CHUD.com Community › Forums › MUSIC › Music › Favorite Bass Player?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Favorite Bass Player? - Page 3

post #101 of 119
9/7/07 at 5:32pm
Thread Starter 
I think, much to my surprise, this is the 1st thread I've posted that got 100 replies. I didn't think this'd generate such an enthusiastic response. In my experience, most people don't even knwo what a bass player does, let alone who any of them are, much less have an opinion as to who's a good one.
Reply
post #102 of 119
9/7/07 at 5:50pm
I have to absolutely agree with the Mike Mills and John Paul Jones love. I can't believe I didn't think of them sooner.

And this may get me chased out of the thread, but John Taylor is great. Once you get through the pop-new wave pretty-boy surface, the guy can play.
Reply
post #103 of 119
9/7/07 at 10:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan S~
Just for some aural/visual reference:

James Jamerson playing on Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On Just a beautiful bass line that keeps the song driving forward.
)
I've always preferred the bassline to Inner City Blues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDckI2P_DPA

Before it became the JK show, I really liked Stuart Zender's smooth bassplaying on the early Jamiroquai records up until Travelling without Moving, Zender's last album playing with Jamiroquai.
Reply
post #104 of 119
9/7/07 at 10:41pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dclaymoore
A second vote for Mr. Gordon Sumner. Classic pop stuff.
And don't forget to note the reggae influence (perhaps most readily apparent on "Walkin' on the Moon"). Mon.
Reply
post #105 of 119
9/8/07 at 2:28am
Quote:
And don't forget to note the reggae influence (perhaps most readily apparent on "Walkin' on the Moon"). Mon.
Another favorite with big reggae influence from the same album is "Bed's Too Big Without You", I used to wear that song out on repeat in my old ten disc changer.
Reply
post #106 of 119
9/8/07 at 2:53am
I wore my fingers out on it. I learned to play bass, if you'll call it playing, from Police and Burning Spear albums. But my favourite player, the guy who made me ask 'What are those four-stringed guitars called?', has got to be Mr. Lee.
Reply
post #107 of 119
9/8/07 at 2:57am
Or when it comes to favourites in terms of learning to play, Tina Weymouth. Jamming to Talking Heads is a lot of fun.
Reply
post #108 of 119
9/9/07 at 10:54pm
Another good Sting bassline is 'One World is Enough..' Simple and groovy. The grooviest Police track imo, that serves as a great piece for Stewart and Sting to get down together is 'Voices inside my head'. The bassline is simple, but Copeland's hi-hat and tom work make it extra kickass. Sadly, the way Sting plays it live, altering it into one of their Melody of Hits! performances, leaves it empty.
Reply
post #109 of 119
9/10/07 at 11:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaNewYork
And this may get me chased out of the thread, but John Taylor is great. Once you get through the pop-new wave pretty-boy surface, the guy can play.
Taylor's one of those really busy pop players I like. I have no idea if it's technical skill on the level of some of the other guys mentioned here, especially the funk guys he tends to emulate (any comments, bassists?), but he's really fun to listen to. It's neat that he brought that sensibility to what was basically a new wave pop band. I suppose that, if Tony Thompson could play alongside him in the Power Station, he's probably no slouch.

With busy bassists in rock/pop contexts, I always have a hard time figuring out if it's expertise or some combination of speed, luck, and fucking around. I feel the same way about Tommy Stinson, who was up and down the fretboard like crazy on the first few Replacements albums (at age 13 or so), but then settled down. Klaus Flouride from the Dead Kennedys and Matt Freeman from Rancid also play really catchy and fast bass parts, but I've got no idea how much of that's instrumental mastery and how much is velocity and a plain ol' ear for melody.
Reply
post #110 of 119
9/10/07 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB
Taylor's one of those really busy pop players I like. I have no idea if it's technical skill on the level of some of the other guys mentioned here, especially the funk guys he tends to emulate (any comments, bassists?), but he's really fun to listen to. It's neat that he brought that sensibility to what was basically a new wave pop band. I suppose that, if Tony Thompson could play alongside him in the Power Station, he's probably no slouch.
Technically, he's sound as a pound. He was one of the few true musicians that were bass players in the eighties new wave scene (Weymouth comes to mind as one of the others. Gary Valentine was no slouch either).

I was excited for the potential of Power Station because they had Talyor plus Thompson as a rhythm section and one of the masters of white funk/soul singing in Robert Palmer. Sadly, the one album never quite lived up to the potential.
Reply
post #111 of 119
9/10/07 at 3:20pm
Wow, I'm glad to see I'm not being laughed out of this thread for bringing up John Taylor - so thanks. He really is a great musician, and as much as I love his work with Duran Duran, he and Tony Thompson really were great during Power Station. That first album was great stuff.
Reply
post #112 of 119
9/12/07 at 9:47am
I came in to mention Chris Squire, but see he's already been mentioned, and commented on by Iggy. Personally, I love that bass sound, the bridging between a low frequency, and a more "crunchy" guitar tone.

Iggy, I didn't know that about the foam rubber, learn something new every day.
Reply
post #113 of 119
9/12/07 at 10:30pm
Thread Starter 
Read about it in Bass Player magazine. I was a charter subscriber when it launched. You play bass, Chris?

Edited to add: For that matter, how many of the rest of you play bass?
Reply
post #114 of 119
9/12/07 at 11:14pm
I play guitar, but I've dabbled in bass, and given bass lessons.
Reply
post #115 of 119
9/12/07 at 11:33pm
Some secondings:

Sting. Does "Message In a Bottle" even have a lead guitar part?

McCartney. The descending line on "Help" that follows the lyric "I'm feeling down" is pure genius. Also, "The Night Before".

And I'll add Baghiti Khumalo because I can't imagine Paul Simon's Graceland without him.

Me, I don't play anything. Used to sing though.
Reply
post #116 of 119
9/12/07 at 11:43pm
I don't really know anything about bass, but I wanted to give Mingus my love. I play tenor sax and his songs are so fun to play. He really lets the low instruments go nuts. The Pepper Adams solo in the intro to Moanin' is just classic.

EDIT: Here's the best version of Moanin' I could find on Youtube. Haitian Fight Song is another favorite of mine.
Reply
post #117 of 119
9/13/07 at 6:19pm
Bernard Edwards, James Jamerson, John Taylor (try finding anything close to the song "Rio" in today's pop), Marcus Miller (anyone heard him play Moonlight Sonata??), Roger Deacon, and the one of the most understated bassit in modern times: Sting.
Reply
post #118 of 119
9/16/07 at 11:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by IggytheBorg
Edited to add: For that matter, how many of the rest of you play bass?
Haven't played in years but it was my main instrument when I played in bands. Easier to get gigs.

I switched to guitar just to give me something to play at get togethers.
Reply
post #119 of 119
9/18/07 at 12:08pm
Started off on voice. Taught myself keys and bass and guitar in that order. Utility infielder means you rarely go without gigs.

Never got better than average on any of it, but can recognize the depths of excellence we're discussing here.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Music
CHUD.com Community › Forums › MUSIC › Music › Favorite Bass Player?