I have been involved with music for 60+ years.
I played cornet in a brass band for 20+ years and after getting married moved out of the big city to the country. It was a great loss to me as I looked forward to our weekly practices and the parades and concerts we played.
So, looking around I looked for something to learn that I could do all by myself.
I first chose piano/organ but that did not scratch my itch so I looked further and took up guitar. I have several acoustic, electro/acoustic and straight electric guitars.
That did the job for me.
And then, about 4 years ago (2017), I saw a documentary on the ukulele.
I discovered that a baritone ukulele was the same standard tuning as the highest 4 strings on a regular 6 string guitar. Great I thought, same chords, and two less strings.
Several days after watching that documentary I had a baritone ukulele.
Well here we are today and I have created two active jam groups in my local area and also play in a third that only meets once a month. I also teach free in-home ukulele lessons to those interested.
At one of our monthly sessions, consisting of about 40 people, an individual showed up with a bass ukulele. What a difference that made to our overall sound.
I talked to the bassist and discovered that the bass was tuned the same as a 6 string guitar’s lowest 4 strings, in standard tuning, only an octave lower.
Last Christmas I decided to take the plunge and purchase a mid entry bass and give it a try.
I purchased a Yamaha TRBX304 and a Fender Rumble 40.
I upgraded the Rumble 40 to a Rumble 100, primarily for the 12" speaker and increased headroom when playing with a few other people at a jam. I have to say that the difference between the 12" and 10" speaker was a marked difference.
In summary - Moving to the uke from 6 string acoustics and electrics was great and now starting to learn bass is just as thrilling. Not only are there, again, 2 strings less to worry about than a 6 string, but you can join in on just about any song playing bass by just playing the root of the chord with either a single strum per bar, 1/4 notes, 1/8 notes etc…
As you can probably tell, I love playing music and sharingTeaching it with others.
If you are thinking about starting to play bass I can honestly say that Joss’ Beginner To Badass course is the best I was able to find and a lot of that has to do with his teaching method. He will have you playing along to backing tracks on the bass within a few lessons.
I believe that the secret to learning any instrument is INTEREST and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and leave the shredding to the 6 string electrics. The Bass, IMHO, is all about keeping timing and the beat.
I myself usually average about an hour, at least, a day. Easy when you are retired.
As they say this is my musical story and I’m sticking to it!!!
Dave