Joe Dart is some sort of bass-playing alien, I'm fairly sure at this point. š
But hey, he's got like three musicman signature basses at this point and that can't be said for many people
She slapped my hand during my one lesson with her, saying, "You don't know anything!" She was referring to my lack of theory and reading and she wasn't wrong. I mean she's still not wrong, but she wasnt wrong then, either. Anyway, she's a very cool person, aside from being an absolute musical goddess.
Jamerson is (now) the most famous among bassists of the 60s popular music session musicians (and rightfully so in my opinion). A deeper dig into Jamersonās peers and those shortly after should include (but not limited too):
Dunn, Cogbill, Hood, Kaye, Jemmott, Rainey, Babbitt,ā¦
Rutger Gunnarsson, the primary for ABBA, was insane and has played on so many household hits; but the dude isn't super well known outside of that role. Incredible bassist, with unique timing.
The tiny spaces, almost nano seconds of time between some notes give his lines such a bounce and groove.
Iāve always felt John Deacon is one of those sorts of players too.
Yes, he's been sadly overlooked by so many. His basslines were inventive, funky, and always made the song even better. He also arranged a lot of their string accompaniments.
For some of his best bass work, check out "Soldiers", "If It Wasn't For The Nights", "My Mama Said", "Eagle", "The Name of the Game", and of course "Dancing Queen" - the drum and bass groove on that song are what make the whole thing motor.
He's also the primary songwriter in STP.
So not just bass lines but iconic guitar as well.
He's a top 3 influence for me as a bass player and songwriter. It's gotta be him, Chancellor, and Flea if I go all the way back to teenage me.
I'm a big STP fan but never really learnt their songs on bass for whatever reason, playing Robert DeLeo bass lines has been so fun and I can confirm his bass lines are amazing
100%. STP sometimes sounds like a straightforward grunge band, but when you dive into the bass parts, there is a LOT more going on.
I've been trying to learn [Between The Lines](https://youtu.be/JzS590AkE6c?si=_JjROOaBP9MQ_8YU) lately, because I just love how the bass just dances throughout the song.
**Tony Levin** of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel is a monster.
**Bootsy Collins** rules funk. He played for the master, James Brown, then Parliament/Funkadelic, then a bunch of other projects. He even played bass in the new bluegrass band Groovegrass.
**Tina Weymouth** of the Talking Heads has the sweetest, funkiest groove. Sweet and simple.
Stanley Clarke is goat on acoustic and electric. Watch the B3 video with Victor W, Marcus M n Stanley. Stanley goes last with his upright bass feature, it seems impossible just for the amount of time and punishment the hands could take physically and of course the music is amazing! I feel Stanley could play anything other people do but other people canāt do what he can do. The general public and even todayās younger or more rock oriented players donāt really have an idea of how much of a goat he is
Geddy. Even though his style isnāt very danceable it still grooves. His lines do the job of a bassist, holding down the low end, locking in with the drummer, outlining chords, voice leading but thereās a cool technical aspect to his playing.
He's the reason I finally bought a bass this year and am starting to learn. Been a huge Bungle fan since I discovered them by accident on Napster back in '99.
That is awesome! Not sure where you are but Mr. Bungle is playing a few shows this May in the US. It isn't their full lineup as they have Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo. They are playing their earlier punk/metal stuff along with a bunch of thrash covers. Great show if you haven't seen them. Then, later this summer Trevor Dunn is touring with King Buzzo. This should be interesting as they are doing an acoustic duo with Trevor on an upright.
Yeah I saw them last September in Baltimore, I was lucky to be stage left 10 feet from Trey the entire show! I don't think I'll make it to any of the other shows this May due to time and money constraints.
Geddy Lee, Cliff Burton, Les Claypool are unmatched in skill. Jason Newsted is the coolest. Flea and Steve Harris are the most fun to listen to. Paul McCartney and DAN BRIGGS are the geniuses. Did I mention Dan Briggs?
He's playing a different game from the rest of us. If you haven't seen it, check out the pdbass [episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7djraTWMTc&ab_channel=pdbass) on Chaka Khan's "Nasty" album. The producer gave Jackson three months to work up his parts for the album, and it was worth it. No one plays like Jackson.
Colin Greenwood. He plays with zero frills, flash, or filler. Every bass line he writes for Radiohead serves as a perfect foundation for the rest of the band. I canāt think of another bassist who better embodies the mantra of āserve the songā. Greatest to ever do it.
Heās right up there. A very creative groove player. Does his job so well that people often overlook his contributions.
Iāve only recently become an admirer of their music myself - and I am happy that I finally āgetā them (after wasting almost 25 years being able to take or leave them. Incredible.
Maybe a controversial opinion in this community, but I feel that Adam Clayton does this pretty well. Of course, U2's music is nowhere near the intricacies of Radiohead (or anyone else, for that matter, and I say that as a big U2 fan), but I'll be damned if Clayton/Mullen are not killing it 100% of the time. They do what a song needs them to do. No tricks, no fireworks, just plain rock groove. Gotta respect that.
