The cool conundrum......

[Shaggy]

Went to see Turin Brakes play an excellent gig at Pontardawe Arts Centre last night - the bassist (Eddie Myer) playing some lovely melodic lines, although mixed far too low

Got me pondering once more on why the bassist is almost always the coolest looking dude in the band - seems to be the rule for rock and pop, and invariably the case for soul, funk and jazz bands.

Just bias on my part? And is it bass attracting the coolest musicians, or does bass transfer coolness on the player, ultimately into a permanent state?

Apologies if done on previous threads.....

[colgraff]

An unkind person might suggest that vocalists and/or guitarists know they are cool so don't need to put in the effort that the bass player does.

[Doctor J]

In a room of cool people, Eddie would still exude more cool than most.

[EssentialTension]

Subject to the possibility that 'cool' is interminably subjective ... I have seen many very uncool bassists.

[lojo]

I think that the bass player is normally subtly grooving it looks cooler than jumping around doing solos then not being sure what to do with yourself for 2 verses on guitar, but I'm someone who also enjoys defensive tactics in football

[colgraff]

At school, I was the football team goalkeeper, in rugby I was a winger and in cricket a spin bowler. I feel all of those were leading me to the bass.

Edited February 28, 2016 by colgraff

[Bassassin]

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1456675433' post='2991265']
An unkind person might suggest that vocalists and/or guitarists know they are cool so don't need to put in the effort that the bass player does.
[/quote]

The thing is, singers & guitarists desperately, agonisingly want to be cool, and try really, really hard to look and act cool. Which is of course, spectacularly [i]not[/i] cool.

I don't get the impression that bassists as a breed are particularly interested in being cool (I'm certainly not) and as such, perhaps feel no need to try.

So the upshot is that some of them sometimes turn out to be a bit cool. Without trying. Or knowing. Or caring.



Jon.

[Japhet]

I'm so cool I don't even know I'm cool, and neither does anyone else.

[Merton]

I am by quite some distance the least cool member of my bands

[Old Man Riva]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1456682127' post='2991363']
I think that the bass player is normally subtly grooving it looks cooler than jumping around doing solos then not being sure what to do with yourself for 2 verses on guitar, but I'm someone who also enjoys defensive tactics in football
[/quote]
So Franco Baresi playing a bass would be your ideal?!

I'd go with that..