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Why so many fat bass players?

#201
i would say obesity is not a bass-specific problem. i'd also say certain personality types tend to gravitate towards certain instruments at the beginning stages of the musical journey. there is probably a correlation between those in the background regardless of the field and how they may slightly tend to look more than the foreground guy or leader.
 
#202
I'm a big guy. I play bass. I wouldn't change a thing. It is what it is, just a random observation. However, it makes me laugh because Sir Paul McCartney had the same observation many many years ago when talking about who was going to play bass in the Beatles after Stu Sutcliffe had left. He said....."None of us wanted to be the bass player. In our minds, he was the fat guy that always played at the back."
 
#204
With any hard data, it's really difficult to take the OPs assumption seriously. Just because you see a pattern somewhere doesn't mean that statistic will support that.

That said, I agree that there -seems- to be a lot of fat bass player. As some said already, I think that it's because we are in the background and don't need to move in front of the stage, so bands and/or band leader careless about the bass, drum and keyboard player's looks. This is wide generalization, of course. In other words, a fat bass player has a bigger chance to get in a band based on looks than a singer or guitar player. But there many circles and scenes where looks are just not important at all, musicianship is.

Another possibility is that, many fat people tend to be shy and insecure, and because bass in general requires less prominence, it's an ideal instrument for somebody who doesn't want the spotlight. In my case, I've been obese for many years, and I actually started playing bass and touring before I got fat.

Lastly, also as others mentioned, there just a lot of fat people! So we are everywhere, in all professions!
 
#207
Dunno, but it's fine by me. I'm 6'2" and weigh about 385lbs.

I've always been the bands token fat guy whatever band I've played with, regardless of playing bass or guitar. But funny thing is, the fatter I get, the more often I get recruited for bass.

But the older I get, the more I prefer playing bass too.... so may just be a reflection of attitude and not mass.

I don't mind being big though (hell, I got a tattoo on my belly that reads "Tons Of Fun" so yeah, you could say I'm cool with it). My only gripe really is most my instruments look like toys on me. Hell, even about 3 years, and 65lbs ago, a photographer friend did some promo shots for me where I was holding an LTD EC-something or other (Les Paul shaped and similarly sized guitar), and I looked like friggin' Tiny Tim with his lil' mandolin deal! lol.

For all you bigger players out there... one tip. V shapes are nice... tuck the strap around the upper horn and it angles the instrument upwards ever so slightly. I find this greatly reduces the strain on the wrist when picking, and finger style. And eliminate the need to strap your instrument stupid high up to get past the ol' 'food balloon' (my pet name for my belly). although, for non V shapes, you can add an extra strap button about 4-6" above the existing bottom strap button, and poke a hole/mod your strap to clip to both simultaniously and it also gives a similar angle effect to your instrument to compensate for the way your belly may be pushing it downwards. This is all dependant on your own shape though. Everyone wears their fat differently.

I recently acquired a Traben Array which I'm loving, but it's similar in size and body shape to a Warwick. Plays great, feels great, sounds great, looks great... except it looks so tiny in my paws. But hey... fuggit.... I play metal, so not like I need to be a model anyway.
 
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#212
Joe Nerve said:
Thread is 4 years old. I would never say such a thing today. I've grown up a bit :whistle:.

As I said a bunch of years ago, it was a bit tongue in cheek. Was just playing around with some stereotypes. I do still think there's more fat famous bass players than there are fat guys on other instruments. Not a judgement, but an observation I made, that may or may not be valid. The black thing and the girl thing were just stupid but gave us all a bit more to talk about :). My apologies if I offended anyone, it really wasn't my intent.
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We need to stop being so damn sensitive and PC.... it is gonna kill us faster than America getting fatter.

Now... with that said..... you do not have to be fat to be a great bass player.... but it helps ;)
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