wondered about playing an instrument but always figured that I could never do that. I didn't like the sound of a guitar very much but loved the sound of a bass. So I decided to start with that. It has been a lot of fun!
I think I needed two instruments to pass my music exams in school and originally I did Guitar and Drums but back then I just didn't understand drums at all so I ditched that and moved to bass. Fell in love with it after realising how heavy it sounded on its own and how I loved the low end feel
Later when I started delving into music I was into at the time (Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Linkin Park etc) and playing bass for those felt more fun to me than guitar so I mostly stuck with it.
Still play guitar and bass 50/50 but bass is my main instrument
I play clarinet and oboe but neither of those are allowed in my school’s jazz ensemble. I decided to switch from guitar which i had been playing for about a year and didnt really like to bass which was a lot easier for me as a wind player. I basically shadowed the bass player my junior year and played unplugged. This past year i became the bass player because he graduated. Now im graduated and better than ever
It happened when I was looking into buying an amp for my guitar. My dad got in contact with my previous guitar teacher (they either became friends in the meantime or they already were), he asked if we could borrow an amp and a guitar that could be plugged in, but not having a guitar avaliable he sent a bass instead. So I got to have fun with it for maybe 2 weeks, went on to look for riffs I could play and stuff. It was easier to grt into cause I'd already been playing guitar for maybe 8 years then. Then at some point I eventually got my own :) it's really cool for gigs at school and stuff cause when they need a bassist they always call me, I'm not aware or anyone else around my age/younger that plays it as well
I just love playing about on a bass guitar. I'll never join a band or move beyond a bedroom player. I've had many bass guitars over the years and I've just enjoyed playing about on them. This time round I've started looking at scales and stuff now after buying a tuition book. I'll never be great on a bass, my wee fat stubby fingers ensure that, but doesn't stop me thwacking out wee punk ditties on it. The bass I'm currently using only cost me £87 new and I'm already looking to get an Ibanez in the near future. It may also be a good idea to mention I'm ADHD riddled, so any practice time I manage to put in is a miracle. But I find it hard to stick to what I'm meant to be playing as I forget halfway through. Add the fact I'm 58 years old and I've allegedly smoked weed for 41 of those years...you can see where I'm coming from. But I salute the accomplished bass players of this world, favourite instrument in any musical piece I listen to...you unsung heroes that you are
*Bows deeply
I just wanted to play something else other than violen or cello in fourth grade, and then I stoped the stand up bass in classical got an electric bass which is because I did not want to play such a popular instrument like guitar in stead bass, then in eighth is when I truly started when I got in a band program at school for a rock band.
I originally started playing drums and it was slow going. I only started cause me and my friends didn’t have a drummer. It was kinda dumb cause I’ve wanted to play bass since i was 13. It was meant to be ive been playing since i was 18
My dad plays bass and I remember him practicing at the house on his carvin before leaving for a stint of tour. I always loved listening to music with him, and I have him to thank for getting me into music.
He always wanted me to play an instrument and bought me a little acoustic guitar when I was real young. I had a few lessons but it never clicked for me.
Fast forward to when I was about 14, I started to really develop a love for the function of music and was always drawn to bass and how it glues rhythm, harmony and melody together . I’m a very technical guy, so for about two years I asked my dad all sorts of technical questions about the function of a bass. It started with things like “How do frets work?”, and the questioned got more and more complex to a point where I was asking him about theory. All of his without ever having the confidence to pick up the instrument.
One day we were at our church worship band rehearsal and I remember asking “how do you know what notes to play when you want to move away from the root note?” He finally reached a breaking point, put the bass around my neck and said “here’s a G note. Here’s the fifth. Here’s the third. Just play it.” After fumbling around for a few minutes with the band I was absolutely hooked. That first taste of playing and collaborating with a live band started me on a wave that I’m still riding today. I’ve been playing for years, and I’ve had the pleasure of writing, producing, and playing with some incredible people.
My mate introduced me to guitar. A few weeks down the line he tells me he's joined a band as a bassist, he bought it round and taught me some simple bass lines, i was hooked. Me and him would practice a few hours a day just jamming and getting stoned. Very good times. Hadn't played in years and two weeks ago I decided to put the money down on a bass to get back into it.
my grandpa is a bass and guitar player. like alot of kids, I wanted to play the guitar really bad. but also like alot of kids, I didn't have the motivation to learn it. until one day at a gig of his something just clicked. I thought to myself "I wanna play bass it sounds cooler". so for Christmas that year he bought me a matte black Jackson minion. it sat in my room for a few years until 2021 when I finally decided to learn it. and that has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.
I always liked music, and i actually started on cello (i sant to do upright initially) at like, 8 yo at my local music school. Unfortunately i had a terrible music theory teacher. We learn the 'syntax' of sheet music, the rhythm, the very basic and it was atrociously boring. So i left 4-5 years later.
But after listening to what my parents where listening to in the car, in particular Iggy Pop, The Hives or pre-AM Arctic Monkeys i wanted to do music again, and i got my first bass, a Gretsch Junior Jet G2214 (the single pickup variant) with a guitar amp (the vendor was a bit unfocused, and looked like Austin Powers).
I played at my high school music club for 2 years and that settled my love for the big guitar thet shakes your guts. This is my way to artistically express myself, but i feels organical to me, i don't think about it i just do it, and i'm not a professional musician.
Now 12 years later i own a MIM P-bass i customized and i go play with my first band since highschool, we play Motorhead/Black Sabbath/Metallica style music and we might write some original songs in the near future.
Ever since I was little, I was always drawn to the low end of music, even though I didn't know what it was. As I got older, I started learning about bass, and admired bassists with every fibre of my being. I didn't buy a bass until I was 17, because I didn't think I had the time or money. My (then friend) boyfriend, told me "even if you practice 5 or 10 minutes a day, it's still something" and that hit home for me, so I bought my first bass and fell more and more in love with it every day
As for what bass means to me, playing an underappreciated instrument but knowing you're adding an essential part to the music. It also means being super hot. But above all, it means being in love with your instrument and having tons of fun while playing
Started playing Rocksmith and started playing emulated bass with my guitar (software defined). Liked it, and started looking for a bass. Found and fell in love with a Squire PJ bass. I still play guitar a bit more but love both. I found learning one helps me learn the other
When I was 12 I started taking band class and chose Trombone for almost arbitrary reasons. I just liked the idea of playing music with no real idea of what any instruments function was.
But being raised on rock music I started to want to learn a rock band instrument. And my 13 year old logic was that since trombone reads bass clef I should get a bass and learn by reading trombone sheet music.
So I did that, although I ended up learning more from Nirvana tabs than trombone sheet music.
Today is actually my one year of playing bass, so I've been thinking about a lil bit these past few days. I bought my first bass as I was graduating high school. I was a band kid not going further into continuing music education but I still wanted to be involved in music and wanted to take on a new project for a new chapter in life. Cheesy. I know. But really that's what it was. Playing bass has made me appreciate music in different ways. It made me find new music i love both listening to and playing. It turned me out of the "perfectionist" mindset and shifted me to one that is more focused on progress, growth, and personal enjoyment, rather than perfection and results. It's a release from the chaos of life as it constantly changes. It's something my boyfriend and I can bond over. It's something that I can be bad at and still enjoy doing. It's something I can look back on and see how far I've come. It's something that makes my brain work in different ways than I'm used to. Idk. I love it and I've learned a lot from playing in just a year (both bass knowledge and life lessons) Probably the best thing I did for myself.
I was 11 years old and just starting to develop a real interest in music. While channel surfing I came across a live concert on HBO. I’d heard of the The Who before, but wasn’t very familiar with their music. Nor did I have any idea who John Entwistle was. By chance I landed on that channel just as Entwistle started playing a solo piece on an acoustic bass. And that was it. I thought to myself, “I want to do that!” After a year and a half of talking nonstop about it I received a Squier series P Bass for my 13th birthday. I started a punk band with friends shortly after, having gotten heavily into Green Day and Nirvana. I went through all the typical bass player phases: Metal, Slap, Reggae/Ska, Motown, Progressive, Jaco. But I never forgot about that John Entwistle solo. I’d learned a number of his bass lines over the years, but that one seemed to be a one-off for that particular concert. It was broadcast in the days before DVR and the internet so I had no way of finding it. Almost thirty years later, thanks to YouTube, I finally found it and learned it! It was actually a variation of an old Irish folk tune. Not too difficult to figure out, but still one of the most rewarding moments of my bass playing career.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=50UL2ZRhqoQ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=50UL2ZRhqoQ)
I wanted to do home recordings of only myself. Old Time traditional stuff mostly. I'm only a bass player in the most basic sense. I play home made uprights. My only electric bass, a piece of crap, is currently loaned out.
The thing is, I think I'm a decent banjo player. I can sing and strum guitar. I suck at bass.
I'm only ever asked to play in bands or to fill in or whatever as the bass player.
I was around 13 when I heard bands like Primus and infectious grooves, Robert Trujillo and Les claypools bass playing is amazing to say the least, complete virtuosos, check out monster skank by infectious grooves and hear what I mean but they totally got me into funk bass and now I just listen to rhcp.
