Best awkward compliment you've gotten

[GlennRH]

A fellow bassist from a friendly local band I'd known for 2 or 3 years came up to me between sets, smiling.

I knew that this other bassist had been playing for about 4 years, was self-taught, and played originals only - quite effectively. I had been playing for about 16 years - lots of covers; lots of originals.

"Wow. You're really good on the bass! ...better than me, even."

 

[ajwolfcale]

I couldn’t really hear you that well. You guys sounded awesome.

 

[Michael Eisenman]

”Well, you didn’t screw up anywhere you were exposed.” (Early gig with a big band; at that point, that was all I was hoping for.)

 

[lowdownbp5]

"That's a really nice guitar. How come the strings are so big?"

 

[Inertialsky]

While playing guitar or bass..

random person “Hey you’re pretty good. You should be a guitar (bass) player”

 

[PortraitsOfMacy]

this kid told me "as a big fan of bass-forward music like 311 it was really cool to see someone playing the way you did". I'm not really a fan of 311 but I know he meant well.

Another time I was playing in the support act at a show at The Sylvee in WI. A dad that had brought his kid to the show said he loved my playing and noted a couple of techniques I used. Then he gestured to the bassist in the headliner and said "you weren't just pounding the root like this guy". Not realizing that the bass player for the headliner was a friend of mine and that's what the band's sound called for?

 

[Space Pickle]

Last year I was recording and the engineer commented that I wasn't as old as I look.

 

[Erik Turkman]

I had just embarked on a cruise ship gig, assigned to play with musicians I’d never met. After playing the first set with a jazz quintet, the piano player turned to me and said, “That’s the most number of right notes I’ve ever heard!”

 

[Brother Goose]

"you're playing is great - you guys should stop singing"

 

[fretlessman71]

Used to play in a piano/bass duo.

My favorite comment was "Bass is kind of a strange choice to pair with piano don't you think? But you sound great anyway..."

 

[Jack Butler]

Me overhearing a lady talking to her friend about me at a gig- “he’s pretty average looking but great in bed”. Meh, I’ll take it.

 

[HolmeBass]

can't quite think of a response for that one without being a &^%$#!

My response would be, “Yeah, you should try it.”

 

[kbarboza4]

Two men walk up on the break. "Hey man, you're great. Listen, we have a little bet going. That things a cello, right?!"

I look at both of them in the face, and see that they are, in fact, that doofy. I tell him: "Yeah man, of course it's a cello!"

"Ha! I told you idiot! You owe me twenty bucks!"

I'm a hell of a cellist.

 

[BlueTalon]

Early on in my most recent band, the guitar player told me he loves playing with me because I "know how to truck up."

Except he didn't say truck.

 

[5StringBlues]

Not a compliment but a strange request. I was playing in Natchez Mississippi and a guy walks by and says play some SHEHAN, man! I was playing my 53KAY upright at the time.....

 

[tangentmusic]

“I really like what you guys are trying to do”

 

[stubbadubs]

one time a drunk guy told me the guitarrist in my band was "underrated"
(?) i believe we are not rated at all ..

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

Once a young attractive lady (in her early thirties) came to me after the show, hugged me, kissed me, and said "You're so cool, I really like you". Then she added "If only you were a little younger...". And off she went.

 

[Dlew919]

‘I didn’t know you old guys could slap. That was really cool’

I’m about 8 years younger than Flea.

 

[HMZ]

Oh, you were in the band? You guys were great!