That’s great @dennisebailey64! Glad you’re digging the course.
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I have been passionate for music before even learning to walk I was told, but music teachers put me off, telling me I didn’t have a musician bone…
Later on decided to go to the other side: audio engineering, worked a couple years, doing gigs, also recording demos for local indie groups.
Tried to setup a studio, but couldn’t find the investment. Bought a computer thinking on setting a small home studio, and found out back in the '90s a computer based home studio wasn’t going to cut it… but computers were easy peasy for me, and I was sure will be highly demanded, so took that (self-taught) path professionally.
Fast forward twenty some years, mid forties, you start looking at life with different eyes. I learnt I can learn almost anything if I’m motivated, and find the right resources. Self-achievement gets a higher spot on your priorities.
My step daughter (violin and piano player) started studying composition this year, so I researched a little to setup a cool little studio for her at home. I was blasted with how little investment is it required nowadays to get some wonderful gear!
This kinda “stirred the horn” of not having been able to learn playing an instrument back, and when I found Bassbuzz I knew the time to try to pull that horn off had came.
Why bass? Because I love it. For me bass is the foundation of a tune, I feel a special emotional attachment to it, more than any other instrument… guess due to 60/70’s Rock and 80’s Disco/Funk… even Italo Disco had some really cool bass lines at the time, when synths took over…
Flea sealed my love for it in the 90’s.
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That’s terrible! Maybe instead of “music teachers” they should go into the “music discourager” business.
That’s so cool! And yeah, so neat that you can actually record at home now for (way) less than $1000 if you need to.
Glad you’re proving the “music discouragers” wrong and learning bass! 
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My story is dry but here it goes, my brother played guitar and bass, and I tried picking up the guitar but i couldn’t get into it I felt like there were too many strings and they were too small and close together. When I saw the bass it was exactly what I needed. And being someone who listens to a lot of soul or old R&B bass lines to learn came quickly and easily and now here I am.
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Two songs - Ramble On and Soulshine (later Allman Bros song). Just listening to those alone is enough to make me want to play. The other reason is there is nothing quite like being on stage and the bass player turning it up a bit and hitting an open E and making the stage shake. I want to do that. I picked up acoustic guitar close to two years ago and play with a band now. Fell in love with the bass during this time and just got one a few weeks ago. Started the B2B course and trying to go through in order and not skip ahead. I adhere to the principal of ‘strumming is drumming’ for playing rhythm guitar so I have decent timing, but I am trying to play with fingers vs pick on bass. Pick is much more natural for me, but trying to use fingers in the course. Hoping the course gets to adding fills, walk ups, walk downs. For instance if the chord progression is Am-G-F-C what is the best and appropriate way to connect them? I ask our bass player how he does it and his reply is ‘whatever feels right’. Makes sense to him I know, but not much help. Hard to watch him play and play my stuff at the same time, but I try. Anyway, liking the course so far and hope to get to the point where I can say ‘whatever feels right’ when I’m asked the question about a bass fill. I am confident I will get there; strumming patterns baffled me when I started on acoustic but the answer really is ‘whatever feels right’ (unless it’s a very specific riff) and it will come with learning the foundation stuff and experience.
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I will get into some amount of that later in the course, but improvising fills quickly gets into more intermediate territory which isn’t quite in the ballpark of the Beginner to Badass course. Definitely will cover that more in future lessons!
But I think the material we cover on scales and analyzing bass lines will help give you an idea of where the note choices in fills come from.
Least helpful reply ever. 
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I always like mowtown and Stevie ray and Stevie wonder and ect. ect. so after failing at the guitar I saw the bass I just like hey fewer strings and more space between them, plus those songs I listen to have really good bass lines… ill try it and now I’m here
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I personally, do a lot of technical work, I am an IT networking engineer by day, and my hobbies include electrical engineering, computer/game programming, and creating digital art and digital music to be used in my games. I also do some mobile DJ-ing, like one gig a month (but again that hobby requires a laptop and software).
Since most of my time I am sitting in front of a PC, I wanted to do something different, and I do enjoy creating digital music, but I am not a trained musician on any traditional instrument, so it made sense to try something new.
