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Who influenced you to pick up and start playing Bass.


thebigyin

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2 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I love The Monochrome Set

I saw them in Bristol a few years ago at some pub. You'd think with their level of general brilliance they'd have several roadies, groupies, hangers-on etc..

Poor fellas were humping their own gear out just like I have to! They coulda been a contender. Or at least shoulda, considering some of the less worthy who did make it!

I remember back in the late 80s my band sent a tape to Rough Trade. They sent back a standard rejection letter which had tick boxes next to 4 options:

  • Excellent stuff, but not what we're looking for at the moment, but do keep going! (they'd ticked this one)
  •  Has potential, but you probably need to do some work
  •  Terrible, give up now, you're not cut out for music
  •  Deacon Blue standard 

😀

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5 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

It was Dec btw. Yes, unfortunately. My first gig seeing A&TA was in 1979 on the Young Parisians tour and I have to admit I remained a bit of a 'first album' idiot. Although in its defence I personally think Dirk Wears White Sox is one of the greatest albums ever created. I think A&TA are the band that I've seen the most times apart from Killing Joke and I personally took their decline (or what I saw a s a decline) quite badly. Had I have been 10 I would have loved it too I think but I was a self-important eighteen year old by then and too far up my own backside to be genuinely subjective.

+1 on that at @Frank

Absolutely love Dirk Wears White Sox.. We must have a chat about the whole Ants thing next time I see you.. 

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On 20/10/2019 at 22:16, Skybone said:

Geddy, Geezer, Lemmy, Lynott, Burton, etc.

With the exception of Burton, who wasn’t around when I started and was never an influence (never really liked Metallica either), they were mine too, along with Roger Glover and Glenn Hughes in Deep Purple (Made in Europe is a particular highlight), John Paul Jones, Mike Rutherford and JJ Burnel.

Lemmy was first and foremost, particularly in Hawkwind. Geddy came a bit later, then Leigh Gorman & Stanley Clarke. Chris Squire is my fave, but I didn’t discover him til later. I didn’t want to be a bassist, but once it was decided, those were my go-tos.

I should actually say Macca was my first influence, but it was subliminal and long before I started playing. I was also probably subliminally influenced by some of the jazz greats like Ray Brown, although I’m not sure it shows!

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The first album I owned was Rod Stewart's 'Blondes Have More Fun' (Xmas present at 14).

I used to listen to it all the time and really liked Phil Chen's bass playing, which was really tight.

This was a year or so before I picked up a bass.

 

 

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1 hour ago, gjones said:

The first album I owned was Rod Stewart's 'Blondes Have More Fun' (Xmas present at 14).

I used to listen to it all the time and really liked Phil Chen's bass playing, which was really tight.

This was a year or so before I picked up a bass.

 

 

Great video gjones, I like it where he says he hasn’t changed his strings in 46 years 🙂

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2 hours ago, gjones said:

The first album I owned was Rod Stewart's 'Blondes Have More Fun' (Xmas present at 14).

I used to listen to it all the time and really liked Phil Chen's bass playing, which was really tight.

This was a year or so before I picked up a bass.

 

 

I find it really hard to understand why he didn't whack the idiot interviewer around the head with his bass at the earliest possible opportunity.

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2 hours ago, lowregisterhead said:

Suzi Quatro and her leather jump suits on TOTP in the 70's. It's all her fault!!

Suzi certainly introduced my ten year old self to something, but it wasn’t the bass! I remember sitting there kind of speechless the first time I saw her. She was HOT and kind of badass, which made it even better. Fab voice and great records too. 

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17 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

I think A&TA are the band that I've seen the most times apart from Killing Joke...

Killing Joke were the second band I saw live (The Damned were the first). Youth, Paul Raven and Paul Gray all helped me to understand better how to make my guitar playing work organically and dynamically with a bassist's playing.Their bass playing, and their judgement, taught me a lot about collaborating with bassists and others in a band.

 

16 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Two girls appeared in garish ripped tights and what I (I assumed) were pairs of their Mum's high heels. They were also wearing oversized dinner jackets adorned with badges, I remember seeing one badge which was the Bowie Aladdin Sane face and another that I thought was Elvis Costello. Both these girls were (in that horrible school hierarchy sense) unpopular and not considered 'attractive" by the popular boys. I took one look at them and thought "Right, my long hair and greatcoat need updating". Gradually I became a punk ...

Punk girls weren't the reason I picked up the bass, but they were the reason I went from looking like Ben Elton to looking like Tom Verlaine in less than a week.

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12 hours ago, 4000 said:

With the exception of Burton, who wasn’t around when I started and was never an influence (never really liked Metallica either), they were mine too, along with Roger Glover and Glenn Hughes in Deep Purple (Made in Europe is a particular highlight), John Paul Jones, Mike Rutherford and JJ Burnel.

Lemmy was first and foremost, particularly in Hawkwind. Geddy came a bit later, then Leigh Gorman & Stanley Clarke. Chris Squire is my fave, but I didn’t discover him til later. I didn’t want to be a bassist, but once it was decided, those were my go-tos.

I should actually say Macca was my first influence, but it was subliminal and long before I started playing. I was also probably subliminally influenced by some of the jazz greats like Ray Brown, although I’m not sure it shows!

+1 on Leigh Gorman! 

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Geezer Butler.

 

I listened to a lot of  Sabbath in my teens (still do) and when i finally got around to learning the bass (at about 16) the first thing i tried to learn to play were the first four Black Sabbath albums in there entirety.

Even today alot of my bass lines and especially fills come from a "what would geezer do" subconcious thought process.

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19 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I remember back in the late 80s my band sent a tape to Rough Trade. They sent back a standard rejection letter which had tick boxes next to 4 options:

  • Excellent stuff, but not what we're looking for at the moment, but do keep going! (they'd ticked this one)
  •  Has potential, but you probably need to do some work
  •  Terrible, give up now, you're not cut out for music
  •  Deacon Blue standard 

 

Yep, I was in a band that had one of those letters from them, but pre-Deacon Blue. First option was the reason that we received. Should have kept it, but IIRC we as a band had a ceremonial burning session for letter, envelope, and anything else connected.... think we might have been somewhat less than sober at the time.

Edited by mangotango
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For me as a 12-year-old metal fan back in 1986, it was Steve Harris and Gene Simmons at first, followed by Duff McKagan, and Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith.

Started off playing finger-style (thanks to watching Maiden videos) but then got into using a pick too thanks to Kiss and G'n'R. Still use both, and still trying to be as cool as any of them....

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2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Strange, I'm a big fan of Hawkwind and Motorhead, but I can't really claim Lemmy as a big influence; I can claim Harvey Bainbridge as one. Chris Squire was a big influence on my mentor.

Lemmy and Hawkwind for me, their stuff was all bass driven until the mid-70's. Also Rod Clements from Lindisfarne who often played fretless, which I found interesting and at times quite haunting

 

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Norman Watt-Roy.

Went to see Wilko Johnson in Portsmouth years ago and ended up stood in front of Norman for the whole gig.  He was just mesmerising and had this awesome sound.  I was a guitarist up until then, so I went out and bought a bass and started to learn it.  Now I play Bass in a couple of bands and rarely play guitar.

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