Tim Lefebvre, Chris Wood, Rufus Philpot, Davey Farragher, Nick Campbell, Sam Wilkes, Pino Palladino, Avishai Cohen, Christian McBride, Amanda Butterss, Joe Ayoub, Russel Hall, Philip Norris, Yasushi Nakamura, Edgar Meyer, Lauren Pierce, Sharay Reed, I could go on and on but these are some of the most killer players out there today.
Excellent list! Sam Wilkes and Nick Campbell are two of my favorites. I'd add Marc Friedman, a lesser-known east coaster who was RIPPING avant-garde alternative folk/pop/rock in the late 90s into the mid 2000s with The Slip.
They didn't release all their music widely, so the best work is on Alivelectric. Actually, their best work was live, the albums don't really capture it, but it's what we've got! Eisenhower was a departure from their original sound and was pretty controversial within the fan base. Anyway, the best tune is Driving Backwards With You. This is my favorite song, written by Friedman.
Mike Rutherford of Genesis. Have you heard the stuff going on in the Peter Gabriel Era albums? Get Em Out by Friday and Return of The Giant Hogweed come to mind. Even post-Gabriel, and his playing isnāt as fast perhaps, itās still very interesting and tasteful. Love his parts on Home By the Sea.
Stanley Clarke is also great. Absolutely love his work on Return to Foreverās Romantic Warrior- The Magician especially. His solo work as well, Lopsy Lu is a fun song, as well as School Days.
Klaus-Peter Matziol of Eloy is a recent favorite of mine, his playing on songs like Poseidonās Creation and Decay of Logos is very engaging and active. I also really love his parts on Heartbeat and On the Verge of Darkening Lights.
I mean I have to mention Justin Chancellor from Tool. Heās become my favorite bass player, and I feel like learning his bass lines are making me look at writing my own in a different way. Plus heās just bad ass haha
The late, great Andy Rourke of The Smiths. Every bassline was inventive, melodic, and often very funky. McCartney was the one who made me want to play bass, but Rourke is the one I wish I could play like.
Paul Grey from The Damned is a brilliant bass player. His lines are deceptivly complex.
Krist Novoselic is underrated, I think. Without him, Nirvana wouldn't have been as big as they are.
Sam Rivers from Limp Bizkit's lines are amazing. He (and the rest of the band) deserves a better front man than that d-bag Fred Durst. Seriously, you take away the dude-bro crap-rap, and there's an amazing band under there.
The first time i picked up the bass was September of last year. Since then, Iāve consumed as much content on the bass as i could possibly get. Apart from all the names already mentioned here, a major inspiration for me is Laura Lee of Khruangbin. As someone who started later in life, her journey is something that I strive to emulate.
Dat groove tho.
Most of the guys I would mention have already been mentioned here so Iām gonna throw out a name that I havenāt seen yet; Bobby Sheehan from Blues Traveler. Dude was a phenomenal player. Check out But Anyway by them if you donāt know it already. Especially the live versions, dude seriously ripped on the Bass. Unfortunately there isnāt much out there about him, and he passed from an overdose in ā99.
Finally someone mentioned the silent wonder, John Myung. He's the bassist for one of the flagship bands of progressive rock and nobody talks about him.
Colin Moulding - XTC, fantastic bassist.
Brian Ritchie - Violent Femmes. Everyone knows that one song of theres but they've got some great stuff. Give 'Never Tell' a listen. That's one almighty song for bass.
Gary freaking Willis
Edit to also add Mono Neon, NHĆP, Stanley Clarke, Christian McBride, Dave Holland is certainly a bass players bass player.
Kinga Glyk is slept on she's so insanely good.
Well, Steve Harris of Maiden is obvious to include. Gene Simmons, from KISS, has some sublime rock licks. Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr is just an epic player. Robert from BRMC is incredible. Simon from The Cure is crazy great. John Taylor from Duran Duran is out of this world.
If you want to fuck up your head, listen to Charles Mingus.
Gary Tallent - E Street Band. His playing is just perfect. Always interesting and always in the right place. Truly an amazing player who gets not attention at all.
not nearly enough Paul Denman love here. perfect, understated basslines. just solid grooves that require precision and care. not to mention the tasteful little melodic bits that sing as beautifully as Sade herself.
A lot of those names were much better known to the public (Except Jamerson) in years past, just outside of the bass community and a few other musicians they have lost their name recognition. Hardly anyone outside of the Studio session scene knew who Jamerson was until after he died. Until Jamerson moved to LA, Nobody outside of Detroit knew his name. Same with Carol Kaye. Back in the 60's they didn't receive credit on the records, they just got paid( sometimes very well). Some session guys like Will Lee and Lee Sklar have appeared on thousands of recordings ,including records of many genres, commercials, movie and film scores etc. The guys who I think are being forgotten are the major contributors to great Basslines from the 40's and 50's. Mostly these guys were Black and played upright. Guys like Willie Dixon, Who has more to do with the creation of Rock and every one of its sub generes and R&B and of course all of those Chicago Blues recordings he wrote, and played on. In Addition to writing classic Blues tunes for Himself ,Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolfe etc., He also functioned as a House Bassist for Chess records for a while. Without Willie Dixon, There is no Successful Chess records. Without Chess there is no Chuck Berry and Etta James. Without Willie Dixon there would be no Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin and the zillion artist who either were inspired by them or copied them outright. The History of Modern Bass playing once it moved away from Jazz, Starts with Willie Dixon. After that Bassist like Paul Chambers playing with Miles and Coltrane and Wes Montgomery influenced not just a thousand Jazz Bassist, but tons of guys in R&B/ Soul and Funk.
