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Top Three Most Recognizable Basses by the General Public
- Thread starter Ephminus
- Start date
As already mentioned,
Paul Mc Cartney's violin bass
Gene Simmons, axe, though most peeps prolly refer to it as a guitar
If we talk _general_ public...
/thread
D.Don
Paul Mc Cartney's violin bass
Gene Simmons, axe, though most peeps prolly refer to it as a guitar
If we talk _general_ public...
/thread
D.Don
This question intrigues me so, while I was just out for dinner with the wife and son, I thought I'd conduct a very scientific test with the help of some pictures (just the bass, no player) on my iPhone.
At the restaurant I showed 8 folks (no significance in the number) a picture of a Hofner Violin bass and then a picture of a Fender P bass. Also, if it's worth noting, 6 of the 8 said they liked music: I didn't go any further than that. I'd guess that everyone I asked was below 40 in age.
Ok, so for the Hofner not one person recognized the bass as a Hofner. 4 of the 8 guessed it was some sort of violin, 3 guessed it was some sort of guitar and one clever lady did identify it as a bass! When told it was a bass guitar and asked what famous musician would they associate with this bass no one answered Paul McCartney. In fact nobody had any idea, even when told that McCartney played one.
On to the Fender: 4 out of 8 identified it as a bass guitar, which was probably a bit easier having just seen a Hofner (I told you it was unscientific!). The other 4 identified it as a guitar and when asked what sort, said "bass". Of the 8, 2 identified it as a "Fender" another 4 said Fender when pressed for what type. When asked for a famous musician using a Fender, 7 out of 8 could not name one. The remaining person said "don't most folks use a Fender?"!
So what can you glean from my most scientific of experiments? Probably not much, apart from the fact that the folk I met tonight were into music but not into bass guitars! I think you could kinda get the impression that most members of the general public wouldn't know a Hofner when they see one and in general they don't associate any particular brands with musicians, well at least in Northern VA!
Science project over for the night. Now if only I'd had a picture handy of Gene's bass!
At the restaurant I showed 8 folks (no significance in the number) a picture of a Hofner Violin bass and then a picture of a Fender P bass. Also, if it's worth noting, 6 of the 8 said they liked music: I didn't go any further than that. I'd guess that everyone I asked was below 40 in age.
Ok, so for the Hofner not one person recognized the bass as a Hofner. 4 of the 8 guessed it was some sort of violin, 3 guessed it was some sort of guitar and one clever lady did identify it as a bass! When told it was a bass guitar and asked what famous musician would they associate with this bass no one answered Paul McCartney. In fact nobody had any idea, even when told that McCartney played one.
On to the Fender: 4 out of 8 identified it as a bass guitar, which was probably a bit easier having just seen a Hofner (I told you it was unscientific!). The other 4 identified it as a guitar and when asked what sort, said "bass". Of the 8, 2 identified it as a "Fender" another 4 said Fender when pressed for what type. When asked for a famous musician using a Fender, 7 out of 8 could not name one. The remaining person said "don't most folks use a Fender?"!
So what can you glean from my most scientific of experiments? Probably not much, apart from the fact that the folk I met tonight were into music but not into bass guitars! I think you could kinda get the impression that most members of the general public wouldn't know a Hofner when they see one and in general they don't associate any particular brands with musicians, well at least in Northern VA!
Science project over for the night. Now if only I'd had a picture handy of Gene's bass!
The "general public" (by which I suppose we mean, people who listen to music and occasionally watch it being made) is vaguely aware that someone is playing bass, but doesn't listen for it and (at least on the shows I watch) the camera only shows the bass player by accident as it pans between the guitarist and the vocalist.
My sense is, this music-listening general public can be divided into those who are aware someone is playing a bass, and those who aren't. The latter group dominates.
My sense is, this music-listening general public can be divided into those who are aware someone is playing a bass, and those who aren't. The latter group dominates.
