Favorite Bass Player? - Page 2

Nice to see the Mark King love. Just an amazing bass player.

James Jamerson and Bob Babbit - Funk Brothers

Donald "Duck" Dunn - Most famous for the Blues Brothers but also the bassist for Booker T and the MGs

Willie Dixon

Tommy Shannon - Double Trouble

Roscoe Beck

Quite simply these guys influence my style more then anyone. The bass as a rhythm instrument plus the ability to take lead when necessary. I love their versatility and their ability to sit in the pocket and support the band.

John Myung, Dream Theater. I know he's been mentioned, but DAMMIT! I'm mentioning him again! Total spider-fingers on the bass.

I'll second the Geddy Lee and Tony Levin love as well.

I'll third the Levin. Papa Bear is the shit.

But damn, kids....James Jamerson. James FUCKING Jamerson. Seriously. Listen to the bass on all those freakin hits from Motown and keep this in mind: He used one finger. There's stuff most guys can't PLAY without two hands working it and he pulled everything with his index finger. Talk about timing. Talk about strength. Listen to his note choices and the pocket and the groove and then look at your great techical guys and ask how many top ten hits they played on.

For sheer taste, tone, approach and chart success, I doubt you can truly find a worthy competitor to the man.

Why would anyone mention J-Lo's husband?

Because I'm an idiot. Who was drained of life and energy by Rob Zombie's Halloween. That's right, I'm blaming Halloween.

And I'm also pissed because I forgot to mention Mingus earlier as well. Shit.

I saw Pastorius with Weather Report when I was in college. He was amazing. In fact, with Weather Report's lineup at that time, it was almost like there was too much talent on stage. Stanley Clarke performed later that year in the same series.

Wow... I've seen Clarke play live, but Weather Report with Jaco would've been incredible. That guy had technique, theory, groove, taste... everything.

I'm not meaning to disrespect rock players at all, by the way. Hope my previous post didn't read that way.

I'd like to put forward Doug Wimbish (Tackhead & Living Color)

(Edited to correct crap spelling)

If you've never heard of Victor Wooten:

1) Shame on you
2) enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6t47pV8Qc
3) also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9a4ThBNacY

Agreed. Watching him play is fucking nuts, I don't know how anyone's fingers can move like that.

Justin Chanceller of Tool.

P-Nut of 311.

Fieldy from Korn isn't that good of a bass player, but his slap/pop style fits their music well.

Limp Bizkit sucked ass, but Sam Rivers was a hell of a bass player. In fact, that whole band had talent except for Durst.

Gene Simmons. A great meat and potatoes bass player.

Donald "Duck" Dunn. The Blues Brothers, also a big session player.

Here's one that just came to me, Ryan Martinie from Mudvayne. Say what you will about Mudvayne, but I think he is a great bass player.

All of Abbey Road, especially I Want You (She's so Heavy) and You Never Give Me Your Money.

I can't recommend anyone in here that hasn't already been mentioned, I'm a fan of Mingus, Claypool and Wooten when it comes to "Non-Band" players (in other words, bass players that can stand alone, you don't need to hear them with the rest of the band). I've always loved McCartney' s bass work, and I've always liked Sting's simple but effective playing. Mark Sandman's passing was a huge loss to the bass guitar, and music in general.

I should look up, but I'll ask instead, has anyone mentioned Bootsy? You wouldn't have most of the Slap and Poppers without Bootsy Collins.

I want to echo the Victor Wooten love. The dude's AMAZING, both live and on record.

Les Claypool
Les Claypool
Les Claypool

Bootsy may have popularized it, but Larry Graham usually gets credited with inventing it.

Also, with all the talk of James Jamerson (rightly), I'm surprised no one's brought up Carol Kaye, who played on tons of 60s recordings and claims to have played some of the parts normally attributed to Jamerson.

Wooten is fun as hell to watch live. He manages to not get too hung up on the technical showmanship (and he smokes anyone else I've seen in this capacity) and keeps things nice and melodic.