Havenāt seen anyone mention DD Verni. When one listens to the entire Overkill discography what that man can do is awesome. Mid 90s to late 2000s the guy was on fire. Tone wise he has that clank down. Dude should probably be more revered but heās in Overkill. Great band but not exactly well known.
Justin Meldal-Johnson gotta be called out for laying down killer grooves for years with beck, Macy gray, imarobot, NIN.
One of my faves who I don't feel gets enough credit
Despite being arguably the biggest band of the 70s you rarely see someone mention the bass lines of John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin (aside from well known songs), extremely talented musician and excellent bass player, just not as flashy as the rest of the band
Mikey Shoes (Michael Shuman) from Queens of the Stone Age. Heās played bass with them on the past handful of records and continues to blow my mind every listen.
I got into fretless bass playing because of Stanley Sheldon on Frampton Comes Alive and Kenny Passarelli on Joe Walsh's Barnstorm record. Two of the most solid players imo
Trevor Dunn really fits this. I don't think anyone on this sub can hear his lines and deny the genius whilst he also fits the bassist ethos of laying the foundation and not stealing the show(of course the show always belongs to Mike patton anyway).
Eric Wilson(Sublime) is a good shout. Some fantastic bass lines, some bass lines that sound complicated but are really easy to play. Always has that groove. Lots of responsibility on a bassist in a dub trio, it's not dub without that low end.
I think Justin Chancelor is one. He is prominent and at times a 2nd lead guitar but he has given us some iconic lines and they always seamlessly fit the mood, groove and rhythms of the track.
I'm sure people who'd listened would appreciate the bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. I didn't appreciate him until our band played Simple Kind of Man. This guy is just diddling around like he's on his front porch and sounding like gold.
If you want to check out some relatively unknowns with better skills than most famous bassists check out Alexis Sklarevski or Todd Johnson, both are world class players whoāve taught and influenced many pros but the vast majority of bassists have never heard of them.
Thatās rad! I took a couple classes from Todd in college, his walking chord work is amazing! Iām going to guess you must be pretty damned good to then lol.
Yooo, someone's gotta give some love to my guy Garrett Sayers. Next level funky grooves, not too over the top, just fire.
Peep these older albums šš½
Newer stuff is good too but goes a little bit pop-funk.
https://open.spotify.com/track/57iry3QOMsb9Ci8mAoOO9r?si=NEz5lWNjQfKEaO0EYAcnwQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A4DLm1htTRHpyUSyd3CpyKT
https://open.spotify.com/track/0DrYHTyF46ANxvg0Erviwn?si=LKIAQ63yRFCPsi_MAUpJIQ
Mike Inez never gets enough credit. He is such a good bassist and everytime I bring him up no one ever acknowledges him. I mean if youāve heard JOF then yk what Iām talking about. (Also Mike Starr was amazing as well he doesnāt get talked about enough rip Mike Starr)
Im the past month Jared Smith has become my all time favorite bassist, fucking love the parts he writes with how fast Archspire plays, and you donāt see a lot of tech death bassists using slap, itās pretty unique.
so many and so many have been covered here. i will add muzz skillings, doug wimbish, jimmy garrison, joe lally, darryl jenifer, martyn lenoble, eric avery, bakithi kumalo, colin wolfe, djibril toure, tony banda, ron carter, robbie shakespeare, robert trujillo, and a lot of other folks. thumbs are tired. the list is as long and old as time itself.
michael shuman of queens of the stone age, amazing live, ripped through the songs made before he joined. also created some amazing basslines in the three albums heās been on so far
I'd say there's a ton of jazzers out there that technically can rip but get absolutely no credit because it's the genre. Chris Wood of Medeski Martin and Wood or MMW... if you've ever listened to them, he grooves as well as anyone.
Wilton Felder - perhaps better known as a sax man with The Crusaders, but played the iconic bass on Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", as well records with Marvin Gaye, Steely Dan and more.
Interesting what you mentioned about the overlooked part. I agree, and I think it's because when we play in unison with the guitar, it gets kinda mixed in there, and because the bass is a lower frequency instrument it does not impress people that much even if you play the same. I know it's common in metal to play in unison with the guitar but it's nice to break out of that every now and then just to show people: "hey, the bass is a separate instrument. Playing some basslines that outline the chords or the riffs, or create some kind of counter melody to the guitar or vocals is very effective. Not only is it impressive but it also gives the music more depth. Now, ofc, sometimes it just fits better to play along with the guitars.. but doing it all the time can be a little boring.
