No respect

[Eric***]

Stolen from The Gear Page.

[markb]

Cool! Though I was expecting drums or a banjo

[Glacies]

Saved. And sent to my bass player

[NWBasser]

I've seen that one at Talkbass. Still cracks me up.

It seems that bass players don't get very much respect. OTOH it doesn't help that there are a lot of sub-par bass players (in this area at least).

[deeaa*]

FWIW, I understand that at least Stateside drummers get most of the jokes, and bassists are pretty well respected. They even have their own mags and there are well-known bass players! :-)

Here I don't think I ever heard a drummer joke, and I can even think of several famous drummers from here...but not a single bassist comes to mind.
And the joke is ALWAYS on the bassist. Gazillions of bassist jokes out there. Here's one two of my faves:

A guy goes to music school and says he wants to play bass, having never played any instrument.
So, fine, the very first day they teach him how to make a sound 'bom'.
He comes back the next day and they teach him how to make a sound 'bam'.
But then he doesn't come any more. They wonder why.
A few weeks later a teacher sees the guy and asks; how come you never came back any more.
The guy replies: oh, I just get so many gigs with bands these days I don't have the time...

Another one:

A guy comes to a music store and says, waving a big pile of cash:
- I want that red trumpet and that metallic-looking accordion, please!
The salesperson asks: you a bass player?
- Yeah, why? he asks.
- No matter. I can sell you the extinguisher just fine, but the AC unit stays on the wall...

[markb]

How many country bass players does it take to change a lightbulb?

1 - 5 - 1 - 5...

[NWBasser]

[QUOTE=deeaa;223147]FWIW, I understand that at least Stateside drummers get most of the jokes, and bassists are pretty well respected. They even have their own mags and there are well-known bass players! :-)
[QUOTE]

Yes, we have our own magazine. They sometimes let us out of the house too if we behave properly.

Outside of musicians, to the general public, bass players don't really exist. Well-known? No, not by the general public at least.

Ask a person on the street to name a bass player and you'll get a blank stare most likely. Some people may be able to name Flea though.

[Eric***]

Yes, we have our own magazine. They sometimes let us out of the house too if we behave properly.

Outside of musicians, to the general public, bass players don't really exist. Well-known? No, not by the general public at least.

Ask a person on the street to name a bass player and you'll get a blank stare most likely. Some people may be able to name Flea though.

Wow, that's a good point. I actually do think quite a few people would know Geddy Lee, Sting, and Paul McCartney, though they might not realize that they play bass!

I guess I never realized how anonymous bassists can be to the general public. Strange to realize that.

[deeaa*]

Yeah, geddy, sting, jaco, flea, trujillo, claypool, collins, kilmister, I can think of loads of famous bassists...
I guess drummers are more well known here still. I don't personally know many by name, I'm more of a string instrument kinda guy.

[NWBasser]

Yeah, geddy, sting, jaco, flea, trujillo, claypool, collins, kilmister, I can think of loads of famous bassists...
I guess drummers are more well known here still. I don't personally know many by name, I'm more of a string instrument kinda guy.

Dee, you're right that those are famous bassists among musicians. The public only recognize the ones that sing though, except maybe Flea and possibly Bootsy because they're so outlandish.

IMO, one of the greatest bass players ever, Victor Wooten, is practically unknown outside music circles.

But for drummers? I guess a lot know Neil Peart or Gene Kruppa. Come to think of it, I suppose it's even worse for respect for drummers.

[R_of_G]

Ask a person on the street to name a bass player and you'll get a blank stare most likely. Some people may be able to name Flea though.

I typically want to slap those people as hard as Flea slaps his bass. They guy has made a career of (poorly) imitating Larry Graham and everybody puts him over as the greatest thing ever. He ain't funky. He doesn't rock. He's just loud. Whoop-dee-freaking-doo. I could spend hours listing bass players off the top of my head who play better than he does in every style people think he plays.

In my personal experience, I've heard many more jokes about drummers than bass players. My neighbor (bass player) contends drummers aren't actually musicians. I counter-contended that he was an idiot.

[Ch0jin]

I'm a guitar player so I'm clearly biased, but I'm compelled to defend drummers whenever these kinds of jokes are made (I do have a stash of drummer and bass player jokes though). If your drummer is off, it doesn't matter how amazing the rest of the band is, it will sound horrible. You can throw a weak guitarist and bass player in with a tight drummer and it'll still come out kind of OK. I reckon anyway.

Oh and as far as bass players go.... Les Claypool for sure, but I've gotta throw in the late Cliff Burton!

[Eric***]

You can throw a weak guitarist and bass player in with a tight drummer and it'll still come out kind of OK. I reckon anyway.

Oh and as far as bass players go.... Les Claypool for sure, but I've gotta throw in the late Cliff Burton!

I completely agree. When I met my best friend (who is a drummer), I realized the power of drummers on the music as a whole.

And I was going to cite cliff as a recognizable bassist by any real metallica fan earlier in the thread too.

[Tig***]

Let's not forget John Entwistle! He took the changes Paul McCartney made (giving bass a more active roll) and pushed them even further.



I love Jaco and Getty. I was a fan of theirs before I was a musician.
Tal Wilkenfeld is a new shining star, as is Esperanza Spalding.

[bcdon***]

When I met my beat friend (who is a drummer),

What the hell is a 'beat friend?' Oh wait, maybe I don't want to know All you guys are forgetting about the coolest bassist of all times, Kip Winger!

[Eric***]

What the hell is a 'beat friend?' Oh wait, maybe I don't want to know

Stupid phone. In case you haven't figured it out, that was supposed to say 'best'.

[Ch0jin]

Oh how could I forget Tal Wilkenfeld! Nice Tig.

She has that perfect mix of being Australian and HAWT! (If you haven't already, check her out playing with Jeff Beck on the crossroads tour)

[Glacies]

No real dog in this race, but if 311 was better known, I'd like to think P-Nut would be near Flea in terms of recognition.

[NWBasser]

My neighbor (bass player) contends drummers aren't actually musicians. I counter-contended that he was an idiot.

Um yeah, this guy's no musician...