Did you start out playing guitar

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='PaulWarning' post='848477' date='May 26 2010, 01:57 PM']prompted by the comment in the show "the worst guitarist finished up playing bass"[/quote]

I disagree. I think i'm a pretty good guitar player (well not really but in terms of my guitar/bass ability ratio) but i like playing bass simply for the feel and sound whihc you don't get with a regular guitar. To be honest they both have their merits, anyone who thinks that bass is just for people who can't play guitar is pretty f***ing ignorant imo.

[Rich]

I started on bass, have stayed on bass and always will. I have a guitar and noodle about with it sometimes, and yes it's probably easier to work out ideas on it, but as an instrument it doesn't interest me anywhere near as much as its big brother.
Having said that, I wouldn't mind a Parker Fly and an old Tele

[Cat Burrito]

I started on drums, not that it especially shows. I can play guitar now though and to a standard where I played lead in a couple of bands recently. I'm back to my (main) roots with bass again now. I'd add that in 22yrs of playing, 17yrs were bass & that includes the early important ones.

One thing which wasn't mentioned was that *sometimes* guitarists make terrible bass players. Not always but they can do. I think there are examples of the worst guitarist playing bass but it's pretty rare. I picked up my guitarists tele after a few rehearsals and played a few riffs. He was blown away, "How did you do that?". I've never played in front of him since - I figure it would only go downhill!

[Rich]

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='848652' date='May 26 2010, 04:41 PM']anyone who thinks that bass is just for people who can't play guitar [s]is pretty f***ing ignorant imo[/s] needs to be beaten over the head with a slab bodied P.[/quote]
Fixed

[spinynorman]

This gets more obviously ridiculous if you move it to other instruments and genres; for example, cellists are clearly the worst violinists in the orchestra. And of course, Charles Mingus really wanted to be John Mclaughlin, but couldn't cope with the extra strings.

[neepheid]

I played recorder at primary school until I was left as the last boy in recorder group. Ahh, if I knew then what I know now I did get a guitar before I got a bass, but it was a brief flirtation - I didn't play it much. Even when I did, I always preferred the sound of the lowest strings. The only instruments I achieved any proficiency in were recorder and bass.

[Marvin]

Bass and only bass.
I can play 3 chords on guitar and that's it.

[EntropicLqd]

Nope, not a failed guitar player here either.

I tried guitar but never really got on with it. It wasn't that I couldn't do it. It was more a case that I didn't find it particularly compelling.

But picking up a bass for the first time just felt "right". Playing it was immediately satisfying in a way that guitar wasn't. I've never looked back since.

I've got a nice 12 string semi-acoustic that I tinker on from time to time (or if I'm trying to pass on a bit of bass knowledge to a couple of younger bass players I know); but that's as far as the guitar and I go.

Edited May 26, 2010 by EntropicLqd

[Shacky]

Technically I started off on Trombone (and I don't mean to blow my own Trombone, but I was fairly good) at 8 or so. Played that for a couple of years, then gave it up, as it was a bit taxing for me.

At about 13 I started playing Steel Pans, on the Cello pans (serves a very similar role to Bass Guitar actually...)

Got a Bass for my 14th birthday, and have been going since.
We went into the shop on the day, and the guy in there said something along the lines of "It might be worth learning guitar first", to which I shook my head and reaffirmed my low end-ness.

I'd have struggled with guitar really, my hands are rather big, and the string spacing on a guitar is just too small for me.

[JTUK]

Got a guitar first as it was easier to lay my hands on one but always played bass lines from the off.
I really liked the big low notes and never had much interest in guitars.

I do think I could have been a very good drummer tho..

[rOB]

Nope, started out on clarinet, hence my penchant for a tight embouchure. but put it in the attic of my parent's house and haven't played in ages.

Picked up bass a few years back and have played acoustic guitar (badly) and keyboards (very badly) for a few months but now getting tempted to pick up an electric guitar for recording purposes.

Very much see myself as a bass player who tinkers with other instruments.

[mep]

Back in the day the worst guitarist did get the bass job. Thankfully that's all changed over the years.

I must admit to wanting to play guitar when I was a young teenager, but I saw an add at school to hire the bass and that was it for me - a real light bulb moment. Fantasies of playing the 6 string were gone overnight.

Bass was not my first instrument. I started on recorder, then tried piano and went for trumpet. Now it's bass, although I can play a bit of guitar. I have an acoustic and an old electric that my 10 year old son is in to.