Yeah, pretty much. I haven't read every post in this thread, but I'd say most folks (at least the older ones) would recognize McCartney's Hofner. After that, I don't think the non-bass-playing public would recognize any others (insofar as "Oh yeah! That's the P-Bass Greg Ridley played with Humble Pie!"). I think we have to just be satisfied with the fact that at least we bassists recognize and appreciate the basses used by others...
McCartney's Hofner
Pete Wentz' Squire P
Rickenbacker because of the Beatles
"that Claypool guy's bass" by Carl Thompson
Bootsy's Stars
I know people might like to throw bad things at this list but IMO this is the public opinion. Pete Wentz is a lot more on TV than Jaco or Jamerson and his songs get played a lot more than Entwhistle's or Squire's.
The reason I put Bootsy's basses so low on this list is because he is not as popular as he once was.
This is the sad truth I have come to accept for the low end people I respect.
Pete Wentz' Squire P
Rickenbacker because of the Beatles
"that Claypool guy's bass" by Carl Thompson
Bootsy's Stars
I know people might like to throw bad things at this list but IMO this is the public opinion. Pete Wentz is a lot more on TV than Jaco or Jamerson and his songs get played a lot more than Entwhistle's or Squire's.
The reason I put Bootsy's basses so low on this list is because he is not as popular as he once was.
This is the sad truth I have come to accept for the low end people I respect.
If the bassist isn't also a lead singer, then the public won't be able to recognize the bass, nor will they care. Just about all the recognizeable basses mentioned belong to band members who sing lead (McCartney, Geddy Lee, Gene Simmons).
It's like asking the average person on Talk Bass what drum brand Peter Criss uses.
(Its Pearl, btw)
It's like asking the average person on Talk Bass what drum brand Peter Criss uses.
(Its Pearl, btw)
+1 on #1. Otherwise, the general public wouldn't know (or care to know) a bass from a banjo.
The name of the game is Guitar Hero®...
I suspect most people don't even know the difference between a bass guitar and a regular guitar.. They know McCartney is one of the Beatles, but think he's one of the guitar players. Now, most of them know Ringo played drums, but... The attitude is, it looks like a guitar, it's got strings like a guitar, so it's just a funny guitar with four strings and a long neck. Heck, even my sister, who plays both flute and piccolo, sometimes tells people I play guitar... I have threatened to call her piccolo 'that tiny flute you play.' We'll see if that does any good...
in all honesty, the most recognizable is from that Bob Dylan pic where he is holding a Fender Jazz:
Nice technique there, Bobby!
This thread is funny. Unless we are counting musicians on other instruments as part of the "general public" then I can't see the majority of people recognizing practically ANY bass, let alone identifying who played it.
Suppose I started a thread on TalkBass with dresses worn by famous actresses at award shows and asked you to name the person that wore them. How many could you name?
I can think of two: the weird Bjork dress with the bird and the green one Jennifer Lopez wore where it looked like a boob might pop out. That's it for me. And that's fairly analogous to asking non-musicians to pair basses with players, let alone know the name/brand of the bass.
In fact, I think it's even harder because the bass is so rarely focused on in videos, pictures etc.
So yeah, maybe the layperson knows Bootsy's Star Bass, but that even assumes that they know who he is to begin with. When my mom & brother were in my car Bootsy's cell phone ad came on. They had no idea who he was.
In fact, if you removed frontmen from the list, the average person couldn't even name three bass players let alone recognize their bass.
Suppose I started a thread on TalkBass with dresses worn by famous actresses at award shows and asked you to name the person that wore them. How many could you name?
I can think of two: the weird Bjork dress with the bird and the green one Jennifer Lopez wore where it looked like a boob might pop out. That's it for me. And that's fairly analogous to asking non-musicians to pair basses with players, let alone know the name/brand of the bass.
In fact, I think it's even harder because the bass is so rarely focused on in videos, pictures etc.
So yeah, maybe the layperson knows Bootsy's Star Bass, but that even assumes that they know who he is to begin with. When my mom & brother were in my car Bootsy's cell phone ad came on. They had no idea who he was.
In fact, if you removed frontmen from the list, the average person couldn't even name three bass players let alone recognize their bass.
