Why did you start this?

[alyctes]

I played cello as a kid.  Wasn't bad at it.  Noticed I understood things about music that most people didn't.  Stopped in my late teens, mixture of other pressures.

In my forties, I noticed I thought of myself as musical without ever picking an instrument up.  

So I guess I got here by embarrassing myself into it.

 

[Chiliwailer]

What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road?

2 mates had just got guitars, so I thought we could get it together, and hey, bass is easier right?! It made sense though, I loved rhythm and wanted to be a drummer. 

 

Do you still have the same fire and enthusiasmr? Do you still love it?

Yes, and yes. 

 

What has changed along the way?

While still young I had to stop being in bands due to health issues. That was tough, although by then I’d worked out session work felt soulless and pointless to me, and making it in a band was highly unrealistic. I loved my last band but it badly impacted my health as I really should have fully stopped by then, and actually already had done for a couple of years. 

 

Your taste in music, taste in basses?

All been pretty steady. 

 

What was the first bass?
Rockwood LX100B

 

And what’s the latest?

Completely unexpectedly, I got a fretless Stingray and a Stingray Special within days of each other last month.  

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Chiliwailer said:

And what’s the latest?

Completely unexpectedly, I got a fretless Stingray and a Stingray Special within days of each other last month.

 

You still think 'I wonder where they came from?'

[Chiliwailer]

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

You still think 'I wonder where they came from?'

Unfortunately the Barclaycard left some clues. 
 

Despite my subconscious GAS denials. 

[knirirr]

What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road?

 

At the time I had been playing guitar in a big band; this sort of thing, though nowhere near as well, of course.
I noticed the following things:

1. Playing jazz was what I wanted to do.

2. Bass looked more and more tempting.

3. I sucked at guitar and would never sound like my then favourite players.

 

When I moved away and could no longer play with that band it was a good opportunity to switch. I could not afford a DB or lessons, but saw an advert in a magazine for Encore's fretless P-bass (E83), which was something I could afford. I'd not heard of fretless bass guitars at the time and assumed they must be for jazz. 

[ricksterphil]

I started on a 6-string nylon which I ruined by adding steel strings. I got my first bass at 13, it was a semi hollow Hofner with a banana neck which I ruined by over tightening the truss rod. My first 'proper' bass was an old Epiphone SG style and then my Dad stumped up for a 73 Rickenbacker 4001 in black with the rare checkerboard binding (thanks Dad). This bass inspired my BC handle. Stupidly sold it in the early 80's for £275 and spotted it recently in Andy Baxter's shop for £4000. Ho hum.

 

I was inspired to play bass cos with fewer strings, it looked easier than playing a 6-string.

[paul_5]

I played keys as a teenager and a friend got me into Rush, so I bought "A Show Of Hands"  'cos it had loads of songs with keyboards on. A reasonable choice. Then I heard the Geddy's bass run on "closer to the heart" on side 4 (it was on vinyl in those days) and knew that I just HAD to make those sounds.

 

 

Sadly I never have, but I've occasionally come close.

[mikegatward]

What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road?

Aged 19 or 20 (can’t remember) and had never played an instrument in my life. Went out with some friends away at uni who were home for the hols and when we got back to his place he pulled a black & maple precision. I was hooked from that very moment. That was 1978.

 

Do you still have the same fire and enthusiasmr? Do you still love it?

Of course. I didn’t play at all between the ages of 24 and 50 but it’s a huge part of my life now especially since I retired 

 

What has changed along the way? 

The internet ! - the resources out there are so vast compared to the early days. I’ve never read music and still learn songs by memory. Any song you need to learn is available to you.

 

Your taste in music, taste in basses?

Taste in music -  wide and varied, always has been. Interesting how we have gaps in our music exposure which normally fits in with having children and therefore no time to listen to anything knew.

 

Taste in basses - having been through dozens of basses since I started playing again I have settled on my Dingwall ABZ. Can’t see me ever parting with it

 

 

What was the first bass? 
A p bass copy of unknown origin. First proper bass was Ibanez Roadster bought from Curly Music in Liverpool

 

And what’s the latest?

Latest bass was a Dingwall NG3 4 string. Very nice but the ABZ is better. But a few months ago I decided to learn drums so funds have gone on building a nice Roland e-kit

[MacDaddy]

I don't play like him, sound like him, or look like him, but he's the reason I started this.

 

 

 

 

[ian61]

If we're talking bout the very first time with a rock instrument, barring the ubiquitous class Recorder  etc.   It's middle school and the last day of the summer term and the school wanted to quickly put on a little show.  "If anyone can do anything, sign this form"!   was the carrion cry from Birch the head.

 

So for a laugh myself and my mates cut out some cardboard guitars, got up there and mimed to   'Get It On'    only there wasn't enough cardboard so I grabbed a snare drum, sticks and two chairs and proceeded to bash along to perplexing gasps from around the hall....I was actually playing a pretty groovy backbeat to everyones amazement ( I did bash some biscuit tins at home so had an inkling)  Not sure I fully realised what an important moment it was but  it probably cemented my need to take the electric instrument thing seriously.

[Ed_S]

This journey, into bass playing? What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road?