But it will also tie into my game development skill set, and allow me to more intelligently create music for games by learning the basics of theory. As well as being creative and laying down foundation bass lines, and building them up with other elements be it from my collections of synths, or digital sound pack libraries.
At this time,I really have no interest in joining a band, or performing, but perhaps once my skills are better at bass, I will get the itch and want to jam with others, once I have gained enough confidence with it.
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I’m not sure anything inspired me to play bass, as such, but being a teenager and having access to a bass guitar and knowing a few friends had a band with no bass player was enough to make me say “I’ll do that!”. Rather naive but I enjoyed the few times we played together. Alas I was only taught the roots by the guitarist and virtually no other help on how to play. No wonder I gave up after a short time. At the time some of the bands I was into had either recognisable bass lines or bass players; Sid Vicious, Jean Jacques Burnel, Lemmy, PIL, The Stranglers, to name a few.
Through the years I’ve started learning but let it slide for one reason or another, but the inspiration this time (and it’s sticking so far) is the promise of a band reunion - and I’m still the best bassist they ever had. OK, the ONLY bassist they ever had, but still…
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Here is my story. It begins very similar to most people, never enough time to actually learn how to play. Unfortunately, the solution to the time issue was decided for me. My right foot and ankle were amputated last month. It has only been 2 days since starting B2B, it has been theraputic and very fun. I figured if Im not able to do very much, then I can finally do something that Ive always wanted to. Learn to play the bass and I am enjoying it very much, thanks B2B.
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There is - however cliché it may sound - always a silver lining to be found!
Enjoy the course and good luck with learning the bass, @jeremyesquivel!
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What inspired me … don’t know really. I’m a long-time guitar player and I started to play bass in a very utilitary way, for my recording needs. At the time I did not really “play bass”, I just managed to add a low-end content on my tracks. I bought my first bass (Warwick/Rockbass Corvette) for this purpose.
In parallel, my guitar playing was less and less about soloing and more and more about rythmic things. I also realized that in the music I play, which is some kind of sludgy stoner/garage heavy rock (listen for Unsane for example, or more psychedelic stoner things), the bass plays somewhat the role of a “big rythmic guitar”. It has been some kind of natural transition, and I felt in love with the bass guitar : the long scale, the big strings, the inertia, and of course the low range. I sold the Corvette (which was a good instrument by the way, in it’s style) and switched to a less polyvalent but way more wild and raw instrument. That’s how I got my Fender Precision which is still my main bass currently.
I still play guitar and I think I’ll always be because I still love it, and it’s for me a way better interface to create my own music. But at this time I must be like 90% bass and 10% guitar. I used to play in several bands since about 20 years, did a lot of gigs as a guitarist (and a few as a bass player). In my last band I played the bass and I don’t imagine doing something else at this time. In my next band I will play bass, I’m 100% sure of it. (I must precise that being in a band and gigging is not really a goal for me, as I’ve already done that for years. now I feel more like a studio guy. but there will be a future band for sure, when I’ll meet the right guys 
)
Also I must say my bass playing is probably very guitar-tinted. Not a bad thing in fact but I try to play more and more with a “real bass approach” (and that’s the reason why I’ve done the B2B course, and it was very instructive for me). At this point I guess I must have some kind of hybrid-playing : lots of pick, saturated tone as much as possible, but with a more bass/rythmic sensitivity. That’s cool, I’m a happy string-thing player 
… and I feel I just spoke way too much. but, you know, passion and all that kind of stuff … 
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That’s a biggie in life, but perhaps the learning will fill some time and give you a distraction as you get used to the new normal. I’ve had repeated issues with my knee for over 20 years, but not on the same scale as your surgery. My neighbour has had the same and I’m always amazed (and slightly ashamed) at how much he gets done around the house & garden: he’s 10 years older than me and puts me to shame in his efforts and productivity.
You might want to post in Introduce Yourself too and have a read through some of the other intros. This is a good bunch of folk and there’s plenty of chatter - but not so much of the inane stuff on the big forums.