The problem with Great Bassists is often that they're not very adaptable. It seems like once they reach a certain level of technique that they lose the ability to hang back and just play a melody or a groove. Thus they continue to work in jazz and in prog-rock environments that require insane levels of musicianship, but they can't play a Beatles cover without doing runs up and down the fretboard or slapping over the whole thing. So I've got a lot of respect for Tony Levin, who maintains a pretty audible personal style, but manages to handle the off-time, complicated wackiness in latter-day King Crimson and can still nail a groove on one of Peter Gabriel's pop-soul offerings like "Steam."

And I love Mark Sandman's playing, too. Incredibly unique and moody.

Also, major props to John Entwhistle who was basically covering for Keith Moon's wonderfully solo-happy lack of backbeat and Pete Townshend's preference for big chords over melody lines.

His highlight was obviously the free-form exploration in "Jazz Odyssey"

I recall driving around in the mid-90s listening to some "alternative" station - they played the Spin Doctors' "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" (which, whatever you think of it, has a pretty snappy bassline that requires some dexterity to play) and I was thinking "hmm, that guy isn't half bad...." when the next song, "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver" came on. Ain't the same ballpark, ain't the same league, barely the same goddamn SPORT.

One can only expect that Fordyce stabbed himself in the eye during a fit of integrity.

Rocco is dynamite. He had a very unique style that allowed him to pluck and mute yet never lose the sustain. Apparently he's quite ill right now but hopefully he'll recover to play with ToP again.

Pick up Live and in Living Color for some great live cuts or Ain't Nothin Stoppin' Us Now for his studio work. The production on Ain't Nothin' sound a little dated but the music is hot.

If we're talking jazz then Jimmy Garrison should be mentioned, he was a superb bass player.

1) Charles Mingus

Yeah, that'll do it.

For favorite, I'll have to say Marcus Miller and Flea.

Claypool is one crazy motherfucker, and there's a video of him doing a solo, titled 'Awakening', that is just incredible and great and melodic, but I have to say that while I recognize his talent in everything he does, they're not all great to me.

Rob Trujillo's old funk-metal band, Infectious Grooves had some really great bastard basslines, and that cocksucker can play anything.

For all you players out there, here's someone to look up to: Bill Clements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5ThulqDmKc

It's Flea bitches!!

Victor Wooten too. He's essentially a base guitar attached to anthropomorphic organic material.

Not to mention he can do a mean crab walk while playing.

Brian Wilson/Carol Kaye - if any one instrument could be singled out as the most important instrument on Pet Sounds, I think it would be bass.

Came across this video of Primus doing Master of Puppets, awesome is all I can really say.

I've seen Primus live three or four times, and I've gotta say they got a little more boring every time. Claypool is great at what he does, but what he does seems to require writing the same batch of songs over and over again. You're only experimental until it becomes obvious that you're a one-trick pony.

One of the more interesting times I saw Claypool play was on an 'experimental' stage at the Horde tour, where he and Mark Sandman co-fronted an unannounced Morphine/Primus hybrid band and played a few obscure Morphine songs. Primus' regular set that day was okay and Morphine's was stellar, but it was neat to see Claypool and Sandman having a good time fucking around... until Leftover Salmon, a shitty jam band, started on an adjacent stage, forcing them to stop and prompting the evil eye from Sandman.

I have to agree. I saw them live about a year ago and it was incredibly underwhelming. I love their records but their live shows (and maybe this is only true of their more recent shows) lack the kind of manic energy that the albums suggest. A lot of their songs, when all three members are all going full throttle, seem like they could go off the hinges at any moment. Not true of their live show.

I've seen Primus quite a few times, granted not since the nineties, and energy was never the problem. Hmm.

In this decade I've seen Les and his various forms probably just as many times and never did I think he or his band were underwhelming or phoning it in.

I don't know. I'm busy stabbing myself in the eye anyway.

For the record, it's probably less their energy and more mine. Last time I saw them (late 90s), they seemed perfectly happy and excited to be playing the same types of songs over and over again. I was just bored with it.