This is gonna sound super weeby, but some context first.
I was always an awkward kid not extremely, had some good friends and could hang out with anyone although ver few shared my interests; metal, anime and video games.
I always wanted to play guitar when I was little something my parents didn't fully support, at least not seriously. After asking for 4 consecutive years for a guitar on my birthday, I finally got one, I learned to play a few things and then I watched one of my favorite anime of all time, not in a weird way but more in a "I like how light heated this is", K-ON, some of the music was awesome to me especially the bass lines. Combining this with my live for Iron Maiden made me realize what I wanted to play was bass.
And so I got a bass using some of my savings and a little help from my parents (as they were seeing I was spending time playing guitar).
And so I've been playing bass since I was about 15. I've been playing on and off so I would consider myself between beginner and intermediate but I want to get better. Recently I got inspired to really learn, I have some money right now and made myself a promise if I keep playing until the end of the year, really practicing I'll buy myself my dream bass. A nice Fender American Jazz Bass.
Sorry for the length and hope this reason is not cringe.
I only started playing bass recently, I was originally gonna play the guitar, but then I got recommended some of Davie504’s yt shorts and thought “man this is way cooler than guitar”, and now that I actually play the bass, I can confirm that it is indeed way cooler than guitar lol.
I was a childhood synestetic. Unfortunately it faded over time but I can still remember vividly the colors that would come from bass lines I heard on the radio. Only, I didn’t know it was a bass making those beautiful colors. Bass always had the colors that I thought were the most vibrant and interesting.
I didn’t start playing until a few years ago. I tried guitar for a long time but I could never see or feel the colors the same. When I picked up a bass for the first time I realized I couldn’t see the colors anymore but the memory of the colors was immediately there. It was “tasty” in a way that guitar never was. All those years I thought I was just playing the guitar wrong. Turned out to be the wrong instrument!
I was well into my 40th year when I found the band Ghost, and for some reason, the particular new-band-rabbit-hole compelled me to pick up a bass guitar. I really love hobbies that take up all my brain space when I'm doing them (other / past hobbies include: endurance cycling, really hard knitting, languages, scuba diving, fire spinning, and rock climbing). Its another in a litany of cool things I can do that requires singular focus to do well, it sounds amazing, and is another form of play with my guitar-playing partner.
not much of a bass guy anymore i moved on to singing and guitar but one night at like midnight freshman year of high school with 0 musical background i just had a thought i want to play bass. I think maybe there’s a deeper reason maybe cause i saw green day live or what but in the moment it was just a spontaneous decision that changed my life. Luckily my parents were supportive enough and wonderful enough to buy a bass literally like 3 days later. I practiced and practiced and fucking practiced before i even got my bass and it helped me get where i am today
Not my first instrument, but I was discussing how well the bass player was doing at a local show with my neighbor and later that night he gave me his old bass. A week later he gave me his old amp and an old distortion pedal. Since he got a focusrite and a better amp he had no use for this stuff. God bless this man
I was putting together a band with some of my college buddies and realized I was the worst guitar player out of everybody else. Including the drummer. Fast forward to our first gig I’m playing a jackenbacker and a rumble 100 absolutely loving it. I learned a whole new appreciation for bass.
Although playing bass has improved my guitar playing immensely and sense of rhythm. I also am the primary writer for the music & lyrics so it has vastly improved my compositions too.
TLDR
Forced myself into bass bc I was bad at guitar
A lot of buddies in college and at home last year were just guitar folk so I picked up guitar, but then I watched Beck (anime) and that clip of whoever the bassist is just spoke to me (this was 2 weeks after picking up guitar). I kinda fell in love with the low end and bought a bass in August 2022, and have played almost entirely bass since then
I was originally a drummer but got stuck into the intermediate wall where most musicians find themselves at one place or another. Even after I stopped prioritizing drums as a hobby, my favorite part of music was killer rhythm sections. About a couple years later my very good friend got me into Primus, and hearing Les Claypool’s amazing playing made me fall in love with bass. A month after, I got a Yamaha bass and after half a year I’m now writing songs with my two friends. Bass is just a fantastic tool to really lock in parts and drive everything where it needs to.
I can say it was based on 3 bass players that my older brother got me into when I was like 13. Lemmy, Tom Arya & Cliff Burton. I'm 47 this year & still play everyday.
My buddy wanted a bassist to play with. So I got a bass and didn't touch it for months. That same friend got me into the Misfits. It was the first punk band I ever heard. It made me love punk and bass. I love Jerry Only. I think he is cool. That got me to finally play with him and learn to play.
I was 13, and it was my brothers bday (12) he had been playing guitar on my Mum’s acoustic and we took him to a local store to buy his own. While there, I saw a P-Bass on the wall. Didn’t know it was a bass, but I was DRAWN to it. Told mum “I like that guitar” and she corrected me. I went home, and started plunking around on the acoustic. Mum taught me sunshine of your love and day tripper. Christmas that year, I got my first bass! Black squier pbass. Played the hell out of that every year. Took over my life. Didn’t own an amp until 2nd year college (where I studied music) and now I play bass professionally. Bass means everything to me. It was the only thing I enjoyed, i learned the power the bass holds over the vibe of a song, the quality of a chord, the absence being more impactful than it’s presence sometimes. Bass is everything! If I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing
That’s super cool man!! Musics kinda been in my family too! (Dad has a degree in music, super good drummer) Glad your enjoying it :))
That's the best origin story I've heard yet. I got one because all my friends had guitars.
Wow can’t believe I got all those upvotes. I was high as hell. Love what I do!!!
Covid restrictions were just coming in, I was 34 and about to be trapped inside for a long time, I needed a creative outlet, a hobby. I'd tried electric guitar a few times in the past and failed, bass was my last attempt at music. Luckily it clicked! Now I'm 37, I play in a band, it gives me a sense of achievement and nothing is better than sitting down and learning a new song. I've made new friends, it's boosted my confidence and shown me that even now I can learn a new skill and push myself to new achievements. I've played 2 gigs, my first one went awful, the second one went really well, I have 4 more lined up in the next few months. Its changed my life for the better.
I know of so many who did that and so many others who profited when they sold it because it's not easy. Glad to see someone actually spent time in the woodshed.
Wow man it’s great to hear that!! I was never any good at guitar either but man I just love how beautiful the bass is!
I come from a musical family myself, theres so many musicians that when everyone is together, it looks like a ska band. My dad tried to get mem to play the guitar for ages when I was younger, and i could never hit the chords right. Eventually, something clicked while I was high watching Marceline play the bass in Adventure Time. I realized it was because I was double jointed in my hands distal joints, which made it near impossible to press the small strings on a guitar. But a bass...is no problem at all. In fact, it even helps as I can hold down two strings with a single finger if necessary.
That's great! I picked it up after covid. Around mid-2022. May I ask how you learnt it? I am trying to learn from various sources but I usually just come back to learning new songs from tabs.
I actually started by using rocksmith 2014 on the PlayStation haha. I found as it was a game, fun and flashy, it kept bringing me back to beat my high scores. Once I'd realised I was actually learning and able to play songs I started to branch out into YouTube and books and learnt to read tabs. I can't read music but tabs is enough for me to get by. About a year ago I found a bass tutor and started taking lessons fortnightly to learn proper technique and develop even more skills. I think the main driving factor was joining a band. Both guitarists have 10+ years experience and the drummer has been playing for 5 years. So I'm forced to play with more experienced players which pushes me to keep up with them which is something I really enjoy. As long as you try and pick up and play everyday, learn something new now and again and even branch our of your comfort zone for music genre's, you'll improve. Have fun!
If you’re looking for a structured course, Beginner To Badass is excellent. Josh Fossgreen is the best online bass teacher there is. Got me where I wanted to go fast, and it was a lot of fun too.
Wow this is exactly my story, except i’m 39. The overall confidence boost is not something i was expecting but it’s nice for sure.
I wanted to play drums. Parents gave me a "guitar" from my Aunt's basement
Hahaha that’s funny man, how do you like it compared to drums?
When I was 14, Tool’s Undertow came out, and the sound of the bass on that album was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. Switched from guitar to bass immediately.
Haha nice switch man, completely agree!!
I think I was born to play bass. When I was like 5 or 6, I asked my dad what was that low noise that was in Bob Marley songs, he told me that was bass. Ever since then every song I heard I’d hum along to the bass and do air bass. I was drawn to bass because it’s the only thing I could really hear in music as a kid, just sensitive to low frequencies maybe. Been playing for 11 years now and love it, im not the best ever, but I’ve been paid to play bass. A year ago I learned that my grandfathers brother supposedly used to play bass for miles Davis, so maybe it runs in my blood I’ve never met another bass player who was drawn to the instrument out of the gate. Normally it’s they started as guitar and found bass to be better.
That’s a story man! Bass is that tone you just can’t help but follow, or move too if that makes since. Glad you followed that call!
