Davie504 More Annoying Than Ever

[neptoon]

Don’t hate, I like him, makes me laugh, and he can play, too...cool guy...YouTube just is what it is

 

[SactoBass]

I unsubbed from Davie504 more than a year ago for a lot of the reasons I'm going to mention here but after seeing a Reddit post that echoed a lot of my sentiments, I thought I'd post a similar opinion here with my own thoughts here not having realized how bad it's gotten.

Let me first say that I think he's a talented guy.. and I don't hate him. In this spirit, I hate the game but not him.

When he started he had some great videos... the 100 top basslines compilation was one. He used to play the bass...but now videos are 10 minutes long and he barely plays anymore.

He is now, with 5 million subscribers, perhaps the biggest bass influencer and bass media source in all forms of media to the General Public.

And reading some of the comments of his cool videos, you would see comments, like, "Impressive, but can you play bass with just one buttcheek?" Those comments were funny for a while but got old. I got tired of him and unsubbed.

Fast forward and I watched this video yesterday and it was unwatchable. Constantly begging for likes and subscribers, massive over editing treating people like they have ADD, lights and sound effects.

And what I didn't realize before is that he had never laughed in a video and since he always has headphones on so he has never revealed his ears. So as a "reward" to his audience, he reveals his laugh. And because of the headphones, he promises that at 6 million subscribers, he will reveal what his ears look like. I don't know what this says necessarily about human behavior or what but it seems pathetic.

Like I said I don't hate him and I realize he's just playing the game... perhaps he's gotten a few people to pick up the bass and learn the instrument and for that I'm grateful. But what he has become isn't doing us any favors. At this point he's almost a comic book character and is the main representative to the general public about what a bass player is. If you mention in conversation to an acquaintance that you play bass, your response is very likely to be, oh yeah I know that guy davie504 from YouTube.... meh.

Like some of the other posters in this thread, I've never heard of the guy. But since you posted about him (which I appreciate you doing), I will be sure to steer clear of that guy's vids.

 

[Panek]

The dude has got a lot of talent. The first video I've ever seen of him, and in my opinion still the best one, is the "DEADMAU5 said this Bassline is IMPOSSIBLE" one. If you haven't seen it, do it. You can't deny the dude any chops; way more than me and most of the people in this thread I bet.



This, along with his deadpan delivery makes him one of my favorite YouTubers out there. He does A LOT of great things involving bass guitars which are informative, funny and cool, like the octobass video. All in all he's one of the best music-related content creators out there. Great stuff and I'm happy to be a subscriber.

 

[Pizza1988]

Scotty Kilmer(car guy out of Houston, Free Car Repair Videos ) is running down a similar path. He had very informative videos in his earlier years on YT and his website, many of them saved me a LOT of time and money. Now they are practically unwatchable and probably for similar reasons mentioned above but it's his "retirement gig".

Scotty Kilmer used to be one of the best channels but he does too many "AMA" type videos now. He definitely knows his stuff about cars. He was always hilarious too lol

 

[ThudThudThud]

IMHO he's an online entertainer. His videos are just entertainment. If he has monetized it, good on him.
Everyone clutches pearls around here at the very thought of not getting paid for their gigs. He's getting paid for his.

 

[MDBass]

5.2 subscribers... (I'm not one of them.) I'd say, to appreciate what he does... you have to watch a lot worse.
I'd compare him to a spinal tap CD, but I really like spinal tap.

5 million sounds like a lot, until you realize there are well over 300 million in the US alone.

Even if all his subscribers were US based he’d be influencing less than 2% of the total population.

Hardly seems like a cause for concern

 

[tunabolt]

I discovered Davie504 not too long ago and he is a major reason why I am getting into bass guitar. After YouTube recommended me Davie's channel alongside with some Louis Johnson videos, I knew I wanted to be a bass player.

Thank you, Davie.

 

[Panek]

I discovered Davie504 not too long ago and he is a major reason why I am getting into bass guitar. After YouTube recommended me Davie's channel alongside with some Louis Johnson videos, I knew I wanted to be a bass player.

Thank you, Davie.

Here's a great bass lesson from Louis that you can try out!

 

[forrestlaw]

The dude has got a lot of talent. The first video I've ever seen of him, and in my opinion still the best one, is the "DEADMAU5 said this Bassline is IMPOSSIBLE" one. If you haven't seen it, do it. You can't deny the dude any chops; way more than me and most of the people in this thread I bet.



This, along with his deadpan delivery makes him one of my favorite YouTubers out there. He does A LOT of great things involving bass guitars which are informative, funny and cool, like the octobass video. All in all he's one of the best music-related content creators out there. Great stuff and I'm happy to be a subscriber.

I actually really enjoyed this video even though I don't like most of the stuff on his channel. This is just a talented bassist ripping it up and none of the weird camera shots, "Slap like now", "OMG" that really turns me off of most of his videos.

 

[SgtHulka]

Like some of the other posters in this thread, I've never heard of the guy. But since you posted about him (which I appreciate you doing), I will be sure to steer clear of that guy's vids.

Is videos in the beginning where awesome they really showcased some of the great things about the instrument. So I'm disappointed that's gone and it's been replaced by this garbage. I sort of consider him an ambassador of the instrument so I guess I feel a moral responsibility.

 

[Space Pickle]

I used YouTube to learn how to fix my washing machine!

But like you said, hate the game, not the player. In order to make money he has to grind out a constant stream of videos.

 

[RogerTheAlien]

It’s the social media game. He plays it properly; this is how you make money.

You may not like it and I know I don’t, but this is how it works. It’s also why it’s “free”. Worth exactly what you pay for it.

Correct ! I used to follow Rhett Shull, liked his personality and vibe, but I have to admit, for a guy who used to call out manufacturers for their hypocrisy he got mighty silent about the Gibson 'Play Authentic' crap once he got that free Les Paul and started talking about EchoPark and other Gibson associated companies like the greatest thing since sliced bread ... I can't deal with that sort of about face, if you are getting something out of it, just say it ...

 

[SactoBass]

I guess I feel a moral responsibility.

I found your original post quite helpful!

Oh, and btw, your avatar rocks! That movie is a classic!

 

[SgtHulka]

I suppose.

Davie504 still grates on my nerves. I find him annoying because I really think he could do something far more valuable for musicians (to say nothing about more enduring to his image) if he’d pursue a different tack with his videos. But whatever. We each do what we feel we need to do. If it works for him, I’m good with it. Or at least as long as I don’t have to watch it.

On a more positive note, his signature bass (the Retrovibe EVO Davie504 Signature) that Chowny is doing really is quite nice. Had a chance to try one and liked it quite a bit.

Re: Adam Neely - yeah. The guy blows my doors off when it comes to music theory. He’s also a very fine bassist and a surprisingly good composer. Obviously paid attention in school. One of his greatest talents is the ability to clearly and succinctly present otherwise complex and difficult concepts so that almost any musician can grasp and begin using them. His one minute video on how to walk a bass line was absolutely brilliant and possibly the single most compact summary of a college semester’s worth of information ever made besides being funny as anything.

I’m highly impressed by Adam Neely and freely acknowledge him as true mentor for me.

What's ironic is I actually have Davie504 Chowny Bass. It's a fantastic instrument indeed w a great preamp.

 

[Lunatique]

Davie's making a good living doing his channel once he found his niche, and is more successful than most bass players out there. He's obviously having fun doing it, and he gets to play bass and promote bass as an instrument to the world. He's done a lot more than probably anyone here for bass. If you're not into meme culture, then it's not your thing, but for those who are into meme culture, he's sort of like combining two things you love into one--this is why he's so popular.

And despite the meme-heavy videos, he's still doing some meaningful and interesting bass-centric videos, such as the ones where he hired other bass players on FIVERR and paid them to play bass challenges he designed. He gave a lot of exposure to those bass players by making those videos:





How many people complaining about him have actually paid other bassists to play bass?

If you want to just watch bass playing or bass instructions, there are plenty of other channels on YT for that. Why complain about a comedy/meme channel?

 

[Rib 13]

Davie504 has made a transition from being a bass player to an entertainer....as great as a bass player that he is, its very possible that he has made more money as a career by being a YT entertainer than he would have as a musician...… I give him all kinds of credit for understanding that role and making the necessary adjustments to capture a larger audience than just bass players

 

[Spectrum]

I've been aware of this guy for awhile, but have never bothered to click on his videos for the simple fact that I can't even stand to look at the still shots of the guy, let alone watching X minutes/hours worth of videos...

As I understand it, he can play the hell out of the bass...that's wonderful...but he looks smug and annoying to me, and I have better things to do than watch his videos.

I also enjoy judging people based on still photos. Helps me cut back on human interaction, and while they say the error rate is high, I stay blissfully unaware of the ones I miss out on.

 

[PullThePlug]

Meme culture tied in with YouTube's TOS.

I think you're starting to show your age.

 

[40Hz]

What's ironic is I actually have Davie504 Chowny Bass. It's a fantastic instrument indeed w a great preamp.

Agree 100%. I was very impressed both by the instrument and the price tag. I liked it and could even see where it could be a better choice for me on something I’d normally think of using a Stingray on. Which in my universe is high praise indeed.

Lots to like for not a lot of money. I have a Chowny SWB-1 that I currently have set up as a piccolo bass. It sees a lot of use in my writing process. Chowny is definitely a company to check out.

 

[davie504_]

This thread is illegal, I'm calling the police.