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Thani you joergkutter, it could have been my whole leg or my life. I am goimg to cherish this time by using B2B to learn the bass. I am oretty much rold not to do anything while treatment is stikk foin
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(Sorry, this post became a bit long winded once I started typing it)
I was always drawn to the back beat of music, more so than the music itself. I grew up in the days of tinny sounding transistor radios, so we hardly noticed the bass. It was that gentle thump, thump in the background that I always thought was just the drums. In my first year of high school, I joined the school band as a beginner drummer. I had never learned to play any instruments prior to this, and had no inkling of what music was made of. But I loved creating that beat and found that I had a knack for rhythm.
I didn’t last long in the band. Our band leader / music teacher insisted that everyone, including percussion, must learn to read music, period. I learned the basics of reading music, but that was about it. I had neither the time nor the desire to learn all that gibberish and just wanted to make my noise on the drums. In my typically sarcastic and darkly humorous style, I flung my music book out of a third story window. Mr. Burton apparently didn’t share my sense of humor and marched me down to the principal’s office. That was my last day in the high school band.
Many years later as a young adult, inspired by the local band Chicago Transit Authority (later renamed Chicago), I bought myself a trumpet. I took private lessons, but again I didn’t want to spend much time on learning to read music. I just wanted to get on stage and play the horn. My private instructor grew impatient with me, and I grew impatient with him. After a few months, I gave up on the trumpet.
I don’t recall when it was that I started noticing that much of the thump, thump, thump I was dancing to was actually music. At some point, I discovered that one of the guitar players only had four strings, and later learned that it was the bass, and he/she was the one producing that beautiful thump, thump, thump music. I fell in love with the bass and began watching the bass player in every bar band and in every concert I attended. I was envious of the bass player, and wished I had taken it up long before instead of the drums or the trumpet. But I convinced myself that I was too old to start now (GASP, I was in my 20s). I just partied on and admired the bass players in the bands that played on the south side of Chicago or downtown. Playing bass was an impossible dream. Something that I should have done, but didn’t. In my mind, it was too late for me now.
Fast forward to November 2018. I was diagnosed with throat cancer. My mother had died of that very same disease, and I felt that I was destined to the same fate. But modern medical science stepped in and saved me. Months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed by months of recovery and I am now cancer free and grateful for everything that I have. During that time of treatment and healing, I realized that it’s never too late to do the things you always wish you had done, but hadn’t.
In June of 2019, as a 70th birthday gift to myself, I bought a cheap bass and started to learn to play it.
“Would I fail as I did with the drums and trumpet”? I asked myself
“Only if I let myself fail,” was my answer.
So here I am, playing and practicing every day for hours and hours. Additionally (in memory of Mr. Burton) I have dedicated myself to become proficient at music theory. I’ll never be able to recover that music book I threw out of the window, nor apologize to Mr. Burton, but I can do it in spirit. It’s not too late. I can do it, and I will.
“Don’t die with the music still in you”.
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Hm, don’t remember whether I wrote something here already, but I am almost sure I wrote somewhere in this forum why I got into learning the bass… Most active people in here must have heard me rambling about it at some point or other, but here is a quick recapitulation:
as many people in this forum, I used to play music (albeit on a different instrument) when I was young(er), but then life got in the way. Still, the “fire” had never been entirely extinguished and the embers just needed some fresh air. I guess I have to give credit to Adam Neely (search YouTube, if you don’t know him already), who rekindled my love for how amazingly multifaceted music can be through his videos. I mean, this guy has forgotten more about music than I have ever known! (That led to other cool guys, like Rick Beato, and tons of bass videos, and, ultimately, to BassBuzz).
Since Neely also plays bass, and since I had always been fascinated by that instrument, I decided one Saturday morning last Dec to go out and get a bass. And so, here I am, not regretting a thing about this decision, and in fact waiting for my third bass (that a “friend” of mine had ordered, but really wants me to have ). And, I might get together with a drummer and a guitar player soon to jam with… (very excited about this; more about it when/if it happens!)
Very pleasant ride so far - not least thanks to great input, awesome support and constant challenge to keep an open mind offered by the crowd here in the forum!
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What a moving story - we seem to be getting them this week, eh?
I hope I’m not out of order saying this, but I rather feel that from your account of your teacher, he owed you an apology for letting you (and I suspect, other students) quit music rather than have his precious principle compromised. Sure, he had a point, and you’d probably have not given it another thought had you just got on with it, but that’s not how children are, and teachers have a duty to nurture and encourage them, not dismiss them because they can’t see the value in the lessons and rules put in their way.