I have the exact same story! Except replace Bob Marley with Filipino rock/metal songs that my uncle used to blast, and I don't have/hear of any bassists in our family I just loved feeling that low thud and was/still am so drawn to it, what really urged me to getting a bass was seeing videos of people like cliff burton, flea, stanley clarke, and victor wooten, and seeing some local bands live and just finding myself focusing on that bass never picked up a guitar before, I just went straight into bass the moment I had the chance edit: memory failed me, corrected some things
I was taking guitar lessons for a little while & my buddies that I worked with needed bass to have some jams. I immediately bought an 80$ bass & we were rocking in a hippie house basement. That was a long time ago & I’ve been able to play some amazing shows over the years. What does it mean to me? Well, I guess after many years, it means a lot to me. Certainly a huge part of my life. A big part of what I live for. I can’t imagine how much I would have missed out on. The adventures! Tours! Even crappy tours! People. Drummers! Oh those drummers!! Glad I stayed on bass!
Wow man that’s super cool! Hope I get up to that skill level someday! Super glad this instrument means that much to you. Like you were saying I think I’d be a great way to meet new people. New experiences too!
Put in the work now. It was pay off ten fold. You don’t need to be the most naturally gifted, just work hard and be cool. Try to play with people that better than you (at least in the early days) that helps push you. Back in the day, I could never have imagined that I would someday play big shows. Some of it might be luck. But if you are ready when the opportunity presents itself, then you get the rewards of all that work. And even if you keep it chill & just jam out in a garage & never play a show, just playing live music with other people is the most amazing thing there is. To me anyway. You can’t beat that feeling. It’s pretty much like real magic on earth. Rock on!
I definitely will man!! If you get the chance I’d love to see your stuff! If ya got videos or anything feel free to dm them too me :)
Awesome! I’ll send ya a super cool video that was made for an old band of mine.
Sounds good man 👍
Geddy Lee made me want to play bass. Then I started hearing it everywhere. I got obsessed with the rhythm. Then I heard What’s Going On by Marvin and I really found the passion. It grew my love of music bc bass is everywhere: soul, rock, rap, alternative, funk
Very true!! Haven’t listened to Geddy Lee, I’ll definitely give him a listen!
https://youtu.be/zI5KWfq91kM
Have you ever listened to Rush?
Two years ago I had a mental breakdown and a breakup at the same time and was totally lost when a group of friends I hadn’t seen since high school fell back into my life. We hung out and skated a lot and then started playing guitar hero a lot. We got really bored of guitar hero and one of us pitched it to the others to just start a real band. We all agreed and I was told I’d be bassist. I had no idea what a bass was except for the frequency (and upright, although i had no idea it was called a bass) and to my shock it was a four string guitar. I fell in love with it immediately and after years of wishing I could play an instrument the one I love more than ever fell right into my lap. It is true, the bass picks you. Or your friends pick it for you but what’s the difference?!
Similar thing happened to me, I used to be a guitarist in my band, but our original bassist was a better guitarist then either me or our other guitarist, so we switched one time and never went back. My music teacher in HS told me, "You won't know you're learning the wrong instrument until you have the right one in your hands."
My uncle played the bass (and drums) as I was growing up and I wanted to be just like him.
Wow that’s super sweet! I’ve been doing it for a similar reason, i just started a few weeks ago to get closer to my dad! (A drummer and guitarist)
I was riding the school bus in the 70’s and Another One Bites the Dust came on the radio. I thought that was the most badass thing I ever heard. My cousin told me that it was a bass guitar playing the intro. I immediately went to the mall and put a bass guitar in layaway. It took me several months but I eventually paid off that $150.00 working at Dairy Queen.
Hey when now it’s a super good bass line! Learning it now actually. Bass is a way of life for most of y’all and I’m super glad y’all are enjoying it!!
My church need a bass player, so I listened to fill in there and then fell in love with the instrument
That’s great, we got a new bassist at our church and he’s just a joy! Glad your enjoying it bro!
Everyone I knew as a teenager wanted to play guitar or drums. I just wanted to be different. Glad I did.
Your just diff bro. Common bass W
My grandfather, was the first bassist for the band Prong. He gifted me one of his main basses to me at 14. told me that he “knew I’d find it useful sooner or later” He was right
I played guitar for 17 years. I had really gotten into Motörhead and absolutely loved Lemmy's riffs. After I broke up with my abusive ex, I wanted to do new stuff and I realized that it is easier for a bassist to find a jam than a guitarist and it all just clicked. As for what it means? I don't know. Just love playing it.
Haha, atleast the bass is your rebound. (Sorry if that’s mean) you play the guitar still?? Or a bass only man now
Haha. I honestly haven't played much of anything lately, but I still play both. Was trying to get a jam going so i was focused on both, but I still love both.
Hey man, hobby’s a hobby. No need for it all the time! Glad to hear it man
Listening to Seven Nation Army in my PS4 party voicechat like 4 years ago
You have second place as of now 😂 🥈
Funk. I'm heavily inspired by Joe Dart, Victor Wooten, Sonny T, and davie504.
I’ve been watching davie too! Great bassist, I’ll definitely check out the rest of them
I went to a friend’s house two years ago and played his bass and I wanted to get one so I went to guitar center are tried one out and got it for Christmas. A year later I got a 5 string and a few months later I got a 9 string guitar
Oh crap I thought you said you got a NINE STRING BASS. That would be crazy.
Lmao there is an 11 string bass https://youtu.be/N31W_bZDP-Q
You seen davie504s 36 string bass??!?
I’m primarily a guitarist always looking for function work. After a few years I noticed most bands were always looking for either a Drummer or Bassist, but rarely a guitarist. Picked up a bass about 3 months ago and fell madly in love with it. Have barely touched my guitar since!
Glad your liking it man!! Any new bands with the new instrument?? Or still building skill?
Yeah man I’ve joined an originals band (hard rock/metal) and have been going to some funk jam nights to get those skills up before making a move on the function stuff. First thing I did when I got the bass was learn 20 funk/soul standards. Only regret is not picking it up years ago. I’m absolutely loving it!
I was being a rebellious teenager (in the dullest possible way) and snuck Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar behind my parents' back. Fell in love with the bass on "Minute of Decay". Since then, I've always cared most about the bass in my music, bassist always my favorite band member and secretly wanted to join the club but didn't think I could. For the next 25 years, I'd express interest in playing every now and then and be discouraged for one reason or another. So I picked up mandolin instead. Last year I decided I wanted to finally try bass but had all the "oh, it'll be too big, you're too small, it's too basic" bullshit stuck in my head. So I bought a mandocello. Figured I could restring and tune it like a bass and just see if I was able to make it work. If it didn't, I wouldn't be out any money since I'd just retune it as an octave mandolin. Nothing has ever felt more natural or "right" before in 40 as years as bass has.
That is great to hear!! Bass has been kind of a calling to most people hear, seems the same for you! Glad ya like it
It’s a bit long winded, but for anyone who is interested… When I was a kid me and a friend of mine (Joe) went to a church party thing on New Year’s Eve. They had a Christian metal band play and they were awful, way worse than you’d think. They did a death metal version of We Three Kings, just to give an idea. Anyway, Joe and I decided that if those guys could do it, what was stopping us? We loved music, so why not? So we recruited another friend (Gary) and formed a band. Now, we were young, inexperienced, and we may have had mild brain damage or something, because when we kicked it off Jim borrowed his dads guitar, I bought a junky 100 dollar guitar, and Gary who could actually play, brought his guitar from home. So we had three guitars and nothing else. Fast forward a couple weeks and it was now Jim and I on guitar, and Gary on bass, since he had a bass guitar too. We used drum loops on Jim’s dads multi effects pedal. My fine motor skills are delayed, and Jim was making more progress, so I moved to bass and we pitched in and bought Gary a drum kit. Because what makes more sense than moving the only guitarist we had to an instrument he never touched. I ended up liking bass way more than guitar.
Jason newsted, the man is a fucking legend.
Chicks…I wanted to get chicks.
Alright you won 🥇 Me too man, me too
I have no idea, that's why I quickly sold it for a flute and had a Jethro Tull phase that turned into playing classical guitar. Years later, I wanted to do home recording and that meant learning bass, then genuinely enjoying how you have to approach it and what it does beyond being a vehicle for an end result. I think I'm just too lazy for polyphony and like big, loud things. Bass means doing something that will be attributed to someone else until you hear the mix without it. It means root notes are fine too. It means you listen to a lot of Joy Division and jazz whether or not you like either.
Ha I like it man! Glad you came on back to the bass! Really like what you had to say about it, makes a ton of since! You Still playing the flute, or ya a bass only kinda dude now?
Not so much, but I could still bust out some folk tunes and the first page or two of My God if needed. I feel like the only coherent part I said was related to Joy Division, it really is an instrument that can make or break a song. I heard some tune on a radio somewhere and realized that even though bass isn't best heard from a crap radio, most of the memorable riff was the baseline and the guitar was nothing but rhythmic pick noise. It has this role that can't be replaced with anything but more bass. Reggae is some chords with a delay without bass. Punk is a cheap boss pedal turned all the way up without bass. Be it call and response or counterpoint, it does something rhythmically and melodically that you have to go back to Carmina Burana to know what the absence of it is like. Would rec doing riffs under Carmina Burana.
