"But which one's the bass?" she asked innocently.

[The Bear Jew]

Hmmm...

To counteract any potential thoughts of mysogny here, I'd like to present my band's Amazon Roadette/Merchandise Girl/Light Tech/Sampler Operator/Photographer.

 

Avy is her name, and she changes guitar strings, sets up bass and guitar rigs, lugs gear, sells t-shirts and CDs, runs the smoke machine, triggers samples, helps load the van, clears the stage, packs up gear, hypes the crowd, scopes out girls, tosses us new basses or guitars when necessary, etc. Basically, the only thing she doesn't do is play onstage with us, and I suppose she technically does play an instrument... 'cause she triggers our samples.

 

Yeah, she knows the difference between a guitar and a bass.

 

And she's easy on the eyes, too.

[mcbn]

My girlfriend doesn't understand gear at all. It makes it easy to bring home new effects pedals. She doesn't even notice that my pedal board is different or that the sound coming from the amplifier has changed.

 

My favorite quote to date came from when I traded a Peavey Fury in on my US P-Bass. I took it out of the case to show her and she says, "That is EXACTLY like your other one!". She did realize that the old one was red and the new one is black.

[clatteramy]

Thanks to those of you who provided a bit of gender balance here. I think as many guys are as ignorant to the difference between bass and guitar as gals. Bass forums are so far tipped on the male side that it's easy to snicker at the ignorance of their partners, so I appreciate you guys sticking up for us "chicks."

 

And just for the record, I couldn't tell you what makes a P different from a J, but that doesn't make me any less of a bass player, IMHO.

 

/rant

[SpookyKid]

Originally posted by Edendude:

This thread is starting to have a little bit of a misogynistic feel to it, so to give it some balance I'd like to point out that...

 

I bet an equal proportion of the female bassists out there, experience the very same dumbass comments from their non-musician husbands and boyfriends.

 

So ladies, just so you know this thread is more about the ignorance of non-musican 'partners' in general, as opposed to just female partners. There just happens to be a whole lot more males on this message board.

 

Thanks brother.You guys all have me rolling with your sense of humor. You want to know if it's the same on the other side....damn right. I usually get "You play really good. What is that? a bass?"

 

Last weekend, I visted the music store and brought a long a non-musician. He was like a four year old. What's that? Wait how bout that it's only $200. What's the difference? It was pretty comical. Then I asked him to hand me the warwick. I should have known better. He grabbed it off this platform and almost knocked them all down...I was like no your not aloud to touch these..ok.

[Tom Capasso]

Originally posted by clatteramy:

And just for the record, I couldn't tell you what makes a P different from a J, but that doesn't make me any less of a bass player, IMHO.

Until a few years ago, that was me as well. Amy - it comes (at least partially) from our special choices of instruments - you Rickenbacker, me Gibson.

 

It's not a gender thing at all. My wife has been an editor and proofreader, and was shocked one day to realize I didn't know how to interpret any of those strange symbols used to mark up text.

 

Some interests and experiences are shared, some are not.

 

Tom

[EddiePlaysBass]

Originally posted by CMDN:

And she's easy on the eyes, too.

My god man, a picture !!! And quick Anyway, I know at least as many guys who couldn't tell a guitar from a triangle (I kid you not) as I do girls.

 

Tom, your wife's a proof reader? Cool !!! I'm hoping to get a job doing just that ... Guess I'll have to learn those symbols as well though

[Kendrix]

I have one each of acoustic and electric guitars.

Last year I bought a bass.

 

Wife to me: So why do you need another guitar? You already have two.

 

Me to wife: Its not a guitar is a bass.

 

Wife: Whatever- you just cant stop spending money on this can you?

 

Me:Yes dear.

[Eric VB]

I met my future wife when she was peaking through

the window of the music practice room in our dorm.

I was trying to make some noise with a gweetar

player I had just met, but was distracted by her

(and her girlfriend's) heads popping back and

forth into view through the window. So we let them

come in.

 

She asked if we knew her favorite song; we didn't.

 

Later on I found out she's partial to, ahem,

drummers. Also, she and her friend were scoping

out the guitar player that day. And yet despite

all that we still ended up together.

 

(Occaissionally I do play some percussion, and

have heard my wife excitedly blurt out to others

that I'm a "drummer", after which she realizes

her mistake: "I mean, bass player".)

 

[Her favorite song is "What I Like About You".

Recently we visited with one of the Romantics

-- they're still recording and touring -- and

when she complained that it took over 10 years

for me to play "her" song, he turned to me and

asked, "It took you 10 years to learn 3 chords?"

He said it so matter-of-factly that I totally

missed his joke!]

 

Oh, she knows music: classically trained piano,

violin, viola. The only challenge is getting her

to swing (musically).

[The Bear Jew]

This is Avy on a bench near the ocean in Myrtle Beach, S. Carolina when we were on tour last year.

http://pics.livejournal.com/cottonmouthdn/pic/0000sak9

 

Told you she was easy on the eyes.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Originally posted by CMDN:

Told you she was easy on the eyes.

I'll never doubt a single word you say Not that I did to begin with, but still ...

[Rick Hoffman]

Whoa...

 

Yo Erik! When are we gonna do a show together, man? \M/

 

PS- my girlfriend knows what a bass is...she took piano lessons when she was younger.