If you play bass guitar, you are truly an inspiring musician as far as I’m concerned. I started playing bass a few years into my musical life. I originally started on the piano and learned the Suzuki style, which is a method of teaching by ear. This was one of, if not the best, skill I have ever learned in the music world. It helped me pick up the guitar very quickly and I am grateful for it.

It was a few years after I started playing music that I had been at a music shop and I strolled into the bass guitar instruments section just to check them out. I sat down with one that looked pretty cool; it was a Fender (not sure of the model anymore). After plugging in and strumming a few power chords, I was really getting a good feeling about the sound that I was creating. The only aspect of what I was doing that didn’t feel entirely natural was the pick. Because of the thick gauge of the strings, I didn’t seem to get the right feel for how hard I was picking and strumming. At the time, I was a huge fan of Metallica, and Cliff Burton (rest in peace) was one of the best bass players in heavy metal in those days. His progressive style was unmatched and you guessed it…he didn’t use a pick.

I had some experience with finger picking as I had played some acoustic and actually really enjoyed it. My fingers were strong enough, in my opinion, to take on the bass. I finger plucked away at a few songs that I knew (of course I only knew the guitar parts but that made it all the more fun). After a few hours of this I really had a fast tempo going and my rhythm was fantastic

When I got home that day my head was spinning with excitement and new ideas of the music I wanted to play and create. It was only a few short months later that I had saved some bucks and I picked up my very first bass guitar. I play many instruments but by far the bass is my favorite and it has been the most difficult to learn, which I love. The challenge has driven me to new highs as a musician that I would not have reached without it.

Broaden your range of skills by playing as many new instruments as time permits. You will never regret it!