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Why did you start playing bass?


Naetharu
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Hi folks,

I was just reading another thread which got me to thinking about why I took up playing bass in the first place. It's funny really, since its not an obvious instrument to go for. I guess for me it arose as an interested after seeing lots of live music and being really impressed by a few of the players. Also, I think bass seemed a little more 'exotic' than guitar, which was played by everyone and their mother.

So, if you feel like sharing I'd be really interested to hear what reasons you had for taking up bass in the first place?

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Listening to music was a big part of my adolescence and many of my friends took up playing guitar. I always preferred the Bass parts in music so rather than take up guitar (and leave it in the corner of a room like many of my friends) I decided to actually take up playing bass and learn to play properly. Needless to say most of my guitarist friends have given up playing or still have their instruments sitting in the corner of their bedrooms.

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Combination of many things, which started with hearing the bass in Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks. From then on I always used to listen out for that low sound, without really knowing what it was. Then when punk exploded there were many great players, great basslines, and the bassists - even those that couldn`t play that well, like Sid Vicious - all looked cooler than the rest.

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I took it up because the death metal band I wanted to be in with some mates at school when I was 12 already had two guitarists and my parents wouldn't let me have a drum kit. At the time I hated it and regarded it as a poor relation to guitar (to be honest in the music we were playing at the time it was). As I got better I grew into it, started to write my basslines as a bassist rather than just doubling riffs an octave lower.

I play a bit of guitar these days but in truth I'm pretty rubbish at it. Bass has become my instrument. I know more about playing bass that anything else in my life and can't ever see myself playing anything else seriously :)

Edited by CamdenRob
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At the time, back then, we all played whatever instruments that came to hand, or that we felt were required for the music. Bass, yes; sometimes, but also guitar (electric, folk or nylon...) ukulele, mandoline, ocarina, tambourine, violin, drums, keys... You get the picture..? Since then, I've tried to keep a bit of my hand in on any and all of these, very modestly. Bass..? Yes, but not only. The world is a very wide place.

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It sort of grew on me. As a guitarist I was never into the whole limelight game, played rhythm guitar in an 18 piece big band for years, then when that was over I picked up a bass and it just grew from there. I had previously dabbled at the age of 12 with double bass lessons at school.

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I played guitar for a good while from about 11 years old, but always loved the bass lines in tunes. I decided to jump ship to the low side in the early 80s just when bass was becoming front and centre, coincidentally. I did it in an effort to get more work - it didn't work, not a sniff of a gig. Then I got a call for a rhythm guitarist post and so back I went. I then went onto to play in a few bands over the years, took an MI course and got pretty good I think, but nothing special (my rhythm work was always better than my lead). Then, listening to Eric Johnson (one of my favourite guitarists) in the late 90s, I was listening to the bass and thinking how happy I would be to play such nice lines behind a really good player and that stuck with me for a good while. Then, finally, in a combined effort to be happier with my playing and hopefully get more work, I went full on bass at the turn of the century; I haven't looked back, although I still play the skinny strings at home, a bit.

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I always thought that the bass players of the bands I liked looked cooler than everyone else... Lemmy, Gene Simmons, Duff McKagen. I always found myself gravitating towards those sounds and harmonies, vocal and instrumentation.
I did do the guitar thing though and played lead guitar in heavy rock bands for years but still played bass on and off in bands.Then at one jam night with a load of muso friends, was the only half decent bass player in amongst 20 or so guitarists so managed to play all night instead of taking turns. Really enjoyed it an realised there could be mileage in doing it again. Quit my band and went back to bass properly after a 15 year break and not looked back.
Using my guitar knowledge too helps me pre-empt what the guitarist will play and adjust accordingly which is always appreciated by other band members.

Edited by randythoades
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Converted from playing 6 string when I offered to dep for a band. I was living in a portacabin with nothing much else to do on my day off, or for that matter any other evening of the week. I realised I was a far more competent as a bass player than I am a guitarist and it kinda stuck.

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[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1450371083' post='2932151']
I always thought that the bass players of the bands I liked looked cooler than everyone else... Lemmy, Gene Simmons, Duff McKagen. I always found myself gravitating towards those sounds and harmonies, vocal and instrumentation.
I did do the guitar thing though and played lead guitar in heavy rock bands for years but still played bass on and off in bands.Then at one jam night with a load of muso friends, was the only half decent bass player in amongst 20 or so guitarists so managed to play all night instead of taking turns. Really enjoyed it an realised there could be mileage in doing it again. Quit my band and went back to bass properly after a 15 year break and not looked back.
Using my guitar knowledge too helps me pre-empt what the guitarist will play and adjust accordingly which is always appreciated by other band members.
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i started off as a vocalist doing rock covers in a band but then wanted to make music and write songs, and being a bass player was my easiest route into a band at the time (everyone i knew was a guitarist or drummer) so i took it up. it was only after i started playing that i developed a passion for it.

Edited by RockfordStone
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