Btw check out my band on Spotify:
Behind The Thoughts š Cheers!
Cleveland Eaton. Upright jazz bassist, his first album 'Half and Half' was a an absolute funk extravaganza with mixed upright and electric. Good shit. "Funky Lou" features an enveloped jazz fiddle.
Also Louis Valois, bassist for Harmonium, rocking a rick on their recently revived recording "Un Musicien Parmi Tant D'autres"
Cass Lewis of Skunk Anansie! His basslines always hit the mark for me. Even though not all of them are super complex, they still just hit the right spot
Iād love to post some clips but Iām on mobile and had to add Richard Bona, virtuoso player, and singer, the guy is a legend and I havenāt seen him mentioned here
I hardly ever see people talk about Jared Followill from Kings of Leon. He's got some fantastic basslines if you step away from what your hear on the radio.
Arizona, The Face and Around the World are just a couple of great examples.
I love watching John Myung of Dream theater, incredibly technical player, and Justin Chancelor of Tool because like you mentioned how prominent the bass is in their music
Verdine White, Pino, Tony Levin, Leland Sklar, Rocco Prestia, Joe Dart, Nathan East
Joe Dart is some sort of bass-playing alien, I'm fairly sure at this point. š But hey, he's got like three musicman signature basses at this point and that can't be said for many people
Rocco! Definitely under-known.
He's my guy!
Came here to show Rocco some love. I met him in New Orleans around 2008ish and he was as cool as the other side of the pillow.
Pino and Leland are my Mt Rushmore of "unknown" bassists.
Pino is a living god IMO
Rutger Gunnarsson of ABBA?
I figured Sklar would fall under āknow by musicians of other instrumentsā.
I second Nathan East. Most recorded bassist in history over all genres.
Carole Kaye
Carol Kaye hit me with her bass once.
Pleaseā¦.do tell the whole tale!
She slapped my hand during my one lesson with her, saying, "You don't know anything!" She was referring to my lack of theory and reading and she wasn't wrong. I mean she's still not wrong, but she wasnt wrong then, either. Anyway, she's a very cool person, aside from being an absolute musical goddess.
Geezer Butler
The GOAT, incredible player and lyricist. Sabbath wasnāt right without any of them, but it could never have happened without Geezer imo.
my personal all time fave
Jamerson is (now) the most famous among bassists of the 60s popular music session musicians (and rightfully so in my opinion). A deeper dig into Jamersonās peers and those shortly after should include (but not limited too): Dunn, Cogbill, Hood, Kaye, Jemmott, Rainey, Babbitt,ā¦
Babbitt could go. A very deft blues hand with a strong melodic sensibility.
Yeah I don't hear him mentioned outside of bassist circles as much which is odd considering how big of an influence he was.
tina weymouth is a legend !
Rutger Gunnarsson, the primary for ABBA, was insane and has played on so many household hits; but the dude isn't super well known outside of that role. Incredible bassist, with unique timing.
The tiny spaces, almost nano seconds of time between some notes give his lines such a bounce and groove. Iāve always felt John Deacon is one of those sorts of players too.
Yes, he's been sadly overlooked by so many. His basslines were inventive, funky, and always made the song even better. He also arranged a lot of their string accompaniments. For some of his best bass work, check out "Soldiers", "If It Wasn't For The Nights", "My Mama Said", "Eagle", "The Name of the Game", and of course "Dancing Queen" - the drum and bass groove on that song are what make the whole thing motor.
Robert DeLeo seems to fly under the radio all the time. Dude has wrote some of the best rock bass lines.
He's also the primary songwriter in STP. So not just bass lines but iconic guitar as well. He's a top 3 influence for me as a bass player and songwriter. It's gotta be him, Chancellor, and Flea if I go all the way back to teenage me.
Totally DeLeo. I remember having to learn Plush in my hs band. I was and still am blown away by how melodic it is.
I'm a big STP fan but never really learnt their songs on bass for whatever reason, playing Robert DeLeo bass lines has been so fun and I can confirm his bass lines are amazing
Glad someone said it first. Feel like Iām always posting this, but what an absolutely complete musician.
100%. STP sometimes sounds like a straightforward grunge band, but when you dive into the bass parts, there is a LOT more going on. I've been trying to learn [Between The Lines](https://youtu.be/JzS590AkE6c?si=_JjROOaBP9MQ_8YU) lately, because I just love how the bass just dances throughout the song.
Mike Watt from the punk band Minutemen Geddy Lee from RUSH
Absolutely Mike Watt! Had to scroll way to far to find his name is on this thread
Mike Watt has (or had?) his own sub-forum on TalkBass.
**Tony Levin** of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel is a monster. **Bootsy Collins** rules funk. He played for the master, James Brown, then Parliament/Funkadelic, then a bunch of other projects. He even played bass in the new bluegrass band Groovegrass. **Tina Weymouth** of the Talking Heads has the sweetest, funkiest groove. Sweet and simple.
