What are your irrational prejudices? I have some bonkers ones...

[AinsleyWalker]

I've got another one that might ruffle a few feathers

 

Roundwound strings...

 

Put down yer 'big guitar' and get back to reality - flats are for bass . 

[HeadlessBassist]

54 minutes ago, walshy said:

Headless Basses

Amps that overhang the cab 

Basses on stupidly short straps

Furniture looking Basses

All IEM and no amps on stage 

 

 

 

So that Curly Claro Walnut headless Status KingBass with the MK-style ultra short strap, DI preamp pedal & the top shelf Inner Ear System we were going to buy you for Xmas would be unwelcome gifts, then? 

[HeadlessBassist]

5 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

I've got another one that might ruffle a few feathers

 

Roundwound strings...

 

Put down yer 'big guitar' and get back to reality - flats are for bass . 

 

No feathers ruffled whatsoever  I feel the same way about flats. Luckily, we're all different. 

[AinsleyWalker]

Just now, HeadlessBassist said:

 

No feathers ruffled whatsoever  I feel the same way about flats. Luckily, we're all different. 

 

Oh that's disappointing.. was hoping for a scrap 🤛🏼

[HeadlessBassist]

2 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

 

Oh that's disappointing.. was hoping for a scrap 🤛🏼

 

 Not in this heat, Ainsley... 🫠

[tauzero]

Flatwound strings on decent basses. Just stick to putting them on Fenders.

[kwmlondon]

My goodness, I never realised what a seething pit of resentment and hatred we had here on basschat! Get it all out and purge yourselves!!!

[Beer of the Bass]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

Flatwound strings on decent basses. Just stick to putting them on Fenders.

I was surprised how many of the earlier Alembic users were on flatwounds, it tends not to be what I think of those basses as doing 

[AinsleyWalker]

1 hour ago, kwmlondon said:

My goodness, I never realised what a seething pit of resentment and hatred we had here on basschat! Get it all out and purge yourselves!!!

I feel better already, thanks Doc!

Edited 19 hours ago by AinsleyWalker

[HeadlessBassist]

When Scott Devine goes on and on ad infinitum about being 'in the pocket'. Ugh! I assume you mean playing together, tightly and rhythmically?

 

My keys and wallet are in my pocket. I play in time and right in the middle of the beat. When playing in a Big Band I play on the leading edge of the beat to pull the brass players along.

 

We don't need silly buzz words and catch phrases.

[Cliff Edge]

On 08/08/2025 at 09:36, Len_derby said:

Not really a prejudice, but I’ve never understood why anyone would wear a hat when someone else has taken the trouble to provide a perfectly good, weatherproof roof over their heads. Ungrateful, I call it 😂

I can never understand why people wear hats in cars. Especially the driver, I always stay well away from them. Same goes for country singers and cowboy hats. And anyone who wears a baseball cap when not playing baseball. (I have a couple of those).
Oh yes, and bass players with the bass just above the knee when standing.  

[AinsleyWalker]

I've got another non-bass one..

Bleep bloop modular..

 

Pick some notes yourselves, cowards!

[prowla]

8 hours ago, Belka said:

Yes, I know a lot of people here love the idea of modding basses, imagining themselves as some kind of mad Frankenstein in a shed putting together a monster that they think will slay USA Fenders or boutique basses, but having a shed and a screwdriver does not make you the bass world's equivalent of Colin Chapman.

 

Harley Bentons/Squiers are fine for what they are. They don't need USA Hipshot Ultralites, Babicz bridges, Kiogon looms or Warman pickups. If you want a £250 bass, buy one and play it. If you want to spend £1000s, there are plenty of great options off the shelf already.

My Frankenstein!

 

 

(Or is it Fronkenshtone?)

[Cliff Edge]

Venues that advertise “Live Music” and put on a person singing to a Karaoke backing track.

People who think they are musicians who sing to karaoke backing tracks. 

[KingBollock]

53 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

I can never understand why people wear hats in cars. Especially the driver, I always stay well away from them. Same goes for country singers and cowboy hats. And anyone who wears a baseball cap when not playing baseball. (I have a couple of those).
Oh yes, and bass players with the bass just above the knee when standing.  

… I grab my walking stick and hat as I leave the house. Jump in the van, still wearing my hat (leather flat cap), and off we go to the lake to do some fishing. I take my hat off before I get out of the van, get set up and put on a different hat (peaked cap)…

 

I sometimes wear my hat (flat cap) indoors if I’m feeling particularly paranoid and worried someone might nick it (it wasn’t cheap) or that I might forget it and leave it behind.

 

There are sunglasses involved, too, but I can’t be bothered with the details.

 

 

[bass_dinger]

People who wear their basses low, and thus, have to bend the wrists on their fretting hands at a sharp angle.

 

My prejudice is that they therefore cannot play well  - and certainly not with dexterity and finesse. 

 

Yet I see such players on videos, in huge bands, and they seem to be managing OK. Maybe my prejudice is irrational...

 

 

Also, I don't understand how mathematicians calculate Pi and assume that it is all smoke and mirrors.  I have an irrational prejudice about an irrational number....

 

 

 

 

 

[Rich]

17 hours ago, prowla said:

People writing "gb" for gigabytes...

"g" is for grammes and "b" is for bits, so "gb" is gram-bits.

"G" is for giga and "B" is for bytes, so "GB" denotes gigabytes.

Ah, but it also denotes Great Britain. One Britain is bad enough, can you imagine how awful 1024 of them would be? Oh, the tera!

Edited 9 hours ago by Rich

[LowB_FTW]

2 minutes ago, Rich said:

Ah, but it also denotes Great Britain. One Britain is bad enough, can you imagine how awful 1024 of them would be? Oh, the tera!

I see what you did there. 😂

 

Mark

[prowla]

4 hours ago, Rich said:

Ah, but it also denotes Great Britain. One Britain is bad enough, can you imagine how awful 1024 of them would be? Oh, the tera!

Well, G is for 1 billion, so it'd be billions of times worse.

1024 would be kB, which wouldn't then be GB.

Unless you believe in the multiverse, in which case they already exist in all permutations, every second of every day, and thus far exceeds even a TB and even a personal best (PB).

Incidentally, just as "g" is excluded as a prefix because it is the symbol for grammes, "K" isn't allowed because it is the symbol for the Kelvin temperature range.

Thus kilogrammes are denoted by kg.

OK?

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by prowla

[AinsleyWalker]

6 hours ago, Rich said:

Ah, but it also denotes Great Britain. One Britain is bad enough, can you imagine how awful 1024 of them would be? Oh, the tera!

Make Britain Giga Again!

[Leonard Smalls]

15 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

being 'in the pocket'. Ugh! I assume you mean playing together, tightly and rhythmically?

Not quite... "Pocket" can be described as a “sweet spot” where the music feels solid and unified without feeling overly rigid or stiff. It's sort of more "feeling the groove together" rather than rigidly playing to a metronome. It's like the difference between some heavily music-schooled jazz bands that, while exceptionally tight and right-on-time, just lack that syncopated  groovy feel.

[Franticsmurf]

During my formative bass playing years I had a dislike of big bodied basses with a 4 in line headstock. Being relatively short (5'7") most bases look too big on me. I remember seeing a band where the bassist was shorter than me and he was playing a Jazz. To my eyes it didn't look good on him, and I went down the route of headless and short scale basses for a few years. I still don't like that slightly large jazz bass body and have a preference for 3+1 or 2+2 headstocks but I think it's more aesthetic than irrational prejudice these days. 

[AndyTravis]

18 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 'in the pocket'. Ugh!

“groove” - said way more slowly than needed

”jam” - Pronounced “jhhhaaaam”

 

calling instruments “Axe” - bollocks that is.

 

just really cheesy musical chit chat.

 

”ahh mahhhn, that’s a sweeee-eeet Axe brah; bet you can reeeeeaaallly jhaaam out some sweee-eet grooooves on her…what’s her name?”

 

”blue epiphone”

 

”oooft niiice”

 

🙄😆

[Beer of the Bass]

This is reminding me of the music teacher who took our high school big band. He'd go off on these diatribes about swing and how if you had to ask, you did not got it, like some parody of a 50s jazz cat. Perhaps not the most effective way to educate.