Bass Player’s Official Hat Problem

[DirtDog]

Been wearing the same Open Road for about 40 years. It's aged into a nicely worn fedora style hat.

I love the look of the Open Road. I’m not sure I could pull it off, though. I tend to look stupid in hats.

 

[Mr Cheese]

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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Its a nice look, I'd keep wearing it.

But, if you want to change it up, everyone looks good in a small-brim fedora or a trilby. Or a flat cap or newsboys cap too

 

[SoulReflection]

Which came first? The bass or the hat?

Neither...I always wear one similar because of my baldness and as a favor to those who don't want to have to wear sunglasses....

 

[39-Bassist]

No hat allowed...unless you have short hair and need extensions or you are bald and then it's a long haired wig...lol

Just kidding.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Even though I have a collection of them no caps for me now but 40 years ago it was a Perry’s Pizza visor.

 

[wizerd]

I wear a hat but, not when I play.

no pics this time, really

 

[micguy]

I have a ginormous head. Yes, I do have a few patrol caps (what the OP is so freakin' anxious about wearing), but I don't wear them, as all my gigs are indoors at this point. I get a summer outdoor gig here or there, but they tend to show up every couple of years, and half of those are evening gigs....

I do think somehow, that wearing a fedora while playing a Fodera seems somehow appropriate. It's probably be even tougher for me to find a fedora to fit my melon that it would be to buy a Fodera, so there's a huge effort barrier for me on that one. Maybe one of you guys can take up that challenge.

 

[Old_Noob]

I fancy a tweed/plaid English driving cap/scalie cap

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I do have multiple versions of the same hat OP posted

 

[micguy]

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.

I've been told a few times in my life that I have a gift for being able to take complicated concepts and explain them in simple terms.

You, sir, have the opposite gift.

 

[MVE]

The bassist is sporting one.
View attachment 4967432

Why do they call it a “pork pie hat” you ask???

Put a brim around it…

And you get this…

 

[Shlabotnik]

Wow, here I thought I was just venting about not being able to wear my favorite hat while I perform and now it's gone off the rails into a full fledged bass-hat thread! It's like watching a little child grow into an adult person with their own hopes and dreams. I love you all and I'm so proud of you.

Also, if the owners of the Goorin Bros Hat Shop is reading this... You're welcome!!

 

[SoulReflection]

I fancy a tweed/plaid English driving cap/scalie cap View attachment 4967916

I would do one of those in black...

 

[Frndmoretti]

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

What's the name of this style of hat?

 

[jazzenfunk]

Ball caps are tired and boring.

But pefect for bald bass players!

 

[bigthemat]

I used to be all about the kangol/newsboy type hats when I was younger, high school through a few years of college. Wife "kindly suggested" a different style, she also convinced me to stop wearing my old hemp necklaces haha.

But I've always been a big fan of the baseball cap. I've got a dozen or so Red Sox hats in various styles and colors. Some of my recent favorites are from the minor league baseball Copa De La Diversion where minor league teams celebrate their local Hispanic and Latinx communities by making alternate mascots and what not.

This one gets the most compliments (yes, it's Elote - Mexican Street Corn - playing baseball). Bonus is that it almost matches the finish on one of my basses.

Or this one that I wear whenever I go out to a BBQ restaurant:

Link Removed

I also found this awesome hat at a random gas station in nowhere Idaho, I showed it to my drummer and he grabbed it and bought it. I really wanted it....

 

[No Malarky]

A "Gene Simmons Hair Hat" would be my choice.

 

[Cave Puppy]

Not totally unrelated - the shape of a person’s skull changes over time. At least mine did. A hat I wore in my twenties is now too small. So my head got bigger and flatter.

 

[jdjk7]

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 know guitar players who do.

For me, it's the opposite problem. I have a hard time not feeling weird wearing a hat.

 

[spike42]

I would not wear a hat like that to make a fashion statement. I might wear something similar for an outdoor gig on a sunny day.

Back in my early years, I wore a fedora, similar to this:
View attachment 4967265

Hmm...Worea Fedora.....that'd be a cool username