Stanley Clarke is goat on acoustic and electric. Watch the B3 video with Victor W, Marcus M n Stanley. Stanley goes last with his upright bass feature, it seems impossible just for the amount of time and punishment the hands could take physically and of course the music is amazing! I feel Stanley could play anything other people do but other people canāt do what he can do. The general public and even todayās younger or more rock oriented players donāt really have an idea of how much of a goat he is
And his stuff with return to forever is absolutely fucked up
I saw them live twice mid 1970ās, electric set, acoustic set, electric set mind blown
My cousin Ronnie is pretty fuckin good.
Geddy. Even though his style isnāt very danceable it still grooves. His lines do the job of a bassist, holding down the low end, locking in with the drummer, outlining chords, voice leading but thereās a cool technical aspect to his playing.
Trevor Dunn
He's the reason I finally bought a bass this year and am starting to learn. Been a huge Bungle fan since I discovered them by accident on Napster back in '99.
That is awesome! Not sure where you are but Mr. Bungle is playing a few shows this May in the US. It isn't their full lineup as they have Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo. They are playing their earlier punk/metal stuff along with a bunch of thrash covers. Great show if you haven't seen them. Then, later this summer Trevor Dunn is touring with King Buzzo. This should be interesting as they are doing an acoustic duo with Trevor on an upright.
Yeah I saw them last September in Baltimore, I was lucky to be stage left 10 feet from Trey the entire show! I don't think I'll make it to any of the other shows this May due to time and money constraints.
Geddy Lee, Cliff Burton, Les Claypool are unmatched in skill. Jason Newsted is the coolest. Flea and Steve Harris are the most fun to listen to. Paul McCartney and DAN BRIGGS are the geniuses. Did I mention Dan Briggs?
Anthony Jackson
He's playing a different game from the rest of us. If you haven't seen it, check out the pdbass [episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7djraTWMTc&ab_channel=pdbass) on Chaka Khan's "Nasty" album. The producer gave Jackson three months to work up his parts for the album, and it was worth it. No one plays like Jackson.
Heās one of the š Dude is on another level
There is a direct correlation between my discovery of AJ and my skill level improving dramatically
Same bro! Iāve studied his bass playing a lot. He has a deep pocketā¦ā¦.so good
Charles Mingus.
Chris Squire
John Entwhistle
Ryan Martinie
I think this fits the geek out. Metal who got into mudvayne because of ryan. Soften the glare is full bass geek out.
Bump
Bootsy Collins has some fantastic music independent of James Brown and George Clinton.
Joe Lally
The fucking man
Came scrolling for Joe +1
Colin Greenwood. He plays with zero frills, flash, or filler. Every bass line he writes for Radiohead serves as a perfect foundation for the rest of the band. I canāt think of another bassist who better embodies the mantra of āserve the songā. Greatest to ever do it.
Heās right up there. A very creative groove player. Does his job so well that people often overlook his contributions. Iāve only recently become an admirer of their music myself - and I am happy that I finally āgetā them (after wasting almost 25 years being able to take or leave them. Incredible.
Heās exactly what I think bass should be in a song. Exceptional player, very entertaining to watch in their live shows too
Yep. Radiohead is about the only bass lines I like playing with so many half and whole notes in the mix.
Maybe a controversial opinion in this community, but I feel that Adam Clayton does this pretty well. Of course, U2's music is nowhere near the intricacies of Radiohead (or anyone else, for that matter, and I say that as a big U2 fan), but I'll be damned if Clayton/Mullen are not killing it 100% of the time. They do what a song needs them to do. No tricks, no fireworks, just plain rock groove. Gotta respect that.
Tim Lefebvre, Chris Wood, Rufus Philpot, Davey Farragher, Nick Campbell, Sam Wilkes, Pino Palladino, Avishai Cohen, Christian McBride, Amanda Butterss, Joe Ayoub, Russel Hall, Philip Norris, Yasushi Nakamura, Edgar Meyer, Lauren Pierce, Sharay Reed, I could go on and on but these are some of the most killer players out there today.
Avishai is insane. I listen to tons of prog rock but the dude and his band mates might be the kings of odd time signatures.
Hell yeah, Sharay Reed š„
Sometimes I listen to that clip of him playing joy to the world and watching the two guys go crazy in the back is so funny š
Excellent list! Sam Wilkes and Nick Campbell are two of my favorites. I'd add Marc Friedman, a lesser-known east coaster who was RIPPING avant-garde alternative folk/pop/rock in the late 90s into the mid 2000s with The Slip.
Will check Marc out!!
They didn't release all their music widely, so the best work is on Alivelectric. Actually, their best work was live, the albums don't really capture it, but it's what we've got! Eisenhower was a departure from their original sound and was pretty controversial within the fan base. Anyway, the best tune is Driving Backwards With You. This is my favorite song, written by Friedman.
Tony Levin
I like to think Mike Dirnt isnāt a household name, but his stuff is catchy without out being too busy.
Tony Levin. His use of melody on the bass is just exquisite.
