“My dad taught me to play bass. He's a bass player; he still plays in a band in Michigan to this day. He taught me to play bass when I was about 6. I used to just go to band practice with him, and whoever didn't show up for rehearsal that day, I would take their spot.” StillsPlayShowsUsedPracticePlayerTaughtDadBandMy DadSpotsThis DayRehearsalBassMichiganBass PlayersPlaying Bass Author:Mayer Hawthorne
“Without getting real personal, we liked our bass player Ed. He was a great guy and he was a good bass player but his playing was suited for a different style of band.” DifferentRealGuyPlayerStyleBandBassDifferent StylesBass PlayersGreat Guy Author:Lou Gramm
“I love a little distortion across the bass; I think it kind of adds something to the sound of the band when the bass is a little overdriven.” ThinkingKindLittlesSoundBandAddBassDistortion Author:Nikki Sixx
“To be a great band it's like you have that telepathy. You know when the bass player's in back of you without even looking. You know when your guitar player's coming up to you to lean up to you and sing into your microphone. You just know these things. You feel it. You feel the energy of it.” KnowsFeelsEnergyPlayerLike YouBandGuitarUp To YouBassGuitar PlayerMicrophonesTelepathyBass Players Author:Scott Weiland
“Folks call me Ellis. I run an auto shop with a couple of my buddies. We're also in a band. I play bass.” PlayRunningCoupleBandFolksShopsCall MeBuddyBass Author:Ellis
“I played upright bass. I wanted to write great tunes, play the bass, be a band leader, and smoke a big funny pipe like Charlie Mingus. So I went out and bought the pipe when I was around 18 or 19 years old. You know even women smoke a pipe in Glasgow. I worked with Carla Bley and she smoked a pipe, which I find fascinating.” KnowsWritingYearsPlayBigsWantedLeaderBandSmokeTunesFascinatingBassCharliePipeOld YouGlasgow Author:Jack Bruce
“Rhythms, beats, etc., are fundamentally central to my creative drive: my first instrument was the drums, nearly every band I have been involved in or at the helm of, is driven by rhythm, my band is driven entirely by rhythm, machine rhythm, and the purpose of the rock instrumentation is literally to speak the beats, to emulate the rhythms with guitars and bass, with very little articulation, and without being 'progressive'.” FirstsLittlesHas BeensPurposeSpeakCreativeRocksInvolvedBandBeatsMachinesInstrumentsGuitarDrivenRhythmEtcProgressiveBassEmulateHelmArticulationInstrumentation Author:Justin Broadrick
“A lot of modern amps and preamps sound great when you're jamming by yourself, but don't hold up in a band situation. The sound isn't dense enough, and the lows and highs tend to get soaked up by the bass and cymbals.” EnoughSoundSituationModernBandLowsBassDenseCymbals Author:James Hetfield
“My dad was a bass player in a Latino band when I was growing up. So we always had musical instruments in our basement.” Growing UpGrowingPlayerDadBandInstrumentsMusicalMy DadBassLatinoBasementsMusical InstrumentsBass Players Author:Lindi Ortega
“It's really easy to play harmonics, anyone can do it. It's another thing to be able to swing, to make to make a band swing, to create a groove. Harmonics ain't everything. Being able to play harmonics certainly does not make you a good bass player. Cleverness is no substitute for true awareness.” DoePlayAbleEasyCan DoPlayerAwarenessBandSubstitutesSwingsBassClevernessGrooveBass Players Author:Jaco Pastorius
“Plays bass guitar in rock band "Capitol Offense".” PlayRocksBandGuitarOffenseBassCapitolRock BandsBass Guitar Author:Mike Huckabee
“In high school no guys wanted to be in a band with me unless I was going to play bass or play grindcore or be in a scream-o band, so it was fun to finally have that experience of having my songs backed by a drummer and a bassist who were just as excited about it as I was.” PlayWantedSchoolGuySongFunBandHigh SchoolExcitedScreamBassDrummerBassists Author:Weyes Blood
“Ridley Pearson also plays bass guitar and sings with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band made up of such successful authors as Amy Tan, Stephen King, and Dave Barry-a band that, according to Barry, "plays music as well as Metallica writes novels".” WritingWellsMadePlayNovelSuccessfulRocksKingsBandGuitarBottomBassAmyDaveMetallicaBass Guitar Author:Otto Penzler
“I always tell girls who say they want to start a band but don't have any talent, well, neither do I. I mean, I can carry a tune, but anyone who picks up a bass can figure it out. You don't have to have magic unicorn powers. You work at it, and you get better. It's like anything- You sit there and do it every day, and eventually you get good at it.” WantWellsMeanI CanGirlMagicTalentFiguresBandPicksGet BetterTunesBassUnicornTell A Girl Author:Kathleen Hanna
