Bass Player’s Official Hat Problem

[trainyourhuman]

OP - what is the brand and where do I get one?

 

[fclefgeoff]

Yes, I know a bassist who rocks a cadet cap. Me! I love hats and started wearing a cadet style cap about 10 years ago. Here are a few shots of me wearing them in performance over the years.

C. 2014

C. 2016

Of course I love all types of hats and my collection includes vintage and bespoke fedoras & porkpies, newsboy style caps, a bucket or two, and a few woolies.

C. 2015

C. 2018

Here is a shot of me sporting a terry cloth beach bucket while singing in my Ween tribute band, Fluffy.

c. 2021

and a video of me wearing a Beastie Boys woolie singing and playing synth w/Fluffy in 2022.



a couple of newsboy caps…

c. 2010

C. 2014

Vintage 1950s Stetson Fedora C. 2005

Here’s a shot of me wearing a bespoke fedora while singing in my Pink Floyd tribute band, Eclipse-Chicago from January 2023. The guitarist next to me is rocking a bowler.

 

[Crackle]

If I'm wearing a hat onstage, it has to be something really cool. A fedora or bowler derby.

 

[Sjobi 1]

I thought for sure a thread titled “Bass Player’s Official Hat Problem” would be about Jeff Ament.

 

[Barticus]

I have a hat that I love, much like many other people who wear hats.

This hat that I love… You know who else seems to love it? Every other freaking bass player in Boston. If there’s a guy in a band wearing a hat… it’s usually the bass player and… a good portion of the time it’s this same damn hat.

So, I don’t dare wear this hat when I perform anymore because I don’t want to be labeled as one of those “bass player hat guys”. I also don’t want the other bass players in town to think that I am ripping off their style. I’m not here to incite violence. But what I’m wondering is… Has this hat completely overtaken the bass player scene in other towns as well? Is this a problem that needs to be addressed globally? Should we all be writing to our congresspersons?

I’m starting to wonder if there’s someplace where people are buying these hats and, inside the package it includes an instruction manual for playing bass… Which beckons the question… Which came first? The bass or the hat?

Thanks for your help on this. Here is a nice picture of me wearing my hat as a reward for having read to the end.

P.S. If all this post did was inspire you to buy one of these hats for yourself… Shame on you for taking advantage.

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Well, at least you got Seth Rogan to model it for you here’s some of his other hats

 

[RJC1811]

As a bald guy (most of it gone naturally but I shave the rest) I should be the one wearing a hat but I have never liked it. If there is a low hanging hard surface anywhere I will find it and take a chunk out of my dome. I have tried but just find hats uncomfortable. I have out of necessity worn ball caps or a wide brimmed floppy hat for protection in the sun. But even then I prefer just a second application of SPF50.

I love the way hats look on others and have tried on countless hats to try to find something that would work for me. They are either uncomfortable or have been done to death. We have a lot of outdoor gigs booked this summer so I should probably get serious and find something that I like. Most are covered stages but there was one last year that faced due east and as the gig went on we went from partial sun to full blazing sun. Hottest gig I have ever played.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Hats are like baby names: you think that you are being original, but in reality you are just fulfilling a promise to the cultural and algorithmic gods set in motion years previous unbeknownst to you.

 

[fclefgeoff]

Hats are like baby names: you think that you are being original, but in reality you are just fulfilling a promise to the cultural and algorithmic gods set in motion years previous unbeknownst to you.

Lol, I don’t take it quite so seriously.

 

[Cave Puppy]

I tried to wear a cap onstage, once.

 

[Dirtnap]

I was under the impression that hats are for bald people, or people who work outside all day. I tried one when I was long-distance hiking, but found I would rather have rain on my face than a restricted field of vision.

 

[DRay521]

View attachment 4967381

This is hilarious. I was already scanning this thread for some sort of “jazz hat” discussion.

 

[basslayer]

I know one player who wears that hat. I never have. It seems popular for men 26-48

 

[WI Short Scaler]

In general I never wear a hat. But I have a couple I keep on hand for holiday gigs.

And, as always, wear what you want and forget the haters.

 

[Pings Bass]

There was a time when every salsa band had at least one guy with the backwards kangol, à la Date Mike.

My kids teased me about mine till I stopped wearing it.

Chucho Valdés still sports this look. He can wear whatever he wants, because he's a god.

 

[Wambemando]

One of my many hats.
Currently in the market for a coonskin cap, I wore one for years as a kid.

 

[deff]

I have a hat that I love, much like many other people who wear hats.

This hat that I love… You know who else seems to love it? Every other freaking bass player in Boston. If there’s a guy in a band wearing a hat… it’s usually the bass player and… a good portion of the time it’s this same damn hat.

So, I don’t dare wear this hat when I perform anymore because I don’t want to be labeled as one of those “bass player hat guys”. I also don’t want the other bass players in town to think that I am ripping off their style. I’m not here to incite violence. But what I’m wondering is… Has this hat completely overtaken the bass player scene in other towns as well? Is this a problem that needs to be addressed globally? Should we all be writing to our congresspersons?

I’m starting to wonder if there’s someplace where people are buying these hats and, inside the package it includes an instruction manual for playing bass… Which beckons the question… Which came first? The bass or the hat?

Thanks for your help on this. Here is a nice picture of me wearing my hat as a reward for having read to the end.

P.S. If all this post did was inspire you to buy one of these hats for yourself… Shame on you for taking advantage.

View attachment 4967058

I'm curious. I have my list of best Boston bass players, but have never seen one of them with the commando hat. Although I feel like there were pretty prevalent in the mid 2000's and later. I guess Mark Lind used to have one but I think of him as more as a singer than a bass player.

 

[Polfuste]

I'm level 1.

 

[Andy Marshman]

Speaking of bass hats, I got a real kick out of the knit-hat syndrome that seemed to infect YouTube bassists a while back. Not sure who started it, but suddenly Cody Wright, Janek Gwizdala, Scott Devine and many others started wearing thick, knit caps -- indoors, for some reason -- like some kind of bassist's badge! Copy cat hats, I think.

I never understood that one. I wear one when walking the dogs in winter. To wear one indoors, playing with the band blows my mind. It would be so darn hot...and looks pretty dumb in my opinion.

 

[dcbluesbass]

 

[swink]

I never understood that one. I wear one when walking the dogs in winter. To wear one indoors, playing with the band blows my mind. It would be so darn hot...and looks pretty dumb in my opinion.

The cool guy in the background needs something to keep his head warm. He does not have the advantage of receiving heat from the spotlight.