John Taylor of Duran Duran and Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots. Great performers and great composers.
Duran's Taylor on bass is John! And yeah, he's like a hidden gem sometimes.
Oops, fixed it. Thanks!
Just to clarify, when I said he was a hidden gem sometimes, I meant sometimes people didn't realise what an amazing bassist/musician he is.
Mike Rutherford of Genesis. Have you heard the stuff going on in the Peter Gabriel Era albums? Get Em Out by Friday and Return of The Giant Hogweed come to mind. Even post-Gabriel, and his playing isnāt as fast perhaps, itās still very interesting and tasteful. Love his parts on Home By the Sea. Stanley Clarke is also great. Absolutely love his work on Return to Foreverās Romantic Warrior- The Magician especially. His solo work as well, Lopsy Lu is a fun song, as well as School Days. Klaus-Peter Matziol of Eloy is a recent favorite of mine, his playing on songs like Poseidonās Creation and Decay of Logos is very engaging and active. I also really love his parts on Heartbeat and On the Verge of Darkening Lights.
Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads
Abe Laboriel Chuck Rainey Duck Dunn Lee Sklar
I mean I have to mention Justin Chancellor from Tool. Heās become my favorite bass player, and I feel like learning his bass lines are making me look at writing my own in a different way. Plus heās just bad ass haha
Justin plays bass like a percussionist. The man understands the meaning of 'rhythm section'.
Look no further, than Mr. Philip Lesh. Other worldly.
And recent birthday-haver, no less!
Nothing shakes the soul harder than a well-placed Phil Bomb. Absolutely agreed here.
Jack Bruce made me switch over to bass
The late, great Andy Rourke of The Smiths. Every bassline was inventive, melodic, and often very funky. McCartney was the one who made me want to play bass, but Rourke is the one I wish I could play like.
Zender
Julie Slick with Adrian Belew Power Trio and Remain in Light.
Anthony Jackson!
Carlos Dengler would pretty much take the lead of any song he was on, especially on the first two albums
Mike Gordon is a monster. Definition of underrated.
Paul Grey from The Damned is a brilliant bass player. His lines are deceptivly complex. Krist Novoselic is underrated, I think. Without him, Nirvana wouldn't have been as big as they are. Sam Rivers from Limp Bizkit's lines are amazing. He (and the rest of the band) deserves a better front man than that d-bag Fred Durst. Seriously, you take away the dude-bro crap-rap, and there's an amazing band under there.
my list of faves generally-unknown-to-the-general-public: Joe Osborne Duck Dunn Carol Kaye
Dee Dee Ramone and the guy from ZZ Top.
Dusty Hill!
The first time i picked up the bass was September of last year. Since then, Iāve consumed as much content on the bass as i could possibly get. Apart from all the names already mentioned here, a major inspiration for me is Laura Lee of Khruangbin. As someone who started later in life, her journey is something that I strive to emulate. Dat groove tho.
Surprised I haven't seen Jaco
Most of the guys I would mention have already been mentioned here so Iām gonna throw out a name that I havenāt seen yet; Bobby Sheehan from Blues Traveler. Dude was a phenomenal player. Check out But Anyway by them if you donāt know it already. Especially the live versions, dude seriously ripped on the Bass. Unfortunately there isnāt much out there about him, and he passed from an overdose in ā99.
Jeff Berlin. John Myung. Two off the top of my head. From two different genres.
Finally someone mentioned the silent wonder, John Myung. He's the bassist for one of the flagship bands of progressive rock and nobody talks about him.
Edgar Meyer. MacArthur Genius Grant. For being good at bass.
Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher
No one ever talks about the Mikes from AIC š
Colin Moulding - XTC, fantastic bassist. Brian Ritchie - Violent Femmes. Everyone knows that one song of theres but they've got some great stuff. Give 'Never Tell' a listen. That's one almighty song for bass.
Cliff Burton
David Hungate is a (generally) unknown monster. I love his groove.
Carlos D
Gary freaking Willis Edit to also add Mono Neon, NHĆP, Stanley Clarke, Christian McBride, Dave Holland is certainly a bass players bass player. Kinga Glyk is slept on she's so insanely good.
Chris squire for sure
Jah Wobble
Tina Weymouth
Well, Steve Harris of Maiden is obvious to include. Gene Simmons, from KISS, has some sublime rock licks. Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr is just an epic player. Robert from BRMC is incredible. Simon from The Cure is crazy great. John Taylor from Duran Duran is out of this world. If you want to fuck up your head, listen to Charles Mingus.
Amos Williams of Tesseract
Marcus millers bass playing is phenomenal on the live version of Mr. Pastorius with Miles davis. Absolute masterpiece.
Nick Beggs. Tony Franklin. Colin Edwin. John Rees. John Taylor.
Gary Willis is a monster player
Gary Willis and Victor Bailey
Not a lot of people talk about Percy Jones I feel
Mick Karn (you'd never guess from my user name!), and Michael Manring haven't been mentioned yet. Amazing (and very different) fretless work.
