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"It's a Musician Thing"

H

Hypnotaize

Guest
Apr 10, 2014
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56
#1
Stuff my non-musician relatives/friends say:

"You don't need more picks."

"You don't need to change your strings."

"One bass is enough. Why bother with more than one?"

"They sound the same."

"1,000 is way too much for a bass."

Oh, and then every week I get to explain why my guitar only has four strings, or tell a friend: 1) Put down my bass. I don't care if we're best friends or I have one of your kidneys, you DON'T. TOUCH. MY. INSTRUMENTS. I don't even like family touching it. And 2) No, you should not be playing chords [not including power chords] on a 4-string electric bass. No, do not play all the open strings at once. Stop popping it. Don't play that so hard.

"Can you play me ______?" Yeah, but any modern pop/rock song is probably going to be unrecognizable to you with just the bass line.
I think it's best I don't mention the ones that are sexist, racist, or derogatory to any group other than musicians in general.
 
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#2
ImageUploadedByTalkBass1404282188.388207.jpg


'You don't need more than one bass', 'They all sound the same', and '$1000 is too much for a bass' are often spoke by guitarist buds... and my Mrs.


Fender JP-90
Epi Bass Club #169 JC sig
 
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#5
I get "why do you bother showing up to gigs. No one can hear the bass"

"When are you going to be good enough to play guitar"

"Girls go for the singer and sometimes the guitarist. Why play bass"

"Why do you need that many pedals"

"Oh you play bass, can you teach me/my kid for free" (this was much worse when I was a personal trainer)
 
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#6
Players spend many years and big dollars finding the tone in an instrument that they hear in their heads. How do you do this if you only ever had one bass?....and still, different projects require different bass tones.
I look at people gambling at some of the venues I play at and think,"they spend more money on alcohol and gambling than I do on gear.....at least I have something to show for it!"
 
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#8
I play a Steinberger Bass and I get this question often.

"What is that thing you are playing?"

However, when I reply, "It's a bass guitar.", many people look puzzled as if they have no idea what a bass guitar is. Those who do know what a bass is usually then ask me, "How do you tune that thing?"
 
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#9
Hypnotaize said:
Sh*t my non-musician relatives/friends say:

"You don't need more picks."

"You don't need to change your strings."

"One bass is enough. Why bother with more than one?"

"They sound the same."

"1,000 is way too much for a bass."

Oh, and then every week I get to explain why my guitar only has four strings, or tell a friend: 1) Put down my bass. I don't care if we're best friends or I have one of your f*cking kidneys, you DON'T. TOUCH. MY. INSTRUMENTS. I don't even like family touching it. And 2) No, you should not be playing chords [not including power chords] on a 4-string electric bass. No, do not play all the open strings at once. Stop popping it. Don't play that so hard.

"Can you play me ______?" Yeah, but any modern pop/rock song is probably going to be unrecognizable to you with just the bass line.
I think it's best I don't mention the ones that are sexist, racist, or derogatory to any group other than musicians in general.
Click to expand...

I have never had anyone say any of these to me and I have never had to tell anyone to not touch my basses. I have had people ask if they can play one of my basses but nobody has ever just picked it up without asking first.
 
#10
I have had people say "why do you play a six string bass?"...and look at me like I was nuts.
At one gig while we were on a break, a guy from the crowd walked up to my bass and not only picked it up, but put it on and stood there playing it! I walked back to the stage and asked him to put it back which he did. He said he was just admiring it and then apologised. Some people just don't have a clue.
 
#13
lowfreq33 said:
...Know any golfers? Far more expensive hobby than playing bass...
Click to expand...

Ewo said:
...+1. Not only that, but you can make money playing bass. Recoup some of the investment in gear...
Click to expand...

Fair warning...If you are ever on the golf course and an old guy playing left handed offers to play you for $20 a hole and he will use your (right handed) clubs, trust me, don't take him up on it unless you have the money to lose.

Whenever someone finds out I get paid to play they ask me how much I make. My reply is usually along the lines of it pays pretty good, at the rate I'm going it's only going to take me 70 years to pay off my gear.

Comparing your hobby/obsession to other hobbies/obsessions is the first sign of concern over what others might think of what you do with your money and your time.

As the old guy I mentioned above (my dad BTW) told me a long time ago, "who gives a s&!t what other folks think about how you spend your money or what you spend it on."
 
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#17
Kmonk said:
I have never had anyone say any of these to me and I have never had to tell anyone to not touch my basses. I have had people ask if they can play one of my basses but nobody has ever just picked it up without asking first.
Click to expand...
It's usually family more than friends. My friends seem to know a bit more about music, even the ones that don't know anything about it.
 
#18
Some people don't have a clue. And some of them are musicians too.

A friend of mine went to a master class given by Michael Manring, he told me some random dude there just grabbed his expensive Hyperbass to take a look, without even asking.
You don't do that, I mean, what the hell ? What will you do next ? Grab his wife's ass ? Come into his house with dirty shoes and empty his fridge ? Come on man, not cool. :meh:
 
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#20
Oh, here's one that'll make me look dumb. Granted, I'm not much for classical music, and my knowledge of other string instruments only goes so far.

I was hanging out with a friend in the band room, sitting at the piano. Friend #2 comes along, pulls out his violin, and begins warming up.
Me: "Nick, why the heck doesn't that thing have frets?"
He gives me his best "are you kidding me" face, as I continue to question why his frets were painted on.

Luckily, he explained that they were tapes and violins don't have frets without being too annoyed. I then left to go educate myself.
 
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