Nail Soup Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 When people wanted to say they were OK but not great at football they could say "well, I'm no David Beckham, but......" or similar. That name would be widely recognised to equate to "a good footballer", even amongst non-football fans. Is there a bass player whose name you could use in the same sentence structure and would be similarly recognised? (Not just know the name like Paul McCartney, but know they are a bass player) Or is bass just too far outside the public consciousness? "Well, I'm no Bernard Edwards" anyone? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford13 Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 I reckon Flea would be the guy to fit this bill. He is the biggest household name bass player I can think of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted April 25, 2021 Author Share Posted April 25, 2021 9 minutes ago, Crawford13 said: I reckon Flea would be the guy to fit this bill. He is the biggest household name bass player I can think of. Good one.... but due to his choice of name you'd have to contextualise it by mentioning bass. Otherwise they might think "I'm no Flea" means "Well, I can jump quite high" 😀 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upside downer Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Lemmy? Don't know if the general public knew or cared what he used to make that magnificent noise. I used to tell people my playing was somewhere between Sid Vicious and John Entwistle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford13 Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 1 minute ago, Nail Soup said: Good one.... but due to his choice of name you'd have to contextualise it by mentioning bass. Otherwise they might think "I'm no Flea" means "Well, I can jump quite high" 😀 That's very true, I'm not sharp enough to think on that level. I would just say that and wonder why folk were looking at me funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munurmunuh Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Given the role the bass typically takes, it would be more like "I'm no Kenny Sansom but....." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted April 25, 2021 Author Share Posted April 25, 2021 1 minute ago, Ricky Rioli said: Given the role the bass typically takes, it would be more like "I'm no Kenny Sansom but....." Proving your point I had to Google that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 I’m no Derek Smalls, but... 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munurmunuh Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 I'm no Martin Kemp, but..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 See, it doesn't work. Bassists would need to be a household name....there are bassists named on this forum I've never even heard of. Just who is John Myung?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamg67 Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Lack of practice recently (no active project at the mo) means I'm no Adamg67 just at the moment. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 'Well, I'm no Charles Mingus'.... and when they respond 'Who is Charles Mingus?', just raise your eyebrows and mutter 'Don't you know anything?' 😂. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seashell Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 I once asked the 6 people in my office if any of them could name any bass players at all. None of them could, even though one of them was married to a drummer and regularly went to gigs. They couldn't name the bass player in any of the bands they professed to like. Some of them had heard of Lemmy, Suzie Quattro and Phil Lynott but had no idea that they played bass. They weren't even sure about Paul McCartney. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliverBlackman Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 David Beckham transcended football and was also known for his fashion. I guess in that sense we (the bass player community) have Bootsy Collins 😅 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 "So, you play in a band, do you ?" "Yes, but I'm no lead singer or guitarist" "Drummer ?" "No" "Keyboards ?" "No" "So you must be the roadie, then ?" 🥺 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 Geddy Lee? Adam Clayton? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendall Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 I'm no John Taylor but I have a reasonably good hair cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 10 minutes ago, kendall said: I'm no John Taylor but I have a reasonably good hair cut. Haha I’m no Adam Clayton but at least I don’t have to hang out with Bono.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernaut Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 I'm no Mark King, but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 I’m no Aston ‘family man’ Barrett but I have got lots of jazz basses 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 (edited) These days among footy fans / amateur players I'd have thought they're more like to say 'I'm no Messi / Ronaldo' . Anyway pedantry aside, I can't think of any guitarist, let alone bass player, whose name would trip off the tongue of the average person in the street. I mean, even Hendrix means next to nothing to millennials and non-rock fans Edited April 26, 2021 by Barking Spiders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernaut Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 27 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said: I mean, even Hendrix means next to nothing to millennials Er... no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassedinBucks Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said: These days among footy fans / amateur players I'd have thought they're more like to say 'I'm no Messi / Ronaldo' . Anyway pedantry aside, I can't think of any guitarist, let alone bass player, whose name would trip off the tongue of the average person in the street. I mean, even Hendrix means next to nothing to millennials and non-rock fans That's sad but true. Maybe Eric Clapton or Ed Sheeran would be a more widely known guitarists than Hendrix, even amongst millennials. As for bass players, maybe Sting might be well known? I bet the same difficulty in choosing a keyboard player or drummer may apply, kids these days only seem to know the lead singer of the latest boy band who's been hogging the front page or tweeting the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tegs07 Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 1 minute ago, BassedinBucks said: That's sad but true. Maybe Eric Clapton or Ed Sheeran would be a more widely known guitarists than Hendrix, even amongst millennials. As for bass players, maybe Sting might be well known? I bet the same difficulty in choosing a keyboard player or drummer may apply, kids these days only seem to know the lead singer of the latest boy band who's been hogging the front page or tweeting the most. Followers on Instagram are an important metric. My kids were deciding on who to see at a festival and ruled out some old codger called Lionel Ritchie as they had never heard of him and his number of followers was not high enough 😜 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 (edited) 19 hours ago, Nail Soup said: Or is bass just too far outside the public consciousness? Yes. Edited April 26, 2021 by ahpook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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