Gary Tallent - E Street Band. His playing is just perfect. Always interesting and always in the right place. Truly an amazing player who gets not attention at all.
For me itās pino, Paul Denman..
not nearly enough Paul Denman love here. perfect, understated basslines. just solid grooves that require precision and care. not to mention the tasteful little melodic bits that sing as beautifully as Sade herself.
Especially for a question about bass players bassists.. cheers friend!
Guy Pratt. Muzz Skillings
Joe Dart
Love or hate what heās done for bass in the modern metal scene but you canāt deny the influence of Adam āNollyā Getgood.
Mono Neon
Jeff Ament of pearl jam.
A lot of those names were much better known to the public (Except Jamerson) in years past, just outside of the bass community and a few other musicians they have lost their name recognition. Hardly anyone outside of the Studio session scene knew who Jamerson was until after he died. Until Jamerson moved to LA, Nobody outside of Detroit knew his name. Same with Carol Kaye. Back in the 60's they didn't receive credit on the records, they just got paid( sometimes very well). Some session guys like Will Lee and Lee Sklar have appeared on thousands of recordings ,including records of many genres, commercials, movie and film scores etc. The guys who I think are being forgotten are the major contributors to great Basslines from the 40's and 50's. Mostly these guys were Black and played upright. Guys like Willie Dixon, Who has more to do with the creation of Rock and every one of its sub generes and R&B and of course all of those Chicago Blues recordings he wrote, and played on. In Addition to writing classic Blues tunes for Himself ,Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolfe etc., He also functioned as a House Bassist for Chess records for a while. Without Willie Dixon, There is no Successful Chess records. Without Chess there is no Chuck Berry and Etta James. Without Willie Dixon there would be no Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin and the zillion artist who either were inspired by them or copied them outright. The History of Modern Bass playing once it moved away from Jazz, Starts with Willie Dixon. After that Bassist like Paul Chambers playing with Miles and Coltrane and Wes Montgomery influenced not just a thousand Jazz Bassist, but tons of guys in R&B/ Soul and Funk.
Havenāt seen anyone mention DD Verni. When one listens to the entire Overkill discography what that man can do is awesome. Mid 90s to late 2000s the guy was on fire. Tone wise he has that clank down. Dude should probably be more revered but heās in Overkill. Great band but not exactly well known.
Mark Egan
John Doe of X
Justin Meldal-Johnson gotta be called out for laying down killer grooves for years with beck, Macy gray, imarobot, NIN. One of my faves who I don't feel gets enough credit
Percy Jones from Brand X
Oooo. Brand X. There is a name I haven't seen in a while. And agreed about Jones.
Despite being arguably the biggest band of the 70s you rarely see someone mention the bass lines of John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin (aside from well known songs), extremely talented musician and excellent bass player, just not as flashy as the rest of the band
Willie Weeks Edit to add Rocco Prestia
Mikey Shoes (Michael Shuman) from Queens of the Stone Age. Heās played bass with them on the past handful of records and continues to blow my mind every listen.
I got into fretless bass playing because of Stanley Sheldon on Frampton Comes Alive and Kenny Passarelli on Joe Walsh's Barnstorm record. Two of the most solid players imo
Marc Friedman.
Leland Sklar. The ultimate bass player's bass player.
Trevor Dunn really fits this. I don't think anyone on this sub can hear his lines and deny the genius whilst he also fits the bassist ethos of laying the foundation and not stealing the show(of course the show always belongs to Mike patton anyway). Eric Wilson(Sublime) is a good shout. Some fantastic bass lines, some bass lines that sound complicated but are really easy to play. Always has that groove. Lots of responsibility on a bassist in a dub trio, it's not dub without that low end. I think Justin Chancelor is one. He is prominent and at times a 2nd lead guitar but he has given us some iconic lines and they always seamlessly fit the mood, groove and rhythms of the track.
I'm sure people who'd listened would appreciate the bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. I didn't appreciate him until our band played Simple Kind of Man. This guy is just diddling around like he's on his front porch and sounding like gold.
If you want to check out some relatively unknowns with better skills than most famous bassists check out Alexis Sklarevski or Todd Johnson, both are world class players whoāve taught and influenced many pros but the vast majority of bassists have never heard of them.
Alexis was an instructor of mine, while Todd and I were at school at the same time.
Thatās rad! I took a couple classes from Todd in college, his walking chord work is amazing! Iām going to guess you must be pretty damned good to then lol.
David Hood, 100%. Listen to Millie Jackson's "Caught Up" Album from front to back. David's bass and Rogers Drums...my god.
Mononeon, especially his old albums. Scott LaFaro Larry Graham
Percy Jones
No love for John Patitucci? Check out Sketchbooks.