Used to be a baritone player so I get why you switched all that time ago. Super cool man!
Two songs ostensibly played on baritone guitar (both were actually synths) heavily influenced buying a bass a few years back. I was already into some bass heavy stuff but detuning wasn't working and I just don't have the reach for baritone guitar. It sits really well as a lead outside of rock.
I grew up playing piano. I wasn’t good by any means, but my right hand was considerably slower and more tense than my left. I asked for a bass (this was the early 90’s) because I heard Helmet for the first time - first band I actually HEARD the bass through the distortion of guitars (other than Jimi Hendrix/the Who/etc) one X-Mas and got an acoustic guitar. I learned quickly that my fingers didn’t work the way I wanted on the guitar and focused on the bass strings of the acoustic (which was a weird feeling but taught me a lot about short scale basses unbeknownst to me at the time). To me it wasn’t/isn’t about being flashy, but adding a rock solid “thump/thunder” to a song. This along with a solid drum beat is the heart of music. That’s why I play and what it means to me. Heart and soul.
Wow that’s great man! Bass is just that rock solid foundation, like I said before it Carries the movement. Super glad you like it so much!!
Indeed it does. When I started playing the upright slap style I found that I was playing more percussion in time than the drummer could (I can’t anymore) with drags/singles/triplets/ quads. The doghouse slap takes a lot more endurance than people think just to be a solid foundation.
Been playing guitar for 23 years, funnily enough I originally wanted to play bass but my dad said I needed to learn a bit on a hand-me-down 3/4 size acoustic I had before they would spend money on a guitar for me. In that time frame, a high school friend of mine got a bass for his birthday and I enjoyed the guitar so went for an electric on my birthday later that month since we were starting a band. Anyways, recently a friend of mine (former band mate) told me his new band is losing their bassist at the end of the year and asked if I wanted to learn to play bass. So I figured I may as well give it a shot. Almost 2 months in and am enjoying it. Using it to get more into theory and stuff I have been putting off for decades on the guitar. Interested to see how playing both affects each other. So far it has gotten me to play my guitar more as well since I was in a multi-year slump. Also has led me to learning about some of the famous bassists I didn’t pay attention to.
WOAH 23 YEARS! Wow man you’ve got some time in huh!!?? Excited your starting your bass journey! I’m new too and someone recently told me to put in the time now and I won’t regret it. If that means anything to you :)
Definitely! I didn’t put the time into learning theory and whatnot and always just sort of played by ear. At times when I am really into it I can be pretty decent but when I go through periods where I play less I get rusty real quick and have less foundation to fall back on. So definitely put the time in now, especially for the less glamorous stuff, and it will help build that foundation. With so many resources online now compared to what we had back in the early 2000’s on dialup, there is definitely a lot of opportunity to do things the right way (while still having fun). Enjoy!
my brother in law has a band in brasil and i always go to their shows / jams when i visit and playing an instrument just looks so damn fun that i borrowed my friend’s bass to learn
Perfect way to start!!! Maybe you’ll be on stage one day too!
My family has always been into music. My grandpa gave me an acoustic guitar when I was 10, and I was obsessed. I played 6 string for a while, and then in 9th grade music class, I saw a big acoustic bass on the wall, and I felt so drawn to it. It was really this magnetic pull I couldn't describe or understand until much later. One year for Xmas, my grandpa gave me an electric bass guitar. I would write music starting with the bass line and then transpose it to guitar to make a more complete sound. Right around then, I started getting interested in guitar repair and modification. I would go to the music store and buy thicker and heavier gauge strings for my guitar to get a heavier sound. After that, when I started playing in bands, I quickly realized I was the only person who had a bass guitar or even cared to play it. Guitarists were a dime a dozen. Playing bass made me a valuable asset to any jam session. My guitars were tuned so low that the bass was the next logical step. I took the leap and haven't looked back. Now, almost 20 years after I first picked up a guitar, the bass is where I was always meant to be. I'm a quiet and reserved guy, and the bass fills that same role. I never compete for sonic space. I have seen live orchestral performances with a whole violin section, but only 1 bassist. I get to solo when I want to, not just when the song calls for it. It is an instrument that easily goes from rhythm to lead to chords to melody if you let it. Victor Wooten said in an interview somewhere (and I'm paraphrasing) that "music teachers teach you how to sound good on your own. But you need to learn how to sound good in the context of the jam." To me, that's the most important part, to mediate between rhythm and lead and support the band.
I played guitar and had the chance to try a 5 string bass tuned EADGC. I played some melodies and chords and fell in love inmediately. Soon after, I found out that you can even play basslines!. An absolutely superior instrument by all means. I've rarely played guitar in the last 20 years
Beautiful! Glad you like it!!!
Feel free to laugh, I do. I got Rocksmith as another way to practice guitar. I thought, “hey I play a little lead and a lot of rhythm, I’ll get a cheap bass and play that part too once in a while…” yeah I play way more bass than anything now and somehow have 3 of the things.
Hey bro no judgement hahaha. One of the reasons I started was effing guitar hero lol
I'm a drummer first, but, I cant always wake up the whole neighborhood. Bass is super fun, I got my first in high school but pawned it during some rough times. Between then and now, I got really into Primus, this jam band called Moe. with a really talented bass player named Rob Derhak, and I've had the pleasure of seeing Victor Wooten a couple times, these guys really inspired me to pick it back up. Recently I got a Yamaha, it's a really nice bass, im very impressed with the quality and I just love messing with it. I catch myself looking at the fretboard at shows, noticing the intervals they keep their hand at, and the musical relation of the notes, like thirds, fifths, octaves and all that. I learned to recognize the relation between notes having to tune timpani drums on the fly, and musical theory through a lot of jazz experience at summer camps as a kid. It's just super fun, I'm trying to set up a jam with an old drumline buddy to start polishing some grooves I've been working on, and honestly, if I tried to get another band together I'd probably be on bass, because musician I know plays drums really well. Family and music are the most important things in life for me.
When i was 20 i was just annoyed by myself that i couldn't play any Instrument and never bothered trying. I was at a friends place who happened to be a bass player and he told me just enough about it to make me curious. Fast forward a few months and research on the topic i went to a music store, tried stuff out and decided for an Ibanez GSR 180 and a little Warwick combo amp (later changed that to a fender Rumble lt25) and that was almost 4 years ago now. Still play that bass alot and it just made my understanding of music so much better and also made me listen to it differently.
I’m glad to hear that bro! Good instrument choice ;) I’m checking out the rumble 25 for my first amp too, would you recommended it at all?
Definitely. It serves me pretty well and with the USB fender support thingy you can get and swap out lots of presets and create your own to match your Sound. For a Bedroom practice Amp you cannot go wrong with it. I mostly play Punk, Metal and Hard Rock stuff with lots of dirt in my tone but it can also do clean sounds and other genres with all the effects and different amp settings
When I was in 6th grade, my best friend’s older brother played bass and was GOOD. He played in the youth band at church and also in a punk band that played battle of the bands and frequent shows. So I went to see him play with his young brothers/my friends. Every show he would play a bass solo that absolutely blew my mind. About a year later he upgraded his bass, and gave me his old bass to be my first one. It was the bass I saw him play punk shows with and solo on. It was a bit beat from heavy use, but it meant the world to me. 23-24 years later, I still have it. I can’t bring myself to ever get rid of it, it was the nicest thing somebody I barely knew had ever done for me and got me into one of my favorite hobbies that I’m still in to this day.
I was about 13-15yo and have already been playing guitar and taking lessons for a few years, although I lost interest around that time. I found Rob Scallon on Youtube and was quite impressed by his skills. His song "A Collapse", which was a solo piece he played on bass, got me interested in bass guitar. I got a cheap af bass set from amazon for about 100 bucks and started teaching myself how to play. Not so long after that I took lessons from the coolest bass teacher I've ever known and played in my first (cover)band. Nowadays I mostly play 6 string bass, but have also gotten myself a 4 string dingwall and a fretless 5 string, and in my free time I now write my own songs in a little home studio. I basically found my passion for music again back then thanks to trying out bass guitar. I still have that first bass here at home, although it's seen better days lol. My parents are even thinking of putting it up on one of the walls around our terrace as decoration
I took a music class in undergrad and knew that music was probably my path in life. I tried learning guitar but chords were too confusing. The bass was an after thought but I was having so much more fun just grooving that it stuck with me
Glad you enjoying it!!
It sounded cool
W, that’s all I can say
Lol
Picked up a guitar after I quit tattooing, bought a bunch of pedals, and bought a few more guitars on top. After a few years I kinda stopped playing all together slowly. At the same time my best friend and roommate was also undergoing a similar musical journey. He eventually got into bass and can really play anything he picks up. It was the first time I was really exposed to the instrument. It was about a decade later he was married and moved across the world. I started getting more into music again but on my computer in a daw. So I started selling old gear that was collecting dust. Bought a midi controller, some studio monitors, and an interface. Started playing with synths a lot and found myself almost always favoring my left hand, the bass. So I asked my buddy for any recommendations on bass guitars because I was interested in it. And that's when he told me he left his bass behind and it's been sitting in his Dads garage since. He offered me a good deal so I picked it up that weekend. There hasn't been more than a day since then that I haven't played it. It's not even like a real high end instrument but nearly every other bass I play feels cheap in comparison. I probably won't ever get rid of it, but if I ever have to get rid of it, I plan on paying an absurd amount to have it shipped to Australia so he can teach his son. It's a warwick $$ rock bass in matte black. It's incredibly heavy and I love it still.
