What Hat makes your bass thump?

[DenverontheOne]

What HAT makes your bass thump?

So could just be me, but saw a couple of bands over the holidays and noticed something. All the bass players wore hats. Now one LG had a baseball hat on, but the bass players had some style!

One had a straw fedora, one had a English flat/driver hat and one had a Marcus Miller type hat. Now, they all were great players, hats, hair, bald or otherwise but the hats added a little somethin' somethin'.

When did you guys start wearing hats when you played? Do you have a gig hat? Does the hat help the groove?

Show me your HATS !

 

[guy n. cognito]

I've desperately tried to avoid the "fat bass player with hat" stereotype image. Other than the occasional baseball cap, no funny hats for this guy.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I wear Greek fisherman hats.

Black for indoors.

White for summer outdoors.

 

[bholder]

I've always been partial to fedoras (like Indy's, not the little toy ones with the tiny brims). But I don't dare wear them when I'm this heavy.

 

[Jimmy4string]

I wear just about anything i think looks rockin. Since my head is the anti -mohawk (bald in the middle and hair on the sides. hats are just part of my stage life. Nobody wants to see my hade!
Here i am some type of German soldier looking ensemble...

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I wear just about anything i think looks rockin. Since my head is the anti -mohawk (bald in the middle and hair on the sides. hats are just part of my stage life. Nobody wants to see my hade!
Here i am some type of German soldier looking ensemble...
View attachment 1033713

The hat is cool and you, unlike your bandmates, are wearing grownup pants.

 

[Jimmy4string]

HA ha -yeah i guess I was always going to go to the next level. I always dressed for a gig even if it was a backyard BBQ for friends!
They actually really gave me a hard time for changing out of my shorts as it was 105 outside.

 

[sedan_dad]

That's a couple of hot buttons for me. Shorts , camo, blue jeans and blues bands that wear jackets and hats. I hate that stuff. That's just me.

 

[bassbully]

I have about 30 so you never know which hat I'm going to wear to a gig. One thing is guaranteed thou, I will be wearing a hat...I never gig without one.

 

[JRA]

i don't wear a hat, but if i did: it would be a huge sombrero...and i would have a cold mexican beer to go with it! a big enough sombrero makes anyone look thinner!

 

[farace]

I've always been partial to fedoras (like Indy's, not the little toy ones with the tiny brims). But I don't dare wear them when I'm this heavy.

Those little ones, usually mistakenly called fedoras, are actually trilbys, and are appropriate for ska bands and almost nothing else.

In a pretentious and crappy cover band I was in many years ago, I was the only one that dressed for the gigs (including a fedora). One time all four other guys unintentionally dressed the same, pale yellow button-down shirt and green khakis. It looked a little ridiculous, especially since this was the '80s and pretty much only Kinko's employees dressed like that.

 

[bholder]

and are appropriate for ska bands and almost nothing else

well, also favored by the old rat pack "mob jazz" guys way back when, but they're pretty much all gone now. I do not miss that music, that's the nicest way I can put it.

 

[kesslari]

I enjoy a good hat.

 

[gfen]

 

[farace]

well, also favored by the old rat pack "mob jazz" guys way back when, but they're pretty much all gone now. I do not miss that music, that's the nicest way I can put it.

Monk and Mingus could get away with it, but I'm pretty sure those two could have worn anything at all and gotten away with it. As for the Rat Pack, this article mentions why the trilby worked for Sinatra (I had never read the "in proportion to your shoulders" bit before):

Invalid Link Removed

 

[BigDrew]

I've always been partial to fedoras (like Indy's, not the little toy ones with the tiny brims). But I don't dare wear them when I'm this heavy.

It's pronounced Fodera...Ha!

 

[dbase]

Baseball cap for my Practice hat

Straw Hat for summer gigs

Leather Jeff Cap for Winter Gigs

Cowboy Hat for Country gigs

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

I wear hats with my surf band and with any blues / jazz act I might be playing with. I like a wide brim.
I have lots of hats.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

I wear these snap-brim caps without fail, every show... got it from this guy:

 

[rocu]

I like a hat with a brim to keep stage lights out of my eyes. Sometimes I wear sunglasses for the same reason. Yes, a hat and sunglasses indoors. Yes, I am that cool.


At least in my own mind.