Exactly. Frankly, I don't give two shits about bass-players who can kick-ass. A good musician plays exactly what the song needs and nothing more. This is why I hate prog-rock like Rush, bands like Primus, and the last Tool record. It's no longer about the song and it's more like showing off. Primus is one of the worst offenders in this regard. It's like Les Claypool would learn some new bass technique and write a song around it. Feh. 10,000 Days suffers so much because Tool forgot how to meld their abilities with songwriting.

For my money, my favorite bass-players are Mike Mills from R.E.M., Eric Avery from Jane's Addiction, and John Curley from Afghan Whigs.

Here's a list of my favorites. Hard to pick a number one.

Jack Bruce
Cliff Burton
Les Claypool
Bootsy Collins
Donald "Duck" Dunn
John Entwistle
Flea
Larry Graham
Steve Harris
John Paul Jones
Geddy Lee
Tony Levin
Christopher Squire
Mike Watt

Noel Redding. Gotta respect a guy who could hold his own in a trio with Hendrix. Even more interesting to note that prior to auditioning for the Experience, Redding didn't play bass , he played guitar, and Hendrix just liked his attitude.

As far as rock bassists, my favorite would be Mike Watt, who plays stuff as complex as Flea or Claypool without being as showy.

Of course, you have to give it up for Larry Graham .

And I really love how Mike Mills' basslines always seem to complement, flesh out, or provide some counterpoint for REM's songs. He really adds something to the songs with his playing.

My faves:

Geezer Butler
Cliff Burton
Sting
Les Claypool
Steve Youth
Tony Lombardo
Karl Alvarez
Noel Redding
John Paul Jones
Joe Lally
Daryl Jennifer
Bootsy Collins
Larry Graham

Oh yeah, and Norwood Fisher - I'm surprised no one's mentioned him actually. He's ridiculous.

Stu Hamm is the only CD I have that's exclusively bass-themed. I also saw him with Satriani and was hooked. My favorite of his--"Country Music (A Night in Hell)". Not really because of any great hooks, changes, etc., but just for the pure hilarity of the song. There are no lyrics, but there's an intro and outro that gives you an idea of what the title means.

Yeah he is. That bass break he does on "Bonin' in the Boneyard" is pretty amazing. I actually met him a few weeks ago. Cool guy.

CJ & Dee Dee. Big Ben from Soundgarden. Dave Wm. Sims from Jesus Lizard. Off the top of my head.

I'm gonna go with the Mark King love as well. He's awesome.

I don't disagree with you or DaveB (who you quoted) in that I think playing with "taste" & in-the-pocket is very important. I'd argue that a lot of rock tracks don't have the interesting grooves or changes to make the bass lines
themselves all that interesting. & "taste" (subjective as it is) is not automatically absent in bass playing outside the genre of rock/pop.

& you are right - often, songs are constructed around the player's style. But, if it's a groove-based song, I don't see why this would be a problem, provided the song is worth listening to of course.

I also agree that a lot of players stand out because the bass lines are almost incongruous to the song. If it is incongruous, it IS a shit line played without "taste" and/or the song is shit, so I'm not gonna argue with that one.

See, I did it again - I sound like I'm dissing rock/pop players. & I honestly am not. My point is that a lot of rock/pop players play well. I may enjoy the track but I don't find the "playing" itself impressive.

A second vote for Mr. Gordon Sumner. Classic pop stuff.

Just for some aural/visual reference:

Tony Levin playing on Peter Gabriel's Steam I find this performance amazing because Levin plays in the pocket while still creating a unique performance. Just fuckin' amazing!

James Jamerson playing on Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On Just a beautiful bass line that keeps the song driving forward.

Willie Dixon's I'm Nervous His bass line's are still the standard for Memphis style blues. Plus it's a great vocal performance from one of the greats.


Mark King with Level 42 Love Games White boys can play funk, too!

Rocco from Tower of Power What is Hip Again, just a great sound with an amazing funk groove.

And lastly the brilliant Donald "Duck" Dunn with Eric Clapton plus the rest of the MGs - Love Minus Zero Couldn't find a video version of B Movie Box Car Blues which not only contains a brilliant bass line from Dunn but a really smooth guitar lick from Matt Murphy (mmmm...a strat clean through a Marshall)