What is the STRANGEST "compliment" you've ever gotten?

[oniman7]

"Can you help me out?" Random Guy who heard me jamming on a 6 string bass in Guitar Center and assumed I must work there. I was 16 at the time, but I guess my beard helped.

"Can you play keys? Wanna join a reggae band?" My next visit to GC, some random guy with crusty dreadlocks after hearing me play Dream Theater.

And always my favorite "Man, how do we follow that up?" Or "When I was your age, I was hacking Metallica in my garage".

[aledeville]

Last year after a show, I was told that I've got the perfect woman's ass.

[AuntieBeeb]

Actually, I guess these depend on context. When I was getting the odd bit of session work, the most frequent one was guitarists/engineers/singers/etc stopping and saying,

"You're really good."

With a tone that sounded like genuine surprise. I don't mean this as any kind of bragging post, it's just, if I've advertised as a bassist-for-hire, who's prepared to come and play your songs at relatively short notice, would you expect me to be "distinctly mediocre?"

[MrLenny1]

Hey man, you're really good & I'm really drunk
and tomorrow I won't remember you.
At least it was an honest comment.

[jordan2]

I've gotten a couple funny ones, this is one of my favorites.
"yup, n ur really good, I think. couldn't really hear u but ur fingers were moving very fast"

I have also been told that I sound like an old man but that isn't too strange.

[agreatheight]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Cartman: Okay, Token, give me a sweet bass line.
Token: I don't know how to play the bass.
Cartman: Token, how many times do we have to go through this? You're black. You can play bass.
Token: I'm getting sick of your stereotypes.
Cartman: Get as sick as you want, just give me a goddamn bass line!
Token: [Plays the bass expertly] Oh, goddammit.

That's my favorite bit from SP!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv8QDN_-cEE

[MatrikzDaClown]

First show I ever played in a bar with my first band. We played. I got my gear off stage, went to the restroom. While pissing I proceed to be picked up off the ground by a 250-300 lbs black guy that keeps saying over and over how awesome the show was and how much he enjoyed seeing me play the bass.

The compliments are always appreciated, but here in lies 2 problems for me.

1.) I'm a skinny white guy. 5'10", 135 lbs.

2.) I was pissing. Piece in hand and everything.

Completely unexpected and uh, lets say eye opening. Like a scared straight episode in the blink of an eye.

[Leadfoot]

After a gig, someone said we were "surprisingly good." They must have expected us to be a lousy band, or something.

[cvsurg]

Recently, I played at a blues jam, getting to talk beforehand with the hosting band's bass player, comissurating about the >30 year lay-offs from music that we both had; he got back into it 7 years ago; me, a year and a half ago, starting off by actually getting some lessons.
Finished a short jam set with a smokin' jazz/blues guitarist and felt OK about it. Came down off the stage and was greeted by said bass player with "You been playing for less than two years? Maybe I'll get me some lessons!" Took that to mean I done good.

[Ric_thumb60659]

I played some little bar once and all the cute bartenders Nick named me "fingures". That was pretty funny.

my favorite was when I was walking around during a break a group of people came up and said. "Hey! There's the lead guitar player! Man you're really good at guitar."
Me "hey thanks but I'm the BASS guitar player"
Them"oh, you play what? But yeah, you're really good."

[4dog]

"You sweat sexier than any man ive seen",,, did not hook tho,, and years ago,, prolly just sweat normal now.

[MrPierre]

Well, I don't think that was a compliment, but last summer we played in a small restaurant (the booking agent really made a mistake, it was a small family/artsy type of place that normally get acoustics guitar playing dude, stage was barely large enough to fit the drum on it...).

Consider we are a loud, brutal, punk band.

After the show, one the barmaid told me that I managed to make stuff fall off the counter with my bass sound. I was kinda proud (and ashamed, since the staff was nice to us, didn't want to break stuff...)

[guitardefector]

Originally Posted by JoZac21

As much as I absolutely love George Carlin, this is just wrong in the opposite direction... I don't play the blues, but what's wrong w. white people playing the blues? I haven't had the hardest life ever, but I also did have it easy, who's to say that I shouldn't be playing a particular type of music? Miles Davis walked out of Julliard during a class when a teacher said that the blues is played by poor black people from the south... Miles came from a wealthy family, yet played the blues, so he told the teacher off and walked out...

I love and miss you, but Mr. Carlin... NO.



Nice.

I also remember reading that the highest compliment Miles could give you is call you a bad "muthaf***r". Hey, I'll take it.

[thunderstation]

After auditioning for the current band I'm - the rhythmplayer/writer told the band- "he's a great bassplayer, he plays just like me."
I should explain that he played bass for several years before switching to guitar- mostly because he is the main writer in the band . He made the comment because he was pleased that i put bass parts in that that were similer to what he thought the bass should do.- but it's become a running joke in the band, because it was done honestly without any ego inviolved- and we all laughed for several minutes afetr he made it

[chewy teeth]

1. "You and the drummer were locked up like a couple of dogs."

2. "You really stood out by not standing out."

[mpdd]

your band kicked ass, but i am going to kick your ass, cause you guys are gay - can't go wrong playing frat parties in northeast ohio

[THUNDERGODX]

I may have posted this story somewhere else, but here it is again.
I was backing a girl who was competing in a Wrangler Country Showdown singing contest at a State Park in West Virginia.
The contest ran all day, and every contestant had their own band.
We were one of the last acts to go on.
I've always played Rock and have never been a real country player, so some of my lines in those songs got pretty busy at times.
After the set, I had packed up and was going down the stairs off the stage.
As I was waking through the crowd, a guy came up to me and said, "I've got someone who wants to meet you."
You never know what can develop from that, so naturally, I was intrigued.
I followed him to the edge of the crowd, where sat an older gentleman in a wheel chair.
"He's blind, and we'd never make it through this crowd, but he wanted to meet you."
I shook his hand, told him my name, said it was nice to meet him..
He said, "I've been here all day, and I've heard every band that has been here. You're the best bass player I heard all day."

[Kingfisher]

This isn't exactly a compliment, but...
I was working with a casual friend of mine, and mentioned that I play bass. He looked at me and said, "That explains SO MUCH! Bass players are WEIRD!"
I mean, yes, many bass players in big-name bands are rather strange, but then, almost all the other players in those bands are strange. Being strange comes with the territory. What I didn't get was how he thought 'weird' applied to me. He couldn't give me any reason for it.
Eh well. He's just jealous.

[Dave44]

I was at a Christmas party last weekend and met an old friend I haven't seen in almost 6 years. He asked the usual what are you up to etc. then dropped a bomb, told me he had missed me so much that he had refused to see the last band I played in cause I had moved on to bigger and better things. Most of the members of that band were there at the party and they confirmed his story. Felt bad for the boys, but I felt kind of good. There was acually a person out there who came out to listened to me play bass. I was humbled and honoured to be that big of a deal in this guys evening entertainment. This guy is a huge huge musicphile and for him to say this to me made me feel 20 feet tall.

[KenHR]

"You play like a guitarist!" - a drummer I still play with every now and then.

(Turns out he meant that he liked that I didn't just play a rote line, but livened things up with fills every now and then, but still...ouch)