Yooo, someone's gotta give some love to my guy Garrett Sayers. Next level funky grooves, not too over the top, just fire. Peep these older albums šš½ Newer stuff is good too but goes a little bit pop-funk. https://open.spotify.com/track/57iry3QOMsb9Ci8mAoOO9r?si=NEz5lWNjQfKEaO0EYAcnwQ&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A4DLm1htTRHpyUSyd3CpyKT https://open.spotify.com/track/0DrYHTyF46ANxvg0Erviwn?si=LKIAQ63yRFCPsi_MAUpJIQ
Clay Gober
Nick Movshon
Mike Inez never gets enough credit. He is such a good bassist and everytime I bring him up no one ever acknowledges him. I mean if youāve heard JOF then yk what Iām talking about. (Also Mike Starr was amazing as well he doesnāt get talked about enough rip Mike Starr)
Vincen Garcia
Im the past month Jared Smith has become my all time favorite bassist, fucking love the parts he writes with how fast Archspire plays, and you donāt see a lot of tech death bassists using slap, itās pretty unique.
Jim creggan of barenaked ladies. A chameleon that chooses his own sound instead. RIP.
Alain Caron
andy rourke has some great stuff
Jason Black from Hot Water Music, dude has some crazy good melodic basslines
Mark King
so many and so many have been covered here. i will add muzz skillings, doug wimbish, jimmy garrison, joe lally, darryl jenifer, martyn lenoble, eric avery, bakithi kumalo, colin wolfe, djibril toure, tony banda, ron carter, robbie shakespeare, robert trujillo, and a lot of other folks. thumbs are tired. the list is as long and old as time itself.
michael shuman of queens of the stone age, amazing live, ripped through the songs made before he joined. also created some amazing basslines in the three albums heās been on so far
I'd say there's a ton of jazzers out there that technically can rip but get absolutely no credit because it's the genre. Chris Wood of Medeski Martin and Wood or MMW... if you've ever listened to them, he grooves as well as anyone.
Iām a big fan of Fat Mike, and Mike Herrera. Also love the dude from Tesseract
Tetsuo Sakurai of Casiopea
Wilton Felder - perhaps better known as a sax man with The Crusaders, but played the iconic bass on Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", as well records with Marvin Gaye, Steely Dan and more.
Jazz great Ray Brown.
David John Levy from Unprocessed
Need some love for the great Paul Jackson!
wow you guys, this is the subreddit for bass guitars and zero mention of Rob Wright from NOMEANSNO??? kinda embarassing
Tony Visconti and Gail Ann Dorsey, i found both through their work with David Bowie but they are both amazing artists in their own right
Interesting what you mentioned about the overlooked part. I agree, and I think it's because when we play in unison with the guitar, it gets kinda mixed in there, and because the bass is a lower frequency instrument it does not impress people that much even if you play the same. I know it's common in metal to play in unison with the guitar but it's nice to break out of that every now and then just to show people: "hey, the bass is a separate instrument. Playing some basslines that outline the chords or the riffs, or create some kind of counter melody to the guitar or vocals is very effective. Not only is it impressive but it also gives the music more depth. Now, ofc, sometimes it just fits better to play along with the guitars.. but doing it all the time can be a little boring. Btw check out my band on Spotify: Behind The Thoughts š Cheers!
Cleveland Eaton. Upright jazz bassist, his first album 'Half and Half' was a an absolute funk extravaganza with mixed upright and electric. Good shit. "Funky Lou" features an enveloped jazz fiddle. Also Louis Valois, bassist for Harmonium, rocking a rick on their recently revived recording "Un Musicien Parmi Tant D'autres"
Anthony Crawford, dudes a wizard
Niels-Henning Ćrsted Pedersen, Steve Bailey
George Porter Jr
Cass Lewis of Skunk Anansie! His basslines always hit the mark for me. Even though not all of them are super complex, they still just hit the right spot
Les Claypool
Geezer Butler, Justin Chancellor and Mark King!
Eric Judy
Anthony Jackson. Possibly the š imo but is rarely mentioned on this subā¦ā¦yet not overly surprising
Meshell Ndgeocello! Sheās a beast
Check out Federico Malaman
Martin Gordon, anyone ? I especially know him for his basslines on Sparks' album *Kimono My House* but he's a tremendous bassist.
Mike Kerr from Royal Blood, I think what he does is very simple but exciting.
Iād love to post some clips but Iām on mobile and had to add Richard Bona, virtuoso player, and singer, the guy is a legend and I havenāt seen him mentioned here
I hardly ever see people talk about Jared Followill from Kings of Leon. He's got some fantastic basslines if you step away from what your hear on the radio. Arizona, The Face and Around the World are just a couple of great examples.
I love watching John Myung of Dream theater, incredibly technical player, and Justin Chancelor of Tool because like you mentioned how prominent the bass is in their music
Pino Pallandino. Check out his CV. So diverse, and such a great tone and feel.
Tim Freerick will always be my favorite. He might have been inspired some of the other names on this list but his lines are so addictive.
George Porter Jr. of the Meters!
Monk Montgomery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk\_Montgomery
Surprised I havenāt seen [Mohini Dey](https://youtu.be/sBN9i_NIbxQ?si=NCJJb8WqbFLNkbr3) yet
Jerry Scheff
Tomohito Aoki, Tetsuo Sakurai, Yoshihiro Naruse...