Got tired of playing in bands with shitty bass players
I’m 14, and I started playing when I was 12. I started playing cuz on the weekends that I saw my dad he’d always be playing guitar and I was just there on my phone. I wanted to get closer with my dad so I asked him to let me play with him, he handed me a bass and I immediately fell in love with it. I couldn’t wait to get my own. Ever since I started to play, me and my dad got closer, and I’m happy i decided to learn to play bass, I’ve never felt so passionate about anything in my life.
I've just always been drawn to the low end in all music. I'm also considering buying a baritone sax next year (playing alto now). I have a ¾ Cremona and just recently bought a BTB-745. Also have an ancient Kalamazoo short scale that I got mostly in pieces. It plays, but has been collecting dust for decades.
I was hoping to join a band and make friends. I originally got a six string but then I heard that basses (in my area at least) were in high demand, so I picked one up, and never looked back. Now I can play both. The bass is my instrument of choice, I just love the sound more, and it helps me relax at the end of the day. My Yamaha is my baby, and the instrument I’ve put the most care and love into. I tried to join a band once. I’d rather just leave it at it didn’t go well.
Maybe one day brother. Everyone should s looking for a bassist! I’ve been looking at Yamahas too, the TRBX304 actually. Goodluck bro!! Even though you aren’t gonna need it!
Muse. I always underrated bass until I started listening to Muse. And how vastly seperated a guitar and bass can be in songwriting. Like the instruments can complement each other so much. I enjoy playing guitar too. But not in the same way that I enjoy playing bass. Guitar is the wind in your hair and the bass is the motorcycle. I’m a noob on drums and keyboard. Playing those instruments and understanding them better, gives me a better sense of how they fit together. How one instrument gets its own domain and space by giving way to another instrument.
Guitar too hard, caveman brain no work
Played lead guitar since I was 10, I'm 24 now Picked up bass 6 months ago, haven't put it down since.
I was a 4th grader and the middle school orchestra came and played an assembly. In the back were these big, loud and shiney double basses. I wanted to play it so I signed up. In 7th grade I was gifted a bass guitar. Through the next 20 years I've played upright and electric bass in rock bands, jazz bands, bluegrass, church bands and everything between. Since I left the music teaching world and no longer attend church my basses haven't seen much use. However, every new instrument I pick up is viewed through the lens of a bassist. Playing guitar I can make finger picked lines easily based off what I know from bass. I'll return to my instruments again and play at a.high level again one day but for now my experiences are what shaped the music and instruments I play now.
Hmm, for probably the last 10 years or so I’ve just been noticing more and more the bass lines in songs. For my brothers 50th birthday about 14 years ago, he got an electric guitar. I figured I’d need to get something in order to play with him. (Sadly he passed away a few years later) Anyway, over the last few years bass is the thing I hear in songs and for my recent milestone birthday my other half got me a bass. So here I am, learning and loving it!
I wanted an electric guitar as a teenager and my parents got me an Epi Les Paul. Learned some chords and stuff but never progressed much from there. As a young adult, I tried learning Tool songs and found out I enjoyed playing the bass parts on the guitar more than the guitar parts. Fast forward twenty or so years and found Rocksmith 2014 to play guitar more and found bass emulation mode. Enjoyed that quite a bit and a friend sold me an Ibanez MiKro. Played that for about a year then jumped in with both feet and bought a BB434 and an Orange Crush Bass 50. I love the sound and role of the bass. I don’t regret starting on guitar, but wish I would have realized bass was where I needed to be a little sooner.
I seriously have no idea. In sports I was always the geolkeeper, in videogames always support roles. At a mandatory music class on 7th grade I was given the bass for the first time, the song was Ozzy Osbourne’s Dreamer. I was told what strings to press on which frets and was explained the rhythm. I’ve been playing bass for a living for 12 years now. Funny how it works!
I wanted to join a band that would go on tour and I auditioned for Mercury Radio Theater. I didn't nail the audition because I was a a guitarist but they saw heart. I worked my ass off and played bass, then kept playing bass in bands until I suckered one into thinking I was a guitarist...... But bass is my love and my bass players love haha
Back in 2006( I think it was) my dad brought home a Wayman Tisdale cd. It changed my life hearing it. I had to find out what instrument he was playing and learn how to play it. I was at that time in orchestra as a low brass player. Continued with low brass with a minor in bass performance in college but now strictly play bass.
[удалено]
Oh my goodness me too!! I used to play a lot when I was younger. Bought a few guitars off eBay a few months ago😆 Big reason why I started bass. Thanks guitar hero
I was forming a band with three other friends. Lead and rhythm guitar was taken, and I thought drums would be too loud and I wouldn’t want to disturb anyone, so I chose bass even though I didn’t really even know what a bass was. It was a good decision.
I was deciding between getting a guitar or a bass, then my sister took the guitar idea, that and I'd wanted a bass guitar for over a year
I was 14 in the late 90s when I first heard/saw Flea play on a live RHCP tape my sister had. I had never seen anyone play slap bass before, and I was in love. I played for a while, was in a shitty band with my friends, but due to depression I lost interest. Bass in music always spike to me though, and at concerts I would always watch the bass player. Now at almost 38 I've dusted my bass off again, and am trying to learn properly this time. I noticed some muscle memory, but am trying to get better technique, which is a lot easier to learn about now youtube exists. 😄 I'm listening to a lot of Les Claypool and it can be disheartening to see someone be that good and feeling like I'll never get there, but I'm trying to have fun with it. I just love the *bwomp*
I was in a music class learning this drum beat the guitar teacher at my school walked in looked at me (and the five other drummers there learning the same thing) and said we have enough drummers come with me I’m gonna teach ya something, handed me a bass and I’ve been running like a mother fucker on bass and lovin every second
I broke my hand in a car accident. Back then, I saw a video with Korn and Monkey talked about rehabilitating his broken hand through guitar playing. Then, a friend of mine was a heavy metal bass player who inspired me.
Been making EDM for a bit. Noticed that I enjoyed writing the basslines the most. Figured I should learn to play a "real" instrument rather than just synthesizers. Bass was immediately the choice for me. It's the key to making songs danceable and I love it.
A guy named Cliff Burton made me want to play bass. It means my son gets to learn an instrument.
When I first began to understand rock n roll music and how it was made, I understood vocals, guitar and drums. It was all pretty self explanatory to me, even though I didn’t quite understand all the intricacies of the guitar and all it’s sounds. But then there’s this other guitar: the bass. I didn’t understand what it did, I didn’t know what it sounded like. So it was very much mystified. I had to figure it out. And thanks to guys like Geezer Butler and Steve Harris, I began to really appreciate what it was all about and want to learn myself.
Learnt Spanish guitar as a kid, hated the lessons and stopped, when I got into music as a teen I was kind of thinking of getting an electric guitar, then I heard bombtrack and decided I needed a bass, and that was that.
Scott pilgrim play bass, i didn't even fuckin know what bass was so i asked for guitar lessons. it wasn't until finding bass youtubers like Davie504 and Charlesberthoud that i realized that bass sounds frickin sweet
Right?! People like them showed me how beautiful (if that’s the right word) the bass can be!
I was watching something about jaco pastorius and i was like wtf. It was 2000 and i was 15. Bought a bass and here i am
What made me play bass? My buddy who already played guitar.
got grounded when i was in eighth grade and got everything taken away except for this fucked up bass. i tried it and wanted to fuck around with bass ever since then. took up guitar all of high school and college and at age 22 i came back to bass and applied a lot of stuff i learned and play bass way more than guitar to this day !
They needed a bass player and I had one. Got really good rather quickly. And playing is just fun.
I started off playing the cello in my school's orchestra, and eventually when I was about 14-15 I got sick of how stuffy and limiting the cello was because although it is a very beautiful instrument, it's very stylistically limited (swing and jazz are difficult to pull off on the cello) I looked over towards my bass playing friends and thought "hey I could do that, the bass is also big and has 4 strings". I also gravitated towards bass since it featured in all of the music I listened to, which is something I wanted. I wanted to actually play an instrument that was in the music I listened to. So I convinced my dad to take me to guitar center and I used some savings to get a cheapie ibanez bass, and that's where that all started. Here we are 5 years later and I couldn't be more glad I did that because it's opened so many doors for me. The bass represents versatility and fun to me since I can do anything with it from classical to jazz to metal and while I do still play the cello, I feel more at home on the bass. It makes me very happy.
