Are we alone here?

[Carmine]

I was getting ready to write a general note on a different topic, referring to the membership here as "you guys"... and realized I was perhaps assuming incorectly that there are no female members here - at least none that I'm aware of? Am I wrong? I hope so.

[Addison]

I was tempted to send Greta Brinkman a message through her website to tell her about the board, but I got distracted or something and forgot about it...



http://www.bassgoddessgreta.com/

[andrew]

If there are any women members they've never identified themselves as such. I'd assume it's all dudes until someone pipes up otherwise.

[frankenjazz]

AWSOME! now i can be openly sexist j/k i think this place is definetly a boys club...oh well

[AustinLeftyBass]

I was tempted to send Greta Brinkman a message through her website to tell her about the board, but I got distracted or something and forgot about it...



http://www.bassgoddessgreta.com/

That bass looks 7 foot long!

[Frenchy-Lefty]

That's funny but yesterday I was thinking the same thing. We may well just be a bunch of geeky guys wasting way too much time talking about gear A female would certainly bring some respectability.

Talking about gear, I used to play with some players from Senegal. Many Senegalese bass players told me that when they started playing bass, they used bicycle brake cables as bass strings. I guess they did not have to wonder Flatwound/Half-wond? Heavy/Extra Light gauge? Stainless/Nickel? or any of this. All those guys were ripping beyond imagination and sounded awesome even when playing cheap basses. When I think about them, it always reminds me to be more humble and focused on music. Anyone who has spent a lot time in recording studios also knows that you will lose a lot of creativity if you start messing too much with gear.

So back to my initial thought, I often find female players being less gear focused (geeky!?) and more concerned about the overall music output than male players. Everytime I worked with a female guitar player, I was delighted to play with someone who did not deem necessary to blast their amp or play screaming solos on every tune.

[NoXX]

Addision,

I just checked out Greta's website. I'm sad to say I didn't know who she was prior to this, but now I know....she's awesome, and has played with so many cool people/bands. Thanks for the info!

[NoXX]

btw.... every time I see this thread, my mind starts to hum " I think we're alone now" by Tiffany. I really must get a life....

[Carmine]

....So back to my initial thought, I often find female players being less gear focused (geeky!?) and more concerned about the overall music output than male players...

Generally true in my experience as well. For example, Greta Brinkman has been endorsing/ playing that green Carvin LB70 for several years-- I don't think I've ever seen her playing much of anything else other than a black Carvin LB75 and a beat old right handed P bass upside down... and did you notice that she plays strung upside down? I read the below in an interview with her, realized we are soulmates (our first basses were both right handed abandoned pieces of crap that we learned to play upside down) and I was instantly in love:

"For me, even before I ever played a note, I always listened to the rhythm section, to me that's the backbone of any band. When I first left home at 16, someone had left a little homemade bass behind in the rooming house I was living in. A year later I joined a local punk band and learned to play. But this first bass was so badly made and crappy that I couldn't finger the frets with my left hand (I'm right-handed, actually), the action was too high. So, I figured it wouldn't make too much difference if I just turned the whole thing around and learned that way, plus it seemed to me that the fat string should be on the bottom."

Yeah Baby!

[Agent00Soul]

Addision,

I just checked out Greta's website. I'm sad to say I didn't know who she was prior to this, but now I know....she's awesome, and has played with so many cool people/bands. Thanks for the info!

She's also on Arni's site, although I have no idea how up to date it is. I saw her perform on a parade float in Coney Island with Moby some years back of all things!

[Carmine]

More Greta interview:

Q: Your right-handed, however, you play your instrument left handed. Is there any specific reason behind that or is it natural ?

A: When I first started in that simple punk band, I knew NOTHING about anything. It seemed logical to me that the fat string should go on the bottom, and I found it easier to finger the neck with my right hand (that first bass was a real piece of crap). As a result, I'm one of about 5 bassists that I know of worldwide to play left-handed upside down...

....Well hey Greta, there's more than 5 of us right here ... We need to email her....

[amimbari]

....Well hey Greta, there's more than 5 of us right here ... We need to email her....

make that 6 count me in...lol

[thumbslam]

If there are any women members they've never identified themselves as such. I'd assume it's all dudes until someone pipes up otherwise.

Oh man, we are all lefties and it's a sausage party???? I feel like I am a circus freak....

[andrew]

If there are any women members they've never identified themselves as such. I'd assume it's all dudes until someone pipes up otherwise.

Oh man, we are all lefties and it's a sausage party???? I feel like I am a circus freak....

Think about it, we account for about 10% of bass players, what percentage of bass players in general are women? Put those two stats together and women southpaw bassists have to be quite rare. I wonder how many women are on Arni's site and what percentage of bassists on his site they make.

[Addison]

Think about it, we account for about 10% of bass players

I've heard it's even more like in the 1% to 3% range.

[amimbari]

I actually believe there are less lefty-ladies than inverted lefties FOR SURE, and lefty-ladies-inverted??? yikes....

[Carmine]

Think about it, we account for about 10% of bass players

I've heard it's even more like in the 1% to 3% range.

Wouldn't the natural percentage of Lefty players be relatively consistent with the general population, which (depending on what defintion of "left-handedness" is used) is generally agreed to be at around 7% - 10%?

So wouldn't a 1% to 3% number have to mean that over 70% of natural Lefties just cop out and decide to learn to play right handed (or worse, that a disporportionate number of left handed people never try to learn to play at all)?

[amimbari]

So wouldn't a 1% to 3% number have to mean that over 70% of natural Lefties just cop out and decide to learn to play right handed?

shocked?

hahaha you shouldn't be cause a LOT and I mean a LOT of the Boys on TalkBass say that they are lefty thru and thru but were forced to play righty so they could buy a "special" guitar or bass "meant" for them only in righty...

[Addison]

So wouldn't a 1% to 3% number have to mean that over 70% of natural Lefties just cop out and decide to learn to play right handed (or worse, that a disporportionate number of left handed people never try to learn to play at all)?

Yes, as amimbari said, that's exactly what that means.

Talkbass has an entire club for "Lefties Who Play Righty"... I was almost one of them myself, but I was too stubborn.

In hindsight, I wish I would have listened.

[Carmine]

I don't know, maybe you guys are right... but if those numbers are truly accurate, then it would seem to me that if I were a major manufacturer there would really be NO motivation AT ALL for me to mass produce ANY left handed basses in advance. For 1-3% of the total market? Everything would be special order ONLY....