Why so many fat bass players?

[devnulljp]

Ha, I've noticed that too. Never really figured it out. The only fat guitar player I can think of is Shawn Lane (RIP).

Leslie West was fairly chunky in his day.

I always thought Yngwie looked like a bloated whale.

 

[friedlbug]

Good thing somebody necro-bumped this thread. I don't know what we would have done without it.

Some of the best information I've read is archived on this site. In contrast, some of the shallowest garbage on the Internet graces it's front page daily.

 

[JRA]

What with the fat? I wanna know.

mexican beer brands do it for me. how about you?

 

[hondo4life]

It's hard to get fat when you a lot of cocaine.

 

[gjohnson441496]

I was thinking about this the other day after looking at some YouTube vids made by bass players. I've made a conscious decision to manage my health. I teach cycling classes at the Y, ride my bike when the weather is right, and as much as possible eat a healthy diet.

All that weight will be bad on the knees and heart. Diabetes and sleep issues can also arise. I feel bad for the guys and ladies I see with all that weight cause I know how hard it is to get in shape and stay in shape

 

[bassexplorer]

More phat equals more mass, equals more lows, equal more balance, equals less stress, equals more comfort, all that resulting in better groove, period.

 

[calypsocoral302]

The guitarists and frontmen get to "burn some calories" with the groupies after each gig.

Bass just isn't the "sexy" instrument.

 

[southgabass]

I'm a big guy 6' 290lbs, in good health, not on a medication fueled life. But, I've been this size since I was 11 or so (I was a massive middle schooler). But you know how many times we'd call a club for a gig and hear "Are you the band with the crazy fat bassist who jumps and runs around all night?" "You guys can come back anytime as long as he's there"... Nothing against skinny guys, I just know I'm not built to be small. May be time to try to change that, but over 2 decades of it with little to no fluctuation make me think its not in the cards. Size makes not the bassist. And hell after carrying everyone in the band all night, I needs my beauty rest lol.

 

[jamro217]

Time for an infomercial. "Hi, I just lost 30 pounds on the FatDemolisher diet. It's the easy, stress free, low carb way to watch the fat just melt away..." Now for the disclaimer, found in the microscopic print buried in the 19th paragraph of page 37, which says: "All bassists who lose in excess of 50 pounds will be required to learn another instrument, preferably guitar..."

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Most bass players don't have the same flash 'tude as guitar players.
The guitar player wants to be out front, so he also wants to look thin & trim while he's doing it.

Drumming should naturally help a person shed pounds, but Bonham managed to stay pretty big.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Classy necro thread!

5'10" 170lbs at my heaviest. At 43, I work out daily to maintain my fitness.

 

[Cristofre]

Was just looking at the back cover of the new BP mag. Then watched a couple of videos in current threads. Why so many fat bass players, and how come fat bass players can become famous, but not fat guitarists or singers? Does being fat make a better bass player? Like being black makes a better bass player? And being a girl makes a worse drummer? There are a lot of really great fat black bass players. Great fat white ones too. What with the fat? I wanna know.

I always thought bass players tended to be TALL. It seemed to me over the years that in many bands the bass player was the tallest member. I've always been the tallest in every band I've been in.

 

[tlc1976]

I'm 5'8" and 150# and bony. Even with a padded 3" strap, a lot of times it would be nice to have some natural padding to support that 10# bass hanging off my shoulder.

 

[jamro217]

Is this supposed to somehow enable us to avoid dieting?

 

[5StringBlues]

I love the sound of sausage.

 

[LordRyan]

I would guess the introduction of the 6-string Bass led to an increase in the number of overweight players. These Basses tend to be bigger and heavier which is more suited to being handled by a big guy. The lower frequencies these put out resonate better against a massive body.

 

[Ductapeman]

 

[Matthew Fisher]

"Bass was the thing that the fat boys got lumbered with and were asked to stand at the back and play . . . So I definitely didn't want to do it but Stuart left, and I got lumbered with it. Later I was quite happy . . . " ~ Paul McCartney

Lighten up on the wood bass advocacy. ;-)

 

[Matthew Fisher]

Here's a big guy on bass. I don't care either way about his size, but it gives me a chance to bring his name up, and his playing makes me happy.

 

[Bassmaticmatt]

Because you can't have bass players getting more chicks than guitar players.