[gafbass02]

I went straight from no instrument to playing bass. It was the only instrument I was ever interested in playing. Still is too. :-) no failed guitarist over here.

[ickleben]

Started on the double bass when I was 11.. I was the smallest person in my music class so picking the biggest instrument made perfect sense to me.. And i thought they sounded and looked damn cool..
22 years later the double bass has been replaced by an eub and a few bass guitars...never been tempted by the guitar.

[velvetkevorkian]

I started on double bass, then bass guitar and now play a bit of guitar also, albeit very poorly. I quite like the hybrid instruments- I like having the high notes on my ERB, and if I buy another guitar it will certainly be at least a 7 string, and more likely 8.

[nash]

Started on bass and mainly play guitar at the moment.

[Ancient Mariner]

I'm a guitarist who plays bass a little. Although strictly speaking I suppose I was a bass player first and foremost, because I played the tuba at school and in military bands until I was 19, but only started guitar at 16. I also played bass for a couple of years until I was 21ish (now 48).

Edited May 26, 2010 by Ancient Mariner

[Kirky]

Piano > Violin > Guitar > Bass plus a few oddball instruments in between (drums, Tuba, Euphonium, mandolin, ukelele).

I like to play bass for soul music, and guitar for indie rock stuff.

[leonshelley01]

Started on guitar, traded it for a bass a few months later as there were loads of guitarists locally but no bass players. Still use a guitar to write songs with, but play bass in two bands and a seperate recording project as it is just more fun being part of a tight unit with the drummer driving the song rather than trying to compete in a widdlefest on my own!

[purpleblob]

I think (as others have mentioned) that a long time back (i.e. the 60's ) it may have been true that the worst guitarist in a band became the bassist. But then bassist started becoming so much more than just holding down the root notes with the likes of Jack Bruce, McCartney, Jamerson, Cassidy etc. showing the way.

In terms of myself, I'm not sure I can truly say I started out playing guitar, but my father owned an acoustic 6 string (that he never played) and I did learn a little on it, but I don't think in my wildest dreams I could say I "played" guitar at this point.

When it came to forming a band I sort of decided on bass by it being one of the last positions available. So I equally couldn't say I always wanted to be a bassist or anything like that. I do however think you need a very different mentality to be a bassist than a guitarist, so not all guitarists make good bassists, likewise (whilst I do now play guitar) not all bassist make good guitarists.

Edited May 27, 2010 by purpleblob

[Machines]

I started on guitar aged 18, got a bass a few months later (Squier Bronco) just because I liked the sound of it, still got that same guitar but have been through a lot of basses in the time since ! I've not really improved on guitar in the last 4 years but have significantly on bass.

[mcgraham]

[quote]I've not really improved on guitar in the last 4 years but have significantly on bass.[/quote]
My skills on both tend to increase proportionally with one another, but sometimes one tends to improve at a vastly increased rate over the other at random points. For example, since last September I've spent more than half my time working on guitar, and have improved massively. This has had a knock on effect on bass and am starting to swing back round to bass again with renewed fervour. It's definitely my preferred instrument.

[thisnameistaken]

I started on bass, in 1990. I pick up a guitar maybe once a year, just to surprise people as to how bad I am at playing it.

[tauzero]

I started as a guitarist. When the band I was in at university formed, there was no bassist and two guitarists, so I switched to bass. After I moved to Tamworth, I pimped myself on a local music shop noticeboard as a rhythm/lead/bass player and got recruited as a bassist. Since then, I've stuck to bass in bands, but still play guitar to a reasonable standard (except lead, I'm crap at lead) and accompany Mrs Zero when we do acoustic duo stuff. I enjoy both, but in a band situation I prefer to play bass, and if Second Time Round ever recruits another guitarist, I'll happily switch to bass.

[Krysbass]

From the moment I knew what a bass guitar sounded like, I always wanted to play bass. I've never played guitar, nor have I ever wanted to.

Bass isn't "easier than guitar". Whilst bass shares one or two passing similarities to guitar, it's a different instrument, with its own set of playing techniques to be mastered.

I saw that prog on BBC on Saturday. Whilst some of it was complimentary to the role of the bassist, much of it relied on typically dumbed down generalisations from people who are totally unqualified to express an opinion. - But then I didn't really expect much more.