I was given a musical aptitude test at school when I was in Y2 (age 6-ish?) and got picked to take violin lessons. Kept violin going for about 10 years, hit maybe grade 7 practical-wise and enjoyed playing in big orchestras with a G7/8 entry requirement and audition.. but played by a mixture of sight-reading and ear-training, refused to take grade exams or learn any more theory than was absolutely required, and almost never practiced at home. I give myself an A for blagging-it, looking back. In a Y9 music class (age 13-ish?) I had a classical guitar shoved at me and was taught the chords to play along to 90% of Everybody Hurts by REM, and that was enough to get me interested in guitar and signal the beginning of the end for the violin which, if I'm honest, I was mostly keeping as a way of avoiding PE lessons by that point. I bought a cheap electric guitar and amp (a Session Pro black and white Strat copy and a Peavey Rage) from the son of a friend of my mum, and proceeded to get absolutely nowhere with it because the focus of everything I read was learning ever more chords. Traded the guitar and amp against a bass working on the theory that it was more violin-like; 4 strings and focused on one note at a time instead of bloody chords. The difference in pitch and the idea of playing the 'bass part' never came into my thinking at all. Brought it home, tuned it up, sat on the sofa and proceeded to just play along to the football show theme tune that happened to strike up on the telly in the background. It made near-instant sense to me and I had a new instrument. 

 

Do you still have the same fire and enthusiasm? Do you still love it?

Yeah, it's still my thing. My other thing is being the kind of computer geek that has an 8U rack of switches, routers and firewalls where most people have a BT smart hub on top of a Billy bookcase, so I need something mainstream-cool going on outside that.

 

What has changed along the way? Your taste in music, taste in basses?

My mum was (..and still is) into rock music so she passed that on to me and it's always been home. The classical years were great ear training but I don't seek out classical music. Meeting friends and playing in bands has forced me into some slightly heavier metal styles but if I can't hear a definite note from somewhere at all times then I just can't play along, so bands that are constant blast-beats with a wall of guitar-noise, flappity-fingered bass parts and growling/screaming vocals are still completely inaccessible to me from a playing standpoint.

 

Basses-wise, I've gone from playing 5-string Vampyres and Warlocks for 10 years, over to 4-string Precisions and Jazzes for 10 years, and am now back to 5-string Streamers and Stingrays. Thought it might be Spectors and Ibanez SRs for a while, but nope.

 

What was the first bass? And what’s the latest?

First was technically a black/white/rosewood Squier P-bass Special, but it had issues which I now know were to do with the truss rod, and the shop eventually let me know the distributor was recalling the batch so I should return it. They fixed me up with a Yamaha BB N4ii in 'yellow natural satin' (read: wood), which was orders of magnitude better. Latest is one of the new '24-spec Warwick RB Streamer LX 5s in gloss white.

[lurksalot]

We had a reasonably musical family, my nan, mum and uncle all played piano but my uncle played keys in a band in that London, covers and a bit of a party band who did well in the late 60s/early 70s.

 

when he quit, me and my brother inherited his Vox keyboard , AC30 head and a Selmer 2x12 cab .

 

this was awesome and great fun ,  but a trip to Steptoes in canal street meant £15 was invested on a epiphone Gibson copy , and a rat pedal followed. 
this lead to some great noises from the garage, that not all the neighbours appreciated.

 

However , Mrs Tristram next door was a touch more enlightened , and happened to mention that her eldest , Graham , had an old guitar that he wasn’t using and was in a box under the bed.

And Lo , I became the owner of a late 60’s Hofner violin bass…with a broken neck socket , but hey , I was 17 , had my dads tools, and yes, a couple of wood screws put it back together. 
Having a bass at school was a novelty and thus I was seconded to play at all the assemblies and school shows.

I moved on to an old Fender I think (that would probably with a fortune now , but was pennies or I wouldn’t have bought it) , that went missing as did the keys , amp and cab from a rehearsal room .

 

suffice to say that my brother took on the violin bass duties at school and obviously corrupted @Leonard Smalls after his exposure to its subtle charms 😁

 

 

[Leonard Smalls]

34 minutes ago, lurksalot said:

exposure to its subtle charms

To be fair, I haven't played (or wanted to play) a violin bass since 😆

[FirkeyAegis]

On 20/08/2025 at 18:07, Rayman said:

This journey, into bass playing? What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road?

 

Do you still have the same fire and enthusiasm? Do you still love it?

 

What has changed along the way? Your taste in music, taste in basses?

 

What was the first bass? And what’s the latest? 
 

No answers are wrong as long as they’re honest.

I recently moved to another country (Cyprus) and I am trying all my best to secure a job here as musician and I started playing bass guitar because one of my friend here on Cyprus helped me with learning how to do it and send me an invitation for a local job where I just can play music and have fun and earn money

[kiat]

This journey, into bass playing? What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road?

Sold my beloved saxophone (Conn Connqueror 30M tenor) for food to Macaris in the early 80s and he offered a bass, compo amp at cost with the bulk in cash. I'd never played a bass before, but that was it.

 

Do you still have the same fire and enthusiasm? Do you still love it?

More so. Realised I enjoy the whole process of playing live music for people, more than I did many of the jobs I had that I retired from.

 

What has changed along the way? Your taste in music, taste in basses?

Both, taste in music and basses and gear generally got wider !

Both got wider in taste. Got more into covers, less than originals though it's a treat to play with a good singer-songwriter. Realised I can be better and get myself there.

 

What was the first bass?

A black Westone Thunder 1A

 

And what’s the latest?

An inexpensive black Thomann special (5-string fretless acoustic) with black nylon tapewounds.