The reason I feel that way is because I came across perhaps 2 or 3 teachers through my school years who would make an effort to reach a student in a way that would encourage, engage, and retain them in the class. One gave me a love of physics that I still draw on, one gave me a chance when no other would and brought out a side of my intellect I had struggled to engage - I still chat with him on Facebook every week, and one strove to get every child who came into her class to love the English language as much as she did - to this day I still remember some of the prose and poetry I wrote for her class.
On the other side of the coin are the multitudes of teachers who simply couldn’t care and were stuck in a rictus of prescribed lessons & rules. But worse, far worse to my adult mind, was the music teacher at age 7 or 8 who told me I couldn’t sing and simply couldn’t possibly be in the choir. My mum knew a thing or two about singing, having performed opera on the stage at some of Liverpool’s many music halls in the 1950s & 60s, and she said I could sing (of course, mothers have a tendency to praise their kids). I only exorcised that memory and defeatist belief a few years ago when I sang in the congregation for a friend’s mothers funeral. Afterwards my wife and one or two people around me said that I had a lovely voice and they couldn’t believe they’d never heard it before. In fairness they had never heard me at the rugby club, and no amount of telling me I couldn’t carry a tune was going to stop me after 5 pints of Guinness at a rugby match.
Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to be such a long response, but apparently you hit a nerve @PamPurrs. Thank goodness we got over our individual blocks with music, huh?
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I agree with that. I like the positive approach, like Josh has on the B2B course, always saying that it’s better to go over the course than to get stuck, or that if we don’t want to learn to read music we loose something but we can/should/must continue anyway.
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OK - Here goes… Damn, I swore I wasn’t gonna go here but after reading @PamPurrs post, I guess I mustered up the courage… Thanks Pam!
For me it’s not just about bass - it’s about music…
I started in music at a very early age - about 5 or 6 years old back in the 1950’s. My grandma was the church organist/pianist and I remember her teaching me the notes on her piano that she had in her living room. At about age eight I began taking formal guitar lessons that lasted until I was about 12 or so because I REALLY liked hunting and fishing WAY more at that time so I gave it up and devoted my efforts into becoming an Eagle Scout in the BSA.
It wasn’t until I was in the military and stationed onboard an old diesel electric submarine that operated off the coast of Vietnam when my interest for music ‘resurfaced’ (ha - submarine pun). There were a few of us on the boat who played and we all bought instruments that we could play while underway. Everything from guitars, harmonicas, tambourines, spoons,… hell, even an autoharp! Anyway, whenever we could, we always got together and played music. It was the one thing that always brought us home I guess…
Fast forward to July 2019 - With my arthritis hitting my joints pretty hard, it became difficult for me to make chords to play on any of my guitars and banjo. I refused to give up playing music - hell, I use to play a pretty decent lead back in the day, so, I bought a bass and amp from a music store when I took a trip to the city. I’ve never played or even picked up a bass guitar before in my life. My wife thought I was nuts, but nothing new… Hell, even the dude at the guitar store asked if I knew what I was doing and offered to sell me lessons…
Anyway, for me it’s not as much about playing any specific instrument, it’s all about making/playing music. You see, like many vets from my day, we suffer from things like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and yes… PTSD. Veteran hospitals here in the US… well,… I won’t go there, but, there seems to be an overly outrageous amount of pretty potent drugs being prescribed to vets these days… For me, instead of treating the symptoms that I suffer with (most all of them) by using any form of manufactured pharmaceutical prescription drugs that they prescribe, I’ve always used my own… “Making Music”. Making it, playing it, listening to it, dreaming it… It’s just the ‘drug of choice’ I use that keeps me going, puts a smile on my face, and gives me a little something to challenge my day with…
Addicting? Yes…
Harmful? Only to the pocketbook…
Effective? For me, Definitely… It has always and will continue to be an intricate part of my life here on planet earth…
Do I need to be good at it? Hell NO… Not unless I wanna be…
Damn, now I just feel as if I finished as session with the psycho doc at the VA hospital…
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