Did You Learn The Ropes On A Six-String?

martyr · Post by **martyr** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:59 am

my dad got me playing guitar when i was 9 or 10. i remember he had just obtained a '70's Gibson Lespaul Deluxe and my current '79 4001 and Peavey combo 4x10 all for $1000. and i just wanted to play them both but at 10 years old a kid can be pretty careless so i never really got to learn on his guitars, just a ****** Ibanez EX. then i quit playing at about 12 and started again at 14 and quit again when i started playing football in highschool. when my dad passed away two Novembers ago me and my brother split the instruments, he got the Lespaul and i got the 4001 and i haven't stopped playing since then.

freewheelin · Post by **freewheelin** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:01 am

Mmmh... beautiful

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:06 am

My younger brother is a guitar player. He started with a plastic acoustic when he was 6 or 7. I used to play around with it a lot, just making noise. We did not know anything about tuning back then but it was fun anyway. A few years later he got a plastic electric guitar for Xmas. It was an Antonelli that came with a battery powered amp. I learned a little about tuning by then but it was all still just screwing around. The guitar was a ***** to play but you could get some really cool feedback out of it. Steel strings and plastic frets don't go together very long.

When he was 12 he got his first playable instrument, a cheap Japanese strat-like thingy. I learned a few chords on it but was not at all proficient. About a year later he suggested that I get a bass because everybody else had guitars. Bass players were hard to find back then. My first bass was a 30 inch Encore. I developed an interest in playing from my brother's guitars but that Encore was my entry to being a bassist. I was listening to a lot of Beatles stuff at the time so it all grew from there. The first song I learned to play was Michelle. A '68 Hofner followed the Encore then a lovely FG 4001.

henny · Post by **henny** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:19 am

Mmmh... beautiful

basshawk · Post by **basshawk** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:31 am

My parents got me a child's size acoustic when I was young. I never mastered the six string guitar. Listening to the Beatles over and over, the bass just kinda smacked me in the face. I LIKED IT! I got my first bass in 1972, a Univox High Flyer. Got my first RIC 4001 in 1975 and haven't looked back, it's all bass for me.

dean712 · Post by **dean712** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:13 am

Bass first. I learned everything by ear. Along the way, I picked up some chords on guitar, enough to play an acoustic around the campfire. My first band experience was actually as a rhythm guitarist, that's what they needed. When I got my first chance to be a bassist in a band, I bought my first Ric, a brand new '94 jetglo 4003. That's when everything got more serious, and I put literally 1000's of hours in on that jetglo. Still have it!

bassman_bob · Post by **bassman_bob** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:47 am

For me it was a borrowed 6 string acoustic but I used only the bottom 4 strings and learned the bass clef. Finally in 1964 was able to afford a real Kent bass. Tried every song from the British invasion groups. Then when I first heard Squire, set my sights on a 4001; took 2 years to save up for a burgundy glo with the worst neck ever known to man; even with RIC flats it bowed really bad. Nobody knew how to set up a RIC back then; they all used the Fender concept, then wondered why nothing happened.

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:19 am

I wanted bass but the music school manager said I had to take two years of guitar first. I was 13 and said okay. I told my teacher (who was an arrogant dimwit) that I'll use only the 4 bottom strings. He laughed. A few weeks later I confronted the manager and said, my parents are paying for this, and I want to learn bass, not guitar. He said, fine. And that was that.

As for the first Ric... we used to have one of these that we flipped over and pretended it was a Ric! (look at the horn shape).

beatlefan · Post by **beatlefan** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:48 am

Both of my older brothers are excellent guitarists. I was the "athletic" one of the three, concentrating on high school sports and post high school sports, so I skipped out on playing music until about 3 years ago. My father died in '99....he had always wanted me to learn to play, so that all three of his sons could play together...well, he died before he got to see that happen....

It ate at me for a long while until I finally decided to learn to play. I took lessons for 6 months from a good friend , who has sinced moved out of the area..... He taught me blues scales on guitar , which I quickly soaked up...I then proceded to learn chords on my own, which I did. My hope was to surprise my brothers around Christmas, during their annual guitar get-together...well, I got to thinking they could really use a bass during their jam sessions, so I shifted my attention over to the bass.....wow, what a revelation!! Anyway, when Christmas '02 came around and they set up their stuff at my house, they noticed an extra little bass amp and a new RIC fireglo 4003 setting there.....well, you can guess the reactions...

We played Beatle songs together for hours and hours and we cried together wishing Dad could see us....

So....I guess I started on a 6- string

petew4001 · Post by **petew4001** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:07 pm

I think it's real important for young players to learn guitar BEFORE beginning the bass. I learned all the chords, barr chords and other variations of them before picking up the bass. By learning this way a player can identify which chords are being used by sight.I've been playing bass now for 35 years, but I do rely on my knowledge of guitar techniques from time to time.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:30 pm

A friend threw a big Christmas party years ago. He rented a hall, had it catered and even hired a band. While the band was setting up, they learned that their bass player was not coming. He called to quit the band just an hour before the gig. The other members of the band told my friend that they had to cancel because of this. I was sitting at a table nearby when I heard someone yell out "Ted knows how to play bass." Before I could react the rest of the band was huddled around me asking if I would play with them for the gig. I went home and grabbed my bass (4002) and headed back to the party. I did not know all of the songs in their set lists but I could read the chord formations. They set me up next to the singer/rhythm guitarist (very hot girl) and I followed her chords all night. I was amazed by how well it worked. It was difficult to focus only on her hands at times.

They played Dreams by Fleewood Mac (which I knew) and I played that simple bass break as it was recorded. They really got off on that. I think they thought I worked it out on the spot. The band called me for months afterwards trying to get me to join them. I just couldn't at the time. IMHO Knowing guitar chords is essential for bass players.

bear · Post by **bear** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:11 pm

It was 1965, I had been taking bass lessons for about 6 months, a rented Decca bass and a Supro open back 12" speaker, tube bass amp, and the band from the class ahead of me called, seems their bass player, neither of us knew each other was learnng bass, had broken his hand the day before their big debut at an after school 6 song sock hop. Our set list, all of which I had already learned from my bass teacher, was "Well respected Man" by the Kinks, "Get Off My Cloud" by the Rolling Stones, "Heart Full O' Soul" by the Yardbirds, "Just A Little" by the Beau Brummels, "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and "Tell Her No' by the Zombies.

Guitar players were a funny lot even back then as they had "Secret Chords" ie "Tell Her No", secret licks ie "Heart Full O' Soul" and they would turn their backs to the audience if they recognized another guitar player in the crowd so he/she could/t "nick the licks" by watching.

By 1967 my instructor told me that he should be paying me for bass lessons and I was beyond his scope of knowledge and technique so I told him to start teaching me guitar so I could understand chord structures and help me with songwriting and learning Top 40 hits by ear.

It has helped me immensely and I recommend learning both to any players out there, doesn't even matter which order, although I am a better rhythm player than I am a lead player and I am sure that's because the bass came first.

"Happy Jack" by the Who in 1966 and "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" by the Blues Magoos solidified my decision to be a bass player and piqued my interest in Rickenbacker Basses due to the marvelous pick and flatwounds tones. Neither of which was played on a Rickenbacker though IIRC.

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:34 pm

As a 7 year old under the spell of the Fab Four, I set about convincing my parents to buy me a cheap acoustic guitar so that I could learn to play what I heard on the radio. They also got me some lessons with a local guitarist, but his teaching method left my 7-year old sensibilities bored and frustrated, so I only completed 4 or 5 lessons.

Fast forward a few years and McCartney releases Band On The Run. I instinctively take to the bass lines I hear on those songs, and pick them out on that same acoustic, which by now only has the three lowest strings left on it!

Suffice it to say that my parents were impressed enough with my tenacity, focus and concentration that they got me a "Sears Special" Jazz copy, which I learned on for a couple of years before graduating to my first real bass... a '77 MG 4001!

Would I have done better with a little more "guitar learning" under my belt? To be sure. But gee-tahr never got my juices flowing the way bass did... and does to this day!

edski · Post by **edski** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:00 pm

I played piano and trumpet for years before starting to play bass at age 15...we had a cheap acoustic guitar in the home at the time, and I might have known how to play an E minor and G chord...

But even years later, as I had progressed to be a decent bassist, I was still known as the Autistic Guitarist. It wasn't until I was about 25, after playign with a folk guitarist for about 5 years ina quasi-duo, that I figured out how to keep time on a guitar. I sort of learned by osmosis.

Fast forward several more years, when I moved here to Florida, and I eventually spent a solid 6 years playing nothing but guitar. Just liked the synergy I got playing with my guitarist buddy. He can play a mean lead, and I have a great ear for figuring out rhythm parts (I can also play a good lead, too, but nothing like Joe).

Now it's come back to bass...the current band is playing pretty straigh forward rock, and there's more need for bass than 2 guitars. We tried out several "bassists" but eventually I said "screw it. it will only take a little while to get my chops back", and now I'm back on bass.

But I still do a lot of arranging for the band, and occasionally Joe and I have a "guitar only" session where we work out his parts sometimes. Or I just go ape with my 650 Dakota (or Fender Mustang) and my 120 watt Peavey.

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:43 pm

"They set me up next to the singer/rhythm guitarist (very hot girl) and I followed her chords all night"

Uh huh! Her chords, really?

I started out on drums in 5th grade and by the 9th grade I just had to get a bass, after seeing some local bands and really getting into the bass end of the music. Shortly after beginning to play I began to teach myself guitar so that I could figure out chords. I still play guitar but not nearly often enough.