“Okay, I get kicked off the drums when I try and...the notes just keep coming at you and I'm like "Ahhhhh!" I can't do it. I have literally gotten booed off the stage way too many times. It's terrorizing. The rest of my band mates just are...they tell me to get off. I'm like, "I can play bass. Dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk."” WayTryingI CanPlayStageBandOkayNotesMatesBass Author:Alison Pill
“I used to play bass for a while and got to the point where I was good enough to be in a shitty band.” EnoughPlayUsedBandGood EnoughBass Author:Christian Finnegan
“My reading was good enough to play big-band charts, but I ran into trouble with Claude (Thornhill)'s theme song "Snowfall," which had a repeating bass line in D-flat that was very difficult for me to finger using my self-taught technique. I spent one morning figuring out an alternate fingering, and that started me on the way to learning a better use of the fingerboard.” WaySelfEnoughPlayUseBigsSongReadingDifficultLinesMorningTroubleTaughtBandFingersTechniqueRanThemeFlatsGood EnoughBassSelf TaughtSnowfallFingerboard Author:Bill Crow
“When The Murderdolls started it was a really cool thing, especially for me because I had never done anything on that scale before. Even for our drummer and bass player it was their first really big band.” FirstsDoneBigsPlayerBandScalesBassReally CoolDrummerCool ThingsBass Players Author:Wednesday 13
“Anybody I'm in a band with can do what they do better than me. I'm a huge believer that I can play bass or whatever I bring to the table - producing, songwriting, orchestrating - and I can look at the other guys and say, "He's got that, he's got this, and I have this." It's a team thing.” LooksI CanPlayGuyCan DoTeamHugeBandTablesBelieverSongwritingBassOther Guys Author:Nikki Sixx
“I spent five years, at least, working with Miles. Together, we recorded ESP, Nefertiti, Sorcerer -- and I can tell you; each of these albums instantly became jazz classics. Hey, we had Wayne Shorter playing tenor sax, Ron [Carter] on bass, Tony Williams played drums. That was great band we had.” YearsI CanTogetherFiveBandJazzAlbumsMilesHeyFive YearsBassCarterWayneTenorsEspNefertiti Author:Herbie Hancock
“I bought my first bass because I wanted to be in a Band, and heard that it was the easiest instrument to play. A friend told me that it was the sexiest instrument.” FirstsPlayWantedHeardBandInstrumentsBassSexiest Author:Nate Mendel
“I used to listen to music from the frosting down. As a word nerd, lyrics are really important to me, and then the melody. Playing in the Rock*A*Teens was the first time I ever heard music from the bottom up. I was hearing songs I'd heard a million times on oldies radio, and I'd be like, "Wow, listen to what the bass is doing!" When I was first singing in bands, I'd just get out there with my machete, wildly whacking away at the foliage. But you learn how to listen. When I feel I'm doing it right, it's 90% listening and 10% output. It's not "look what I can do!"” FeelsFirstsLooksI CanImportantUsedSongCan DoMillionsHeardRocksListeningBandSingingFirst TimeBottomRadioHearingMelodyWowTeensNerdListening To MusicBassOutputFoliageMachetesOldies Author:Kelly Hogan
“I think the most note-worthy part is that Stella [Mozgawa] had joined the band two weeks before we started recording, so that really influenced the way that the album was recorded. It was really important for Stella and Jen[ny Lee Lindberg] to lay down the drums and bass first for most songs, because they were determining how they needed to lock in together, and Stella was still kind of learning and figuring out her parts.” ThinkingWayFirstsKindStillsTwoImportantTogetherSongWeekNeededBandLaysNotesAlbumsWorthyLocksBassTwo WeeksStellaDrum And Bass Author:Theresa Wayman
“I'm a bass player from way back and Paul is a guitar player and we've been in many bands.” WayPlayerBandGuitarBassGuitar PlayerBass Players Author:Adam Jones
“I started playing bass in my friend's band for some reason. It was just something I did because, well, he asked me if I wanted to play bass and he played me this song - Nirvana's version of "Molly's Lips", the Vaselines song - and he said, "You can do this! This is not hard!" and it's like a two-note song. I learned that and then I thought I was a genius.” IfsWellsSaidTwoHardReasonPlayWantedSongCan DoGeniusBandMy FriendsNotesLipsVersionsBassPlaying BassVaseline Author:Jens Lekman