What inspired you to start playing bass?

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Who’s got a cool story about why they started playing? An inspiring concert, or song/bass line you heard?

Personally, I’ve always wished I had a cool story about it… but the reality is that I just kinda started playing when I was 13, and I can’t remember why I started then. My dad is a bass player so it’s no surprise that I got into it eventually, but I don’t know why I didn’t start earlier or later!

I know why I keep playing now, which is that I can’t stop. :slight_smile: And I freaking love it. Playing bass is so much fun, and I’m excited for all the years of playing that are ahead. It gets better every year.

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I don’t have a cool story either. I’ve just always liked the bass. As I get more proficient, I’m going to wish I had started earlier. But, I’m happy I’m doing it now.

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Listening to the likes of Deep Purple and Free back in the early 70’s did it for me… it has taken over 40 years to get the space in my life to actually learn to play.

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I think a lot of us are like that. Life has to slow down a bit, before we can tackle something like this.

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I agree that life has a way of happening and preventing you from doing things that would be more fun. But, if I am honest, Bass Players are just cool!

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What inspired me was listening to my favorite bass players Chuck Rainey and Bean9Seventy aka “The Red Imperial”. I love Chuck Rainey’s creativity when he plays. I want to learn how he does it and I discovered Bean9Seventy on YouTube a few years ago. His funk song covers really set off the spark within me to get a bass to start playing too.

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I love Chuck Rainey! I need to check out more things he’s done, I’m mostly familiar with his playing with Aretha and all the Steely Dan stuff.

Was not hip to Bean9Seventy, listening now. Nice slapping!

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Yeah I got introduced to Chuck Rainey listening to Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey. I need to listen to more Steely Dan, the only song I heard from them was “Josie”.

:star_struck: Yes! That’s him! Yeah I love his slapping.

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Yeah Steely Dan is great! Really cool jazz- and soul-influenced take on pop songwriting (that’s my appraisal anyway). Here’s one of my favorite Chuck lines from Steely Dan tunes -

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I got started because my son (who is a professional musician, mostly electric guitar) took up the blue grass mandolin for fun and wanted my husband and I to back him up (so, his dad would be on guitar with me on bass). I only knew African drumming at that point and had no idea about notes and chords and such, so they just showed me “A D A D A G” and gave me a beat. We play Arkansas Traveler and Rocky Top and such. It was so fun, I decided to learn bass and get my own instrument. So glad I picked B2B for my lessons!

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I have always loved “Peg” but I guess I never had the bass cranked up properly. Ever since you posted this I have been driving around listening to this with the bass way up and it is AMAZING! Can’t believe I never really “got” the wonderment of this song! thnx!

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That’s awesome Audry! I wish there was more awareness in Western culture about how fun it can be to play music with loved ones, even if nobody is striving to be a professional shredder.

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My friend, who plays guitar, asked me five years ago if I (who has never played anything) would learn how to play one song on bass that he could then use as a joke on another friend. Long story short, I loved it, we ended up forming a little rock band and played our first gig at a bar about a month ago! It was just for a private party, but it was a blast and the friendly crowd at least claimed to appreciate us! Something I (a reserved 58 year old retired engineer) never envisioned doing. Now I’m taking your course and trying to correct all my flawed self-taught ways. Love your fantastic and effective instruction style! Thanks Josh!

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Haha! First time I’ve heard of someone starting their bass journey as part of a prank. :stuck_out_tongue:

Great to hear! Keep me posted on how it’s going. :slight_smile:

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Like a lot of people, I’d been thinking for years that I wished I’d learned to play an instrument. I was contemplating finally doing something about it, and I was kicking around a few different ideas regarding what instrument to try to learn (shamisen? Hardanger fiddle?). Then, last year, my kids and I were visiting a friend overseas who’s a semi-professional piano/keyboard player. He had a bunch of instruments lying around, and he told my daughter, who’s taking piano lessons, to play. My friend’s son picked up a guitar, he himself grabbed a cajon, and he stuck a bass in my hands and showed me how to play a simple bass line. And then we just jammed. It was so much fun, and my friend said, “There’s your instrument,” and I agreed. After I got home, I ordered a bass online and signed up for your course. It’s slow going, as I don’t have much time to practice, but I love the course and I love playing.

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That’s so awesome! I’m jealous that you have a cool story about how you started playing, I’ve never had anything interesting to tell anybody besides “I felt like it suddenly!” :stuck_out_tongue:

Glad you’re having fun playing. I am too! :slight_smile:

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I am 69, so this goes back a few years.

I have been listening to music (radio), since the Fifties. By high school, I really liked instrumental groups, such as Booker T and the MGs and the Ventures.

I wanted to play electric guitar and I bought an old Silvertone from a high school buddy in 1969, but I never sat down and started learning. College, the Air Force, work, marriage and kids happened taking up the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties and all of this century up to last year.

I really like Classic Rock, especially the bass lines. It never occurred to me that I could get a bass and learn how to play it. I like, in no particular order: Bachman Turner Overdrive, Deep Purple, Beatles, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Chigago, Santana, Doobie Brothers, Beach Boys and others.

Last year, my younger sister passed away. She had a Stelling banjo, with which she had played bluegrass for several years and I inherited this banjo. I tried playing it for a few weeks with online lessons, and I really liked the process of learning how to pick and fret. What did not work was that I had no passion for bluegrass and no feeling for what I was trying to play.

Attempting to play the banjo is what really inspired me to start playing bass, so I bought a bass, practice amp and misc stuff and signed up for the Bassbuzz course a year ago. I am a little more than halfway through, and I am a bit amazed at how much I have learned in the past year, and expect to learn a lot more and keep improving.

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Thanks for sharing @werogers49! Glad you’re enjoying the course. and that you found the bass!

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For me it was always clear and set. It has to be the bass. Somehow I was always trying to listen out the bass lines when I went to a concert or when I bought a new record. It‘s 1 the bass and 2 the singing which tell me if I should buy a record or not.

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Well for me the church had instruments on a large stage knowing playing them, one of the members ask me if i could play bass. So here I am to learn to play. Been playing guitar since 13 years old they have someone playing, no bass player. seem to be pick up easily. Thanks for these great online coarse.

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