Your Top 3 favorite Bass guitar players

[Twang-ineer]

Three Favorite - not the three best, but these three are my favorites
Steve Bailey - AKA - The bassist of bassists (or at least Victor Wooten thinks so)
Dee Murray - Bassist for Elton John
Ron Wood - Bassist in the Jeff Beck Group

Just FYI
Greg Rzab .... a real close 4th to Woody - just so much feel, a pleasure to be in the room with.

 

[knopflerfan]

Paul McCartney
Paul Denman
John Paul Jones

Honorable mention:
Lee Sklar
Sting

 

[burtonfan]

There are many, but I will go with:

John Entwistle
John Paul Jones
Jack Bruce

 

[dlew919]

Jaco
Jack Bruce
McCartney


Jamerson
Joe Dart
Victor Wooten

Esperanza Spalding
Amanda Jenkins (you haven't heard of her yet, but you will)
Suzi Quatro

John Deacon
John Entwhistle
Walter Becker

 

[vespa1]

Ray Brown
Graham Maby
Duck Dunn
James Jamerson
Aston "Family Man" Barrett
Bosco Mann
Matt Freeman
Pauls McCartney and Simonon

 

[Wheelhouse]

No love for Billy Sheehan? I think he's a monster bassist.

Chris Squire is amazing, and Geddy Lee is too.

And great to see somebody else included Tony Levin, even if the Chapman Stick is not exactly the same as a "bass guitar."

 

[Doomguy]

I'd love to include Les Claypool as I love him, but he doesn't give me the same visceral response that the others that I'm mentioning do.

Al Cisneros
Geezer Butler
Tim Bagshaw (Electric Wizard's first few records and singles)

 

[middy]

Jaco, Jamerson, and McCartney. All three are masters of flow and the language of music in their respective styles. They could all literally play the perfect bass line for a hit record in one take, first try.

 

[willietheweirdo]

1. NHØP
2. Marcus Miller
3. Leezy

 

[Spox]

Of the ones I saw live..

Jean Jaques Burnell
Norman Watt Roy
Doug Wimbish
Brian Ritchie
Rainy
Lemmy

amongst others who I will remember and feel bad about

Of ones I never saw live

John Entwhistle
Bruce Foxston
James Jamerson
Phil Lynott
Aston Family Man Barret
Bootsy Collins

 

[Twang Deluxe]

Herbie Flowers (Serge gainsbourg Je t'aime; Lou Reed Walk on the wildside)
Ladi Geisler (Bert Kaempfert knack bass)
Carol Kaye

 

[WingedWords]

I remember really enjoying this programme on the bass, presented by Tina Weymouth. It concentrated on the unsung non-superstar bassists, like James Jamerson, Carol Kaye and Herbie Flowers. Sadly the version available on YouTube is heavily cut for copyright reasons.

BBC Four - Guitar, Drum and Bass, Series 1, On Bass... Tina Weymouth!

Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth celebrates the contribution of the bass to popular music.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[teletail]

Chis Squire, Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler, Mel Schacher, John Paul Jones.

I was a bass player in the 70’s. I get sick when I see what passes for bass playing today.

It’s interesting that many of the bass players mentioned here are not the root/fifth players, but actually play some interesting lines.

Go over to TalkBass and many of them get their panties in a knot at the thought of having to actually play something interesting.

 

[526THz]

Since I started as a bassist this is a hard one for me…. But I would say:
- John Paul Jones
- Billy Sheehan
- Marcus Miller

+ John Deacon

 

[aging_rocker]

...Danny Thompson...

I haven't read the whole thread, but skimmed it enough to see most of the players I would have posted (e.g. Norman Watt-Roy, Pino, Tony Levin) get a mention already.

But great to see Danny Thompson acknowledged, although he's not a bass 'guitarist' - his work with folks like Richard Thompson, Nick Drake and John Martyn (amongst many others) has been epic.

 

[aging_rocker]

And I don't think I saw Derek Forbes mentioned? Apologies if I missed it, but he has long been one of my favourite bass players.

I first saw him/them around the time this video was recorded in 1979 - pretty rare early Simple Minds in decent quality!

 

[ficelles]

But great to see Danny Thompson acknowledged, although he's not a bass 'guitarist'

Danny Thompson was actually hired to play bass guitar for just one tour, for Roy Orbison - on the same bill as the Beatles - in 1963. Not sure if he's played one since.

I was lucky enough to catch a Richard Thompson show with Danny on bass a few years back.

 

[AAT65]

Three… it’s not possible! How about

* Tony Levin — for work with just about everyone, with Stick Men and King Crimson a highlight
* Trey Gunn — again for his time with King Crimson, some of it alongside Levin, but amazing stuff on the last two studio albums and the associated tours — listen to Heavy ConstruKction
* Geddy Lee — because Rush. And my wife would kill me if I didn’t include him

But so many other of course… it’s not right to miss out Chris Squire, Mike Rutherford, John Wetton, Jonas Reingold, Leland Sklar, Paul McCartney, Pino Palladino, Guy Pratt, Benjamin Lazar Davis, John Giblin, John Deacon, Colin Greenwood, House Of Lords,…

 

[MickM]

My older son is now 32 y/o and he has been playing the bass guitar for 20 years nonstop.. and he is -VERY- good! I'm extremely proud. He recently told me that these are his personal top 3 favorite bass players, and gave me these songs as evidence.

John Entwistle



Les Claypool



Victor Wooten



All 3 players are tremendous!

My son unfortunately never got to see John live, but he has seen Les Claypool live several times, and in a few weeks we're both going to go see Victor Wooten live together for the first time... should be an amazing show!


But just curious, what are your personal top 3 favorite bass guitar players?

Good choices for sure but tell him to listen to John Paul Jones on Led Zeppelin II. The entire record is a masterclass in playing Bass guitar.

 

[MickM]

Also saw Willie Dixon playing upright bass at Fat City in Pittsburgh ...back then. He didn't need no frets!