Bass and Rebirth

[ch willie]

I felt a little bored with the guitar over the last year, and I found that I was playing bass more when I did pick up an instrument. I began playing bass in bands in 1977 but moved over to guitar in the mid 80s. I'd begun learning to play guitar at the same time I learned the bass, but after about 5 years and after working with musicians who considered bass a secondary instrument, I no longer felt attracted to the bass. Then in the 90s, I played bass and guitar in a band, but I only played bass on a few songs.

When I started getting bored with guitar (my interest has returned), the bass was there waiting for me. After having spent a lot of time on the bass in the last year, I'm excited about playing again. I feel motivated to learn on both the bass and the guitar. And I absolutely love playing bass again.

So in a way, the bass is my renaissance in music. I still consider myself a guitarist, but I'm proud to say I'm a bassist. I love holding down the bottom, and with my Ampeg half stack, especially with my Precision and Ric, I've got the tone I've always longed for. The guitarist in my band says I've got the best tone of any bassist he's ever played with in over 40 years of playing in bands.

Have any of you found that although you're a guitarist, you now consider yourself a bassist? And why do you love the bass so much?

[chuckocaster]

Took me a LONG time to admit I’m a bass player... I started on guitar, and while that’s my first love, I actually prefer playing bass. I’ve never had the inspiration to “shred” on guitar, I’d much rather lay down the bottom end with a good bass.

[dirtdog]

Right on Willie!

although I’ve probably played guitar longer than bass, I identify primarily as a bass player since that’s what I’ve gigged on the most by far. I picked up pedal steel about 5 years ago and since I retired from gigging, I guess I am reinventing myself as a pedal steel player and playing in a band situation. Actually have a gig or two booked with this band!!

that said, I’m a closet multi instrumentalist...guitar, bass,drums, pedal steel, dobro, lap steel, a bit of keys and spend my more creative moments attempting to compose music with a mix of these things.

[Laker]

I started as a sax player and eventually learned the basics of guitar sitting at my buddy’s house and dinking around on his guitar. I was eventually in a group with him where he was playing bass (I was on sax) and there were two songs he sang where he wanted to “front” the band so I learned those two songs on his Fender bass. I found that I really had found my instrument with bass and eventually swapped my sax for a Fender Jazz bass. That was in 1963 and I’ve been a bass player ever since.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

I play guitar mainly but there's something really nice about switching it up and playing some Steely Dan, Jerry Rafferty, ELO, Grand Funk Railroad, etc, etc on the bass. I find that it can be really soothing and with certain songs that maybe I don't know proficiently on guitar, picking up my bass allows me to jam out and feel the vibe flowing through me without the anxiety of potentially hacking up a lead/ solo part.

[ch willie]

Brothers in Bass! Aces of Basses! I appreciate the responses--I like seeing your stories.

I'm sitting here nursing a bad blister on my pinky. I got carried away popping on an impromptu rendition of Word Up at practice the other day. I've got to build up a pinky callus!

[chuckocaster]

A little more back story: I had asked my parents for a guitar since I was a little boy, and I never got one. Finally one day my Mom said she buy me one if I learned how to play a “real instrument” first... Cut to playing clarinet in school band starting in the 4th or 5th grade, I don’t remember which but it was whenever the first year you could start was. Of course no one wanted to play bass clarinet, so I volunteered. After about 4 years of 1/5 oompa’s, my parents bought me an acoustic guitar for my birthday. I got to HS and switched between bass clarinet, Contrabass clarinet and baritone sax, whichever one needed to be played. I didn’t actually start playing bass guitar until late Jr year. That’s when I wanted to join a band and everyone needed a bass player. SURPRISE surprise, it’s always the same. Got to college and studied upright as the electric bass wasn’t a “real instrument”... I had a classic rock cover band I played rhythm guitar and sang in. But I still always seemed to end up on bass.

I played in several bands after getting out of college, a couple I started with guitar and then ended up on bass. Always seems like NO ONE wants to play bass, they wanna be lead guitar. Doesn’t matter to me as I LOVE laying down the groove and hitting low notes. There’s something visceral to me about feeling the foundation of what everyone else is playing. One thing that still sticks out to me was how my grade school music teacher explained how it all works: Think of music as a pyramid. You need a big strong foundation of bass instruments. Without a strong foundation it’ll topple

[ch willie]

Nice story, Chucko

In my experience too everybody wants to play guitar and put the bass off on someone else. I've been in some bands wherein the guitarists totally discount the importance of the bass. Not so in my current band. They went a while without a bassist, and they've told me that it taught them just how important the bass is. As a result, they treat me well and appreciate my playing. I feel fortunate to be a bassist. All those years of playing guitar taught me a lot about playing bass too, and I think I'm a better bassist because of it.