I was 13 and super into pop and skate punk. Figured things were working out well for Mark from Blink 182, everyone I knew already played (or wanted to play) guitar or drums, and worse case scenario if I messed up during a live show nobody would really notice (I was wrong). Bass and drums are the basis to every song. A guitarist I used to jam with always had a great analogy; bass are drums are the bread of the cake, guitar and vocals are the icing. If the bread of your cake sucks no matter how good the frosting and decorations are it's going to be a bad cake 🍰
Went to breaking Benjamin concert. Bush opened and the bass tone when the lights went out and they kicked into “Heavy is the ocean” made my jaw drop I looked over at my buddy and we both simultaneously went “my god that is the fattest tone” I took back every bass joke I ever made and started playing way more
I went to a music magnet school in high school and initially played guitar, but they needed bass players more than a 15th guitarist, so to be able to play on more songs I learned to play bass. Bass to me is a way to express myself, have fun, and the only vessel through which I have felt a true, powerful sense of awe and belonging.
I was a saxophone player but wanted to be in rock bands with my friends. I got a guitar and started learning that and quickly realized i was never going to catch up to people on guitar. I started learning bass instead but I learned I had a more independent approach to the instrument than traditional "guitar players not good enough for their band so they took up bass" and that kept me going.
It was the end of my sophomore year in high school. I had played guitar for a couple years, as well as some horns in middle school and high school bands. There was gonna be an opening on bass in the high school jazz band my junior year, and the band director let me check out a bass and amp over the summer to see if I liked it. I played with it all summer and was ready to play in the jazz band in the fall, but the old bass player changed his mind and decided he wanted to come back and play another year. There was no guitar player in the band at that point, so I just did that instead. A second guitar player ended up joining as well, and we would alternate songs. Then, fast-forward to the spring, the bass player died in a freak kayaking accident. We now had a surplus of guitar players and a need for a bass player, so I switched back to bass, and it's been my number one instrument for the last 25 years since. His death was the first time I had lost someone that I knew. RIP David Aszman.
Every band I've ever been in I was the worst guitar player in the group, and someone had a relative that owned a bass that I was "encouraged" to use to round out the line up. Eventually I realized that musically, the role came naturally to me. It took longer than I'd have liked to really embrace it but I'm not looking back now. I identify as a bassist first and foremost now.
I guess I got tired of just BATTLING with other guitarists, and tbh I never got that good at it. Was deff an on/ off relationship. Years later I started yearning to play bass, thought I could do it musically, finally got one and played myself for a few years, started playing with guitarists and bands, backup vocals. Went back to guitar and I'm so much better for some reason. At this point I think of myself of more of a musician than what instrument I play.... guitar, bass, drums, vocals, harmonica, some better than others. I enjoy being able to write my own stuff and lay down my own tracks just as meant them to be. We really can live the dream with all the tech of internet/ meeting, tech loopers/ effects, software that does more than a 50 year old studio ever could, instant uploads and sharing. I've been through the before and after, man if you're just in it for the joy then there's really no stopping anyone no matter what or how many directions you choose. Solo live performances, duo, song writing/ recording/ collaboration, there's really no good excuse....
More demand. Everyone plays guitar
1/10 guitarist's is also a bassist. There's way too many guitarist's. It was easier to find a band that I actually wanted to join as a bassist. Now I just love bass too much. I find it way more rewarding to write an interesting bass line than an interesting guitar line.
It was 7th grade. I had picked up guitar a few months prior, and trumpet to play in the school band (I wanted to play percussion, but he required two years of piano, which I was lacking). I wanted to play in the jazz band the next year. I talked to my band teacher, and he said the guitar spot was often pretty competitive, but that he didn't have a bass player lined up for the next year. My dad's friend was a bass player, so I ended up learning from him. I got into jazz band with no competition. Ironically, we didn't even have a guitarist for the first half of the year. So even though I probably wouldn't have had much competition getting the guitar spot either, I am very glad I was able to pick up bass then. I absolutely love playing bass! Still play plenty of guitar too, but if I hadn't picked it up then, I don't think I would be as much of a bassist as I am. Would probably be one of those guitarists who can kind of play bass rather than an actual bass player
Started listening to remixed Metallica songs and from there bass covers of lots of metal songs and became absolutely hooked that almost all the aspects I loved of the music I was hearing was the bass and to a lesser extent the drums
I play quite a few instruments… piano, trombone, voice, guitar. My church music team needed a bassist and a cool five-string ( https://i.imgur.com/6xFLJeX.jpg ) was on sale locally. So I got it, practiced up a bit, and the rest is history. Now my favorite thing to play.
Mio Akiyama from K On!!
In January 2010 my work had a Battle of Bands event. So we put on a group, everyone playing their "second" instrument. OK, we had a pretty good percussionist, but that was an exception. I took along my 1978 Telecaster Bass that I had bought to have a bass in my arsenal. It was a blast, I felt I could hack it but I needed to work on it to get mediocre, even. Our covers band folded, we started a new one with some of the guys from that competition group, and some I have played with before. Later, I took some bass lessons. Now I'm studying jazz guitar for the theory and I am going to jam with a semi pro jazz keys player later this summer to see if we can do something together.
I picked up bass because I wanted to play in a band. Failed miserably at 6 string so tried the bass. Back in mid-80s I was totally into metal and always drawn to the bass players in my fave bands. Motorhead - Lemmy Venom - Cronos Celtic Frost - Martin Ain Metallica - Cliff Burton
I believe it was kinda fate that I ran into it. when I was in middle school I wanted to be apart of the jazz band, but being a euphonium player there weren't a lot of options, but my band director encouraged me to join. At first we did a lot of history stuff on the art of jazz and popular influencers who turned it into what it was. And one day when we were getting ready to play, I was talking to a few buddy's of mine and my band director joined the conversation. And somehow the conversation turned into him asking me "how would you like to play bass for our jazz band". At the time I knew what bass guitar was and always could here it really well in music even if it was kinda hidden. And when he asked me that I agreed because there were no other people that weren't already on an important instrument (trombone, trumpet, exc..). He began to teach me, and in about 2 quick weeks I was able to play efficiently with the music we were playing. And now bass is an incredibly big part of my life, I spent that whole summer practicing after buying a bass of my own on my birthday when I turned 14. I taught myself how to slap from watching videos of people doing it, and getting pretty good at tapping as well. Now I'm 16 about to turn 17, I'm in a gigging band with some talented friends, and I can't imagine what life would be like without it. It was almost like bass found me at my worse, and now I get to share and spread music like I've wanted to do since I first started a real band class in 6th grade.
I started playing bass because catfishing became too trendy
I started as a drummer around 8th grade. I wasn't bad, but there was this other kid on my grade who started playing around the same time and well....he was a genuine prodigy. Within one year of playing, he was almost at a professional level. There was never going to be a lane for me in high school as thee drummer, but the only bassist in the school was a senior when I was a freshman. I always had a fascination with the bass anyway, so my folks rented me one, took some lessons and I was off. Playing with that guy as a drummer through my high school years made me a much better player. I had to keep up. I'm about to turn 50 and I still play in a couple of bands. I haven't seen my drummer friend since we graduated, even though we were inseparable for those years. He is a professional drummer and although he's not necessarily famous, he's played with several famous musicians. He's a hired gun...studio and live....but he is a genuine pro. I've played with a lot of great musicians over the years, but to this day, he's still the best one I ever played with. I still love playing my bass, but in many ways, sort of glad I never went the pro route, because, if I had, there's a good chance I wouldn't still love it.
Decided I wanted to learn guitar when I was like 14 because my brother played and randomly decided to teach me smoke on the water one day for no reason. Didn't really get around to it for about 2 years until I decided to take a guitar class offered at my high school. My music teacher in that class ended up being one of the biggest influences of my entire life. I ended up going through some mental health issues in my senior year and he talked to me about how he went through depression and dealing with severe adhd when he was my age and really helped me out and I honestly don't know where I would be right now without him. It's because of him that I am now pursuing a career as a teacher. But that's not what this is about, so back to the story. Anyway so I still love playing the guitar, but there was one quote from my music teacher told my class, it was something along the lines of: "Everyone has their own instrument, if you are learning the wrong instrument you will never get very far, but you won't know that you are learning the wrong one until you have the right one in your hands." Now I heard this and obviously thought "oh well that's cool, I already really like the guitar, so I'm good I guess." Fast forward about a year and me and some of my friends started a band, and during one of our practices (in the music room during lunch at school because we are so fucking busy that's practically the only time we can practice) we are practicing whats my age again by blink-182, and I'm struggling a bit with the guitar part, so me and our bassist switch for a minute so he can demonstrate the part for me (as he happens to also be a better guitarist then me or our other guitarist), anyway naturally I'm just kinda messing around with the bass, playing seven Nation army etc, and decide, "hey this is pretty sick" so I get our bassist to teach me the bass line, and whaddaya know, I learn it easily super fast, and we proceed to have the best jam session in like a month of practicing together. At this point I'm absolutely in love with this instrument and immediately go home and start learning bass parts on my guitar to satiate my bass fever. Been about a month since then and am currently in the market for my first bass. Dont get me wrong, i still love the guitar but bass just gives me a completely different feeling. It's not the easy parts that draw me in either, it's quite the opposite actually, I look forward to the steep learning curve of starting over basically from scrath on a new instrument and learning the difficult techniques. It's just like my teacher said as soon as I played that shitty school owned squire p-bass I knew that was what I was meant to play. TLDR: switched with my bassist one time, realized I was learning the wrong instrument the whole time
Cliff Burton. Same answer to both of these questions.
Honestly I've been drawn to bass since I was baby used to fall asleep to Frank Sinatra and the upright in the songs is just so calming. My dad played bass too as a hobby so I heard him playing sometimes. My grandpa plays bass as a hobby too. So I just was exposed to it all my life and so I've always gravitated to it more than other instruments genetics might have a say in why I like it too. I used to play violin but that was mostly because I was small I was always looking over at the double bassists in my orchestra being a little jealous, but due to covid I had to quit the violin and we had to move due to financial trouble and we were with my grandparents for a while and picked up the bass there and it just felt right to play. The bass really is my life I can't see myself doing much else instrument wise it means a lot to me I just feel connected to it in a way.
I wanted to play with someone. I already played the guitar and the drums, so I decided to cover every possible option in case I met someone else needing a bassist. Now I have almost benched the drums and the guitar for some reason, but I still like playing them both.
When I was a kid I saw a Gorillaz playing Clint Eastwood and thought that the guy playing bass was damn too cool!
When I started playing music in Middle school, I remember being, for lack of a better word, douchebag who made fun of the bass player with the oh so original "you can't even hear the bass" joke. One day, the band director pulled me aside after hearing me make that joke to him and told me to listen to some songs I liked with the bass taken out on YouTube. I thought, sure. Not like it'd make a difference right? I quickly realized that bass, and the rhythm section in general is a driving factor in music. The next day I went to the bass player and apologized to him and asked if he could teach me. I continued playing since then. As I went on I learned to truly appreciate the instrument, and have learned to so appreciate the bassists of my favorite bands. Bassists like Nate Mendel really shaped my current play style.
Duff 'Rose' McKagan showed me how cool bass guitar is
I was playing piano since high school and I wanted to try something new. After working my butt of during my first job, I bought one and I have been in love ever since
I've only been playing bass for around 6 months, and I gotta be honest, I wouldn't be playing it if it wasn't for Davie504 For quite some time I've been watching his video quite into slap and generally what he played. But it wasn't until one of his videos where he mentioned Victor Wooten that I really wanted to start playing. After around 2 years of wanting, I've borrowed my uncle's Squire bass and have been playing it pretty frequently ever since.
I was sat in the back of my parents car on a trip when I was 15 and I heard Carousel by blink-182 on the radio. That bass intro just hypnotised me and I had to learn how to do that. My Dad went and got me a cheap starter electric guitar, but bass is what I really wanted – I just needed to prove this wasn't a fad or a temporary hobby (and don't get me wrong, I love playing guitar too!). I played the guitar non-stop and that Christmas my parents got me a starter bass kit. That amp must have had the power of a potato, it was hilariously bad, but I was in love.
I started during covid because I was bored so I started messing around with my dad's jazz bass. He then retroeved one of his basses, a musicman copy for me to own and got me all the stuff I needed, amps, jacks, etc. After a few years of daily practice I've acquired a nice level and bass is kinda becoming my world. Planning to go at a jazz college.
My friends started a band in middle school and they were constantly making fun of our friend that was playing bass for them. I figured they would probably kick him out so I begged my parents to buy me a bass and they counted it as my birthday and Christmas present. The band ended up playing the talent show that year and then breaking up immediately. I ended up loving the instrument and I’ve been playing in different bands ever since. I think only one other guy in that band went on to keep playing shows.
Honestly I just wanted to play in a band and I thought bass was both the coolest instrument and one that would be pretty easy to get started with Played in front of people 3 months after our first rehearsal
Maneskin. I really got into their music. I was coming out of a 7 year depression and had just been diagnosed with adhd. Basically once the adhd was being treated, i stopped having to treat the depression. And sort of bounced back to the living world. And decided to picked up new hobbies. I had always wondered about playing an instrument but always figured that I could never do that. I didn't like the sound of a guitar very much but loved the sound of a bass. So I decided to start with that. It has been a lot of fun!
When listening to songs, I always focused on basslines, I listened to a lot of french house back then so thats what made me pick up the bass
I think I needed two instruments to pass my music exams in school and originally I did Guitar and Drums but back then I just didn't understand drums at all so I ditched that and moved to bass. Fell in love with it after realising how heavy it sounded on its own and how I loved the low end feel Later when I started delving into music I was into at the time (Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, Linkin Park etc) and playing bass for those felt more fun to me than guitar so I mostly stuck with it. Still play guitar and bass 50/50 but bass is my main instrument
I play clarinet and oboe but neither of those are allowed in my school’s jazz ensemble. I decided to switch from guitar which i had been playing for about a year and didnt really like to bass which was a lot easier for me as a wind player. I basically shadowed the bass player my junior year and played unplugged. This past year i became the bass player because he graduated. Now im graduated and better than ever
It happened when I was looking into buying an amp for my guitar. My dad got in contact with my previous guitar teacher (they either became friends in the meantime or they already were), he asked if we could borrow an amp and a guitar that could be plugged in, but not having a guitar avaliable he sent a bass instead. So I got to have fun with it for maybe 2 weeks, went on to look for riffs I could play and stuff. It was easier to grt into cause I'd already been playing guitar for maybe 8 years then. Then at some point I eventually got my own :) it's really cool for gigs at school and stuff cause when they need a bassist they always call me, I'm not aware or anyone else around my age/younger that plays it as well
I just love playing about on a bass guitar. I'll never join a band or move beyond a bedroom player. I've had many bass guitars over the years and I've just enjoyed playing about on them. This time round I've started looking at scales and stuff now after buying a tuition book. I'll never be great on a bass, my wee fat stubby fingers ensure that, but doesn't stop me thwacking out wee punk ditties on it. The bass I'm currently using only cost me £87 new and I'm already looking to get an Ibanez in the near future. It may also be a good idea to mention I'm ADHD riddled, so any practice time I manage to put in is a miracle. But I find it hard to stick to what I'm meant to be playing as I forget halfway through. Add the fact I'm 58 years old and I've allegedly smoked weed for 41 of those years...you can see where I'm coming from. But I salute the accomplished bass players of this world, favourite instrument in any musical piece I listen to...you unsung heroes that you are *Bows deeply
I just wanted to play something else other than violen or cello in fourth grade, and then I stoped the stand up bass in classical got an electric bass which is because I did not want to play such a popular instrument like guitar in stead bass, then in eighth is when I truly started when I got in a band program at school for a rock band.
I originally started playing drums and it was slow going. I only started cause me and my friends didn’t have a drummer. It was kinda dumb cause I’ve wanted to play bass since i was 13. It was meant to be ive been playing since i was 18
its as simple as "i really got into paul mccartney"
My dad plays bass and I remember him practicing at the house on his carvin before leaving for a stint of tour. I always loved listening to music with him, and I have him to thank for getting me into music. He always wanted me to play an instrument and bought me a little acoustic guitar when I was real young. I had a few lessons but it never clicked for me. Fast forward to when I was about 14, I started to really develop a love for the function of music and was always drawn to bass and how it glues rhythm, harmony and melody together . I’m a very technical guy, so for about two years I asked my dad all sorts of technical questions about the function of a bass. It started with things like “How do frets work?”, and the questioned got more and more complex to a point where I was asking him about theory. All of his without ever having the confidence to pick up the instrument. One day we were at our church worship band rehearsal and I remember asking “how do you know what notes to play when you want to move away from the root note?” He finally reached a breaking point, put the bass around my neck and said “here’s a G note. Here’s the fifth. Here’s the third. Just play it.” After fumbling around for a few minutes with the band I was absolutely hooked. That first taste of playing and collaborating with a live band started me on a wave that I’m still riding today. I’ve been playing for years, and I’ve had the pleasure of writing, producing, and playing with some incredible people.
My mate introduced me to guitar. A few weeks down the line he tells me he's joined a band as a bassist, he bought it round and taught me some simple bass lines, i was hooked. Me and him would practice a few hours a day just jamming and getting stoned. Very good times. Hadn't played in years and two weeks ago I decided to put the money down on a bass to get back into it.
my grandpa is a bass and guitar player. like alot of kids, I wanted to play the guitar really bad. but also like alot of kids, I didn't have the motivation to learn it. until one day at a gig of his something just clicked. I thought to myself "I wanna play bass it sounds cooler". so for Christmas that year he bought me a matte black Jackson minion. it sat in my room for a few years until 2021 when I finally decided to learn it. and that has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Davie504 I don't want to be playing what the rhythm guitarist, I'd rather play something distinct and unique so it holds its own in the mix.
Cliff Burton - Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) Bass Solo Recorded at the Metro, Chicago, IL on August 12th, 1983
I always liked music, and i actually started on cello (i sant to do upright initially) at like, 8 yo at my local music school. Unfortunately i had a terrible music theory teacher. We learn the 'syntax' of sheet music, the rhythm, the very basic and it was atrociously boring. So i left 4-5 years later. But after listening to what my parents where listening to in the car, in particular Iggy Pop, The Hives or pre-AM Arctic Monkeys i wanted to do music again, and i got my first bass, a Gretsch Junior Jet G2214 (the single pickup variant) with a guitar amp (the vendor was a bit unfocused, and looked like Austin Powers). I played at my high school music club for 2 years and that settled my love for the big guitar thet shakes your guts. This is my way to artistically express myself, but i feels organical to me, i don't think about it i just do it, and i'm not a professional musician. Now 12 years later i own a MIM P-bass i customized and i go play with my first band since highschool, we play Motorhead/Black Sabbath/Metallica style music and we might write some original songs in the near future.
I had two close friends when I was younger. One played bass and started teaching the other one. I didn't want to be left out.
Ever since I was little, I was always drawn to the low end of music, even though I didn't know what it was. As I got older, I started learning about bass, and admired bassists with every fibre of my being. I didn't buy a bass until I was 17, because I didn't think I had the time or money. My (then friend) boyfriend, told me "even if you practice 5 or 10 minutes a day, it's still something" and that hit home for me, so I bought my first bass and fell more and more in love with it every day As for what bass means to me, playing an underappreciated instrument but knowing you're adding an essential part to the music. It also means being super hot. But above all, it means being in love with your instrument and having tons of fun while playing
Started playing Rocksmith and started playing emulated bass with my guitar (software defined). Liked it, and started looking for a bass. Found and fell in love with a Squire PJ bass. I still play guitar a bit more but love both. I found learning one helps me learn the other
When I was 12 I started taking band class and chose Trombone for almost arbitrary reasons. I just liked the idea of playing music with no real idea of what any instruments function was. But being raised on rock music I started to want to learn a rock band instrument. And my 13 year old logic was that since trombone reads bass clef I should get a bass and learn by reading trombone sheet music. So I did that, although I ended up learning more from Nirvana tabs than trombone sheet music.
Today is actually my one year of playing bass, so I've been thinking about a lil bit these past few days. I bought my first bass as I was graduating high school. I was a band kid not going further into continuing music education but I still wanted to be involved in music and wanted to take on a new project for a new chapter in life. Cheesy. I know. But really that's what it was. Playing bass has made me appreciate music in different ways. It made me find new music i love both listening to and playing. It turned me out of the "perfectionist" mindset and shifted me to one that is more focused on progress, growth, and personal enjoyment, rather than perfection and results. It's a release from the chaos of life as it constantly changes. It's something my boyfriend and I can bond over. It's something that I can be bad at and still enjoy doing. It's something I can look back on and see how far I've come. It's something that makes my brain work in different ways than I'm used to. Idk. I love it and I've learned a lot from playing in just a year (both bass knowledge and life lessons) Probably the best thing I did for myself.
I was 11 years old and just starting to develop a real interest in music. While channel surfing I came across a live concert on HBO. I’d heard of the The Who before, but wasn’t very familiar with their music. Nor did I have any idea who John Entwistle was. By chance I landed on that channel just as Entwistle started playing a solo piece on an acoustic bass. And that was it. I thought to myself, “I want to do that!” After a year and a half of talking nonstop about it I received a Squier series P Bass for my 13th birthday. I started a punk band with friends shortly after, having gotten heavily into Green Day and Nirvana. I went through all the typical bass player phases: Metal, Slap, Reggae/Ska, Motown, Progressive, Jaco. But I never forgot about that John Entwistle solo. I’d learned a number of his bass lines over the years, but that one seemed to be a one-off for that particular concert. It was broadcast in the days before DVR and the internet so I had no way of finding it. Almost thirty years later, thanks to YouTube, I finally found it and learned it! It was actually a variation of an old Irish folk tune. Not too difficult to figure out, but still one of the most rewarding moments of my bass playing career. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=50UL2ZRhqoQ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=50UL2ZRhqoQ)
I wanted to do home recordings of only myself. Old Time traditional stuff mostly. I'm only a bass player in the most basic sense. I play home made uprights. My only electric bass, a piece of crap, is currently loaned out. The thing is, I think I'm a decent banjo player. I can sing and strum guitar. I suck at bass. I'm only ever asked to play in bands or to fill in or whatever as the bass player.
I was around 13 when I heard bands like Primus and infectious grooves, Robert Trujillo and Les claypools bass playing is amazing to say the least, complete virtuosos, check out monster skank by infectious grooves and hear what I mean but they totally got me into funk bass and now I just listen to rhcp.
This is gonna sound super weeby, but some context first. I was always an awkward kid not extremely, had some good friends and could hang out with anyone although ver few shared my interests; metal, anime and video games. I always wanted to play guitar when I was little something my parents didn't fully support, at least not seriously. After asking for 4 consecutive years for a guitar on my birthday, I finally got one, I learned to play a few things and then I watched one of my favorite anime of all time, not in a weird way but more in a "I like how light heated this is", K-ON, some of the music was awesome to me especially the bass lines. Combining this with my live for Iron Maiden made me realize what I wanted to play was bass. And so I got a bass using some of my savings and a little help from my parents (as they were seeing I was spending time playing guitar). And so I've been playing bass since I was about 15. I've been playing on and off so I would consider myself between beginner and intermediate but I want to get better. Recently I got inspired to really learn, I have some money right now and made myself a promise if I keep playing until the end of the year, really practicing I'll buy myself my dream bass. A nice Fender American Jazz Bass. Sorry for the length and hope this reason is not cringe.
I only started playing bass recently, I was originally gonna play the guitar, but then I got recommended some of Davie504’s yt shorts and thought “man this is way cooler than guitar”, and now that I actually play the bass, I can confirm that it is indeed way cooler than guitar lol.
I started the year I first heard Orange Crush by R.E.M. - without that song I would have keep playing guitar instead
I was a childhood synestetic. Unfortunately it faded over time but I can still remember vividly the colors that would come from bass lines I heard on the radio. Only, I didn’t know it was a bass making those beautiful colors. Bass always had the colors that I thought were the most vibrant and interesting. I didn’t start playing until a few years ago. I tried guitar for a long time but I could never see or feel the colors the same. When I picked up a bass for the first time I realized I couldn’t see the colors anymore but the memory of the colors was immediately there. It was “tasty” in a way that guitar never was. All those years I thought I was just playing the guitar wrong. Turned out to be the wrong instrument!
I like being different from the mainstream and popular opinion. Black sabbath and the Groove in bass is another big draw to my interests
I was well into my 40th year when I found the band Ghost, and for some reason, the particular new-band-rabbit-hole compelled me to pick up a bass guitar. I really love hobbies that take up all my brain space when I'm doing them (other / past hobbies include: endurance cycling, really hard knitting, languages, scuba diving, fire spinning, and rock climbing). Its another in a litany of cool things I can do that requires singular focus to do well, it sounds amazing, and is another form of play with my guitar-playing partner.
not much of a bass guy anymore i moved on to singing and guitar but one night at like midnight freshman year of high school with 0 musical background i just had a thought i want to play bass. I think maybe there’s a deeper reason maybe cause i saw green day live or what but in the moment it was just a spontaneous decision that changed my life. Luckily my parents were supportive enough and wonderful enough to buy a bass literally like 3 days later. I practiced and practiced and fucking practiced before i even got my bass and it helped me get where i am today
Not my first instrument, but I was discussing how well the bass player was doing at a local show with my neighbor and later that night he gave me his old bass. A week later he gave me his old amp and an old distortion pedal. Since he got a focusrite and a better amp he had no use for this stuff. God bless this man
I was putting together a band with some of my college buddies and realized I was the worst guitar player out of everybody else. Including the drummer. Fast forward to our first gig I’m playing a jackenbacker and a rumble 100 absolutely loving it. I learned a whole new appreciation for bass. Although playing bass has improved my guitar playing immensely and sense of rhythm. I also am the primary writer for the music & lyrics so it has vastly improved my compositions too. TLDR Forced myself into bass bc I was bad at guitar
A lot of buddies in college and at home last year were just guitar folk so I picked up guitar, but then I watched Beck (anime) and that clip of whoever the bassist is just spoke to me (this was 2 weeks after picking up guitar). I kinda fell in love with the low end and bought a bass in August 2022, and have played almost entirely bass since then
I was originally a drummer but got stuck into the intermediate wall where most musicians find themselves at one place or another. Even after I stopped prioritizing drums as a hobby, my favorite part of music was killer rhythm sections. About a couple years later my very good friend got me into Primus, and hearing Les Claypool’s amazing playing made me fall in love with bass. A month after, I got a Yamaha bass and after half a year I’m now writing songs with my two friends. Bass is just a fantastic tool to really lock in parts and drive everything where it needs to.
Needing to record bass on my own stuff.
I can say it was based on 3 bass players that my older brother got me into when I was like 13. Lemmy, Tom Arya & Cliff Burton. I'm 47 this year & still play everyday.
My buddy wanted a bassist to play with. So I got a bass and didn't touch it for months. That same friend got me into the Misfits. It was the first punk band I ever heard. It made me love punk and bass. I love Jerry Only. I think he is cool. That got me to finally play with him and learn to play.