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]

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!

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

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.oke

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 oke 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 oke

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...

 

[NWBasser]

Back to NWB's point, I do agree that most non-musicians probably couldn't name many people from the rhythm section of the bands they listen to, unless the bassist is also the singer. Doesn't mean the bass n' drums aren't important, but that's kind of how it is. Come to think of it, I'm not sure there are that many non-singing guitarists who the general public would know. Certainly more than the number of bassists and drummers, but there are probably plenty of people who don't know anybody other than the singer.

I'd say that for most people (general population -- music nuts and musicians aside), ability to recognize/know the name of a member of a band probably goes like this:

75% singer
20% guitarist
3% bassist
2% drummer

That is to say that if they were to name a member of a band, the likelihood it would be a given role in the band is based on the percentages. I've never really thought about this before, but it's an interesting thing to think about.

Yeah Eric, that seems about right.

However, as a bass player, none of that actually bothers me in the least. I'm fine with no recognition in that regard.

What actually ticks me off are the few guitarists that look down on bass players. While most guitarists really appreciate what I bring to the table, I've encountered a few that say "just play the roots this way (or something similar)" or try to bury me with volume. One guy actually reached over and turned my amp down to an inaudible level. Fortunately, he escaped with his hand intact, but I immediately packed up and never played with him again.

 

[Retro Hound]

As a non-musician, and to test Eric's theory, some bands with the first person that comes to mind:

The Who - Pete Townsend - Guitar
The Doors - Jim Morrison - Singer
Led Zeppelin - Jimmy Page - Guitar
Cream - Eric Clapton - Singer and Guitar

Those are all bands that I can name all the people. Now for some bands that I don't know all of the individuals (and some spellings my be wrong, this is off the top of my head):

Metallica - Kirk Hammet - don't know what he plays
The Guess Who - Burton Cummings - Singer
Joy Division - Ian Curtis - Singer
The Sex Pistols - Johnny Rotton - Singer
Jefferson Airplane - Grace Slick - Singer
AC/DC - Bon Scott - Singer
Aerosmith - Steven Tyler - Singer
Black Sabbath - Tommi Iomi - Guitar
Styx - Tommy Shaw - Guitar

Not a bassist or drummer in the bunch. Now I know a few, but they aren't the first ones that come to mind.

 

[marnold]

When I played bass, I used to just roll my eyes when a guitarist would bust out one of those jokes with a look on his face like he must be the cleverest person alive now that Oscar Wilde is dead. Granted, my experience isn't as widespread as many of you, but I never found another bassist or a drummer that got me really irritated. I found plenty of guitarists that I wanted to give a Peavey Fury to the base of the skull. Mostly it was because of (largely unfounded) arrogance. Yeah, you can play a lot of notes. How about playing in time, Chester? That'd be nice. Actually, the most talented guitarists I've ever met are guys that were incredibly humble and wouldn't say so much as a word.

I found that as a bassist I had to "translate" between the drummer and the guitarist. Even though I can't play drums to save my life, I could get a rhythmic point across to drummers. I remember clapping out the beat for "Back in Black" and singing the guitar riff so that a guitarist could figure it out.

 

[Eric]

When I played bass, I used to just roll my eyes when a guitarist would bust out one of those jokes with a look on his face like he must be the cleverest person alive now that Oscar Wilde is dead. Granted, my experience isn't as widespread as many of you, but I never found another bassist or a drummer that got me really irritated. I found plenty of guitarists that I wanted to give a Peavey Fury to the base of the skull. Mostly it was because of (largely unfounded) arrogance. Yeah, you can play a lot of notes. How about playing in time, Chester? That'd be nice. Actually, the most talented guitarists I've ever met are guys that were incredibly humble and wouldn't say so much as a word.

I found that as a bassist I had to "translate" between the drummer and the guitarist. Even though I can't play drums to save my life, I could get a rhythmic point across to drummers. I remember clapping out the beat for "Back in Black" and singing the guitar riff so that a guitarist could figure it out.

I think that while this post doesn't necessarily explain the 'why' of band dynamics, it is a pretty good paraphrasal of the typical complaints and roles that band members have. Although I guess you'd also have to include the singer in there somewhere.

Thing is, I think guitarists can be that way because they're the stars when it comes to rock music, at least as far as the musicians go. I personally think I'd probably be a better bassist than guitar player because I'm not flashy, my best strength as a musician in my timing, and I always try to get the band to stay tight. That said, I do always listen for the guitar in bands. From the bass players I've known, they're mostly interested in bass-first music and always have been. Seems to just be a mindset thing.

 

[Spudman]

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

Kip is amazing, but don't forget John Wetton.

 

[marnold]

From the bass players I've known, they're mostly interested in bass-first music and always have been. Seems to just be a mindset thing.

I can only speak for myself, but as a bass player I always liked playing whatever. I played in a "1-5" bluegrass band and had a blast. The simplicity of the bass line meant I was free to wander the stage and be entertaining/a nuisance. I don't own a single bluegrass album and I doubt I ever will. Blues is the same way. Getcher "Big Book O' Blues Bass Lines" and let 'er rip. I'm far more of a snob when it comes to guitar music than I am bass music. That's probably because guitar (especially lead) is much harder for me. If I'm going to make that investment of time, I'd better freaking love the material.

While we're mentioning famous bassists, we can't forget my man Louis Johnson or Yes' Chris Squire. Or Rudy Sarzo and John Deacon (my two main rock bass influences). Or Billy Sheehan. I never set out to play like Billy, but I could always point to him as "proof" that it was OK for bassists to venture higher than the seventh fret.

Now I wanna play me some bass.

 

[NWBasser]

From the bass players I've known, they're mostly interested in bass-first music and always have been. Seems to just be a mindset thing.

FWIW, I really enjoy listening to good guitar work. However, I love the sound of electric bass which is why I play it and therefore listen to a lot of bass-first music.

If I can get both stellar bass and guitar, then I'm really in heaven. It's unfortunate that one is often times at the expense of the other though.

Also, no great bass player listings from me. I need time to eat, sleep, work, etc.

 

[guitartango]

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.

Sorry but i had to google Neil and Gene, but everyone know's Ringo !

 

[Eric]

Also, no great bass player listings from me. I need time to eat, sleep, work, etc.

Huh? Not sure I understand what you were trying to say here.

 

[Photomike666]

Exceptional Bass player has to be Steve Harris, founding member of Iron Maiden. Some of his work is outstanding.

Generally I think a lot comes down to personality. Many bass players are less arrogant, possibly less selfish?? If they wern't, they'd pick up lead and head for the spotlight.

Also, I find it amusing the is no mention of rhythm guitarists. It's like they're even more forgotten about.

 

[NWBasser]

Huh? Not sure I understand what you were trying to say here.

What I mean is that if I start listing favorite bass players, I'd have no time left for anything else. I'd be here typing and typing and....