Musician lines aim at the person with the instrument — perfect pitch, being in tune, duets and the tragedy of unrequited harmonies. Open-mic nights, band practice and the merch table are the venues where the material meets its audience.
Specificity wins: a joke about a drummer's timing or a bassist's neglect says you actually looked, which is the whole game with musicians.
Musicians live with attention but are chronically short of specific attention, which is the entire strategy here: the line that references their actual playing beats the line that references their existence. The merch table conversation is the sanctioned approach vector.
Open-mic nights are the most forgiving venue — performers are pre-warmed and audiences are participants. Instrument stereotypes are community property: drummer-timing and bassist-neglect jokes come pre-approved. The music lines hold the general repertoire, and the occupation collection covers everyone else with a day job.
