top 5 rock bass players...

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cgravier

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out of all the 'top 5's' so far this is for me the easiest...

1. steve harris
2. cliff burton
3. lemmy
4. les claypool
5 dee dee ramone
 
Flea
Geddy Lee
Cliff Burton
John Entwistle
That dude who play bass for the White Stripes
 
Allen Woody
David Schools
Phil Lesh
John Entwistle
Berry Oakley

Schools has to be my favorite current bass player, especially live....
 
Cheyco said:
Although, Wooten is more of a Jazz player. Put Burton in there if he doesn't count.
But if he does can i have Jaco Pastorius?;)
El Pistolero said:
LMAO mate...we only even let him in the band cuz he was the only one who could afford a bass. :D:D
Stuart Sutcliffe rocked.....:(
 
John Paul Jones - fabulous - the strongest musician in Zeppelin (I would argue that Page was the weakest, which is saying that Zeppelin were pretty talented).

John Entwistle - well, just listen to any Who song. He was awesome.

"Geezer" Butler - this guy is so under-rated it's ridiculous. Black Sabbath had terrific bass playing

Geddy Lee - again, just such a strong musician that's it's sickening.

Victor Wooten - totally silly. Makes Les Claypool look like Gene Simmons.

And... TAFKAP is probably better than all those guys, but know one knows it.
 
Sasquatch said:
"Geezer" Butler - this guy is so under-rated it's ridiculous. Black Sabbath had terrific bass playing

no sh*t bro! i dunno why i forgot Geezer!!! the world of metal, grunge, and rock owe those guy's a bunch!!

good call!
 
sudsmonkey said:
You guys forget: Bill Wyman
Phil Lynott
The others would have to be: Lemmy
Geezer
J.P.Jones

Bill Wyman is good, but did you know that the awsome bass line in the popular studio version of "Sympathy for the Devil" is actally Keith Richards?
 
Good list so far. I'd like to add Adam Clayton. U2 may not be hard rock, but he's a talented bassist nonetheless. :D
 
Prost! said:
Bill Wyman is good, but did you know that the awsome bass line in the popular studio version of "Sympathy for the Devil" is actally Keith Richards?


bill wyman is the stones (with a little help from richards) hes the glue that holds the vericose veins together...

p.s. Jimi hendrix played bass on all of the experience album...
 
jeffg said:
Allen Woody
David Schools
Phil Lesh
John Entwistle
Berry Oakley

Schools has to be my favorite current bass player, especially live....

i thought woody allen played the oboe?
 
cgravier said:
i thought woody allen played the oboe?

If you love the bass have never seen the documentary tribute to Allen Woody: Gov't Mule--Rising Low, do yourself a favor and check it out. Many of the bass players (still alive) people have named are in it. The bassist from Phish who directed it is a littel annoying but otherwise it is very, very cool.
 
or if you love woody allen check out the documentory that follows him and his jazz band to europe for a gig. Its hillarious, he is even more neurotic in real life, and the audience which i think is in germany totally dont understand what they are seeing-a new orleans style, goofy ass jazz band, (the corny pre-bop style you here in all of his movies) the whole thing is very serious and un-funny, the audience looks like there thier to see yo-yo ma and instead some half-rate benny hill theme song style jazz band shows up...which of course makes it really funny...
even back stage the audience seems really alloof and stand offish, makes you wonder, "what did they think they were going to see?"
 
jeffg said:
If you love the bass have never seen the documentary tribute to Allen Woody: Gov't Mule--Rising Low, do yourself a favor and check it out. Many of the bass players (still alive) people have named are in it. The bassist from Phish who directed it is a littel annoying but otherwise it is very, very cool.

i think i saw him, is the guitarist from g. mule the guitarist for the alman bros band? i forget his name, but im pretty sure i saw them open up for ginger baker a long time a go in ny's 'wetlands'
 
Cheyco said:
Hey, how could we have forgotten Derek Smalls? Fine bunch of music lovers we are.

he is awesome on 'smell the glove'

as anyone seen the 5 hour directors cut of spinal tap? it is awesome! i cant watch the normal version anymore, they leave out soo much! like when they replace the guitarist with a more showy guy and tour japan. or when they get the limo driver wasted and he strips down to his underwear and sings sinatra...
 
Cheyco said:
Hey, how could we have forgotten Derek Smalls? Fine bunch of music lovers we are.
Plus he did write 'Jazz Odyssey' too.....;)
 
cgravier said:
bill wyman is the stones (with a little help from richards) hes the glue that holds the vericose veins together...

p.s. Jimi hendrix played bass on all of the experience album...

You can't be serious.
 
Dent-o-mint denture glue is what holds the Stones together.

All bass players "hold things together". That's what they do. But some guys like John Paul Jones are the musical skeleton for the band, and some guys, like, say, uh, that big freaky tall guy who played for Stevie Ray are just perfectly decent musicians, but aren't the soul of the group. Other guys are basically incompetent as musicians, but manage to be the soul of the group nonetheless - Gene Simmons of Kiss comes to mind again.

Next thread: Favorite Bad Guitarist
 
Bump!

All Time (in my eyes)
1. Victor Wooten
2. Marcus Miller
3. Les Claypool
4. Jaco Pastorius
5. John Patitucci/Mark King (both tie for 5th)

There are to many to add though..
Bill "the buddha" Dickens
Buddy Hankerson
John Entwistle
Stu Hamm
Larry Graham
Alexis Sklarevski
Francis Prestia
Stefan Lessard
ect...ect... to many to name!


If I were to say rock/metal bassist though...

1. Les Claypool
2. Cliff Burton
3. Robert Trujillo
4. Billy Sheehan
5. Geddy Lee
 
Good list so far. I'd like to add Adam Clayton. U2 may not be hard rock, but he's a talented bassist nonetheless. :D

I knew there had to be another U2 fan somewhere on this forum. Actually, I'm more of an Edge fan than anything, but the rest of them are alright too. I don't think Adam Clayton is all that great from a technical perspective, but I love the sound of his bass in regards to bass lines and presence (tone).

I'd like to add another to this list... Tony Levin. He's mainly known as Peter Gabriel's bassist. I wouldn't have noticed until I watched him live... pretty amazing bassist if you ask me.
 
I'd add Donald "Duck" Dunn (Booker T and the MG's, house band for Stax Records, played with several rock and blues acts). He could lay it down.
 
If were going the rock route then I'll take:
Geddy Lee
Lemmy
les claypool
Duck Dunn
John Paul Jones

If you're just going with the bass player in general then:
Jaco
John Pattitucci
Ray Brown
Stanley Clarke
Eddie Gomez
 
Not yet mentioned:

Willie Dixon

He's on all of Chuck Berry's Chess Records sessions. Played upright, not electric.

Horace Panter

Played with the Specials.
 
My fav five:

James Jamerson (and DD Dunn ++)

Jaco - arguably a better jazz player than rