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How can you HATE a bass?

WoodyG3

WoodyG3

May 6, 2003
6,647
268
68
Colorado, USA
www.toucantrackclub.net
#1
I've been reading for years on this board that this bass sucks, that bass sounds like *bleep*, I don't "get" how anyone would like this bass, and even I HATE this bass.

How can you hate a bass? It's like hating a puppy. It's like hating a bright orange sunset. It's like hating a nice cold drink on a summer day. :)

I really can't think of a bass I've picked up that I didn't get enjoyment from playing. If it sounds different, I think that's interesting and fun to play around with. If the feel of the neck, or string spacing, or other ergonomics are not to my liking, I look at it the same way as putting on a shoe that is the wrong size for me. I don't hate the shoe, and I know someone else will fit in it just fine. I don't curse the company that made the shoe, and I don't call into question the judgement of the people who do wear that shoe.

Of course I have my preferences, but picking up an inexpensive bass to see what it's got is fun. Looking over an expensive custom made bass to see the workmanship and interesting woods is fun. Finding an old bass with "history" is fun. I just don't get why anyone would hate any of these instruments. They are too much fun to pick up and play!
 
#3
WoodyG3 said:
How can you hate a bass?
Click to expand...

Maybe if your lady leaves you for one...

I feel the same way. I treat basses as though each one is an entirely different instrument, a different tool to be used in different situations. One may sound a certain way and have floppy strings with a short scale while another one sounds another way and has really stiff strings with a long scale.

Of course there are certain basses I like playing more than others. But I couldn't ever really say that I hated one...
 
#8
Agree. Almost every bass has a place and a time and a style of music it will fit with. Unless it's just poorly constructed enough to render it unplayable or in tune.

I HAVE hated being stuck with a bass in live playing situations where it just wasn't working. That's miserable, but usually MY fault for bringing the wrong knife to the gunfight.
 
#15
I abhor the way lots of basses sound, but it's usually not the bass; it's usually the strings and/or the player.

As to basses I've hated, there was one with a warped neck, one that suffered from chronic neck-dive, one that weighed 12 pounds, one with a case of fret sprout so bad that I cut my left hand while playing, one with string spacing better suited to a mandolin, and one with a pre-amp that sounded mediocre no matter how the tone controls were set: someone may have found a few of them playable, but most were, IMHO, best suited for a bon fire. ;)
 
#18
Hatred of basses or equipment in general I believe most of the time comes from misinformed consumers.
If someone who works at the local GC convinces some 14 year old that a Hofner is the best bass for metal, and this young and misinformed thrasher finds that slipknot covers sound awful on that bass, he will most likely have a predisposed hatred towards that bass. For no other reason than that it doesn't look and sound like the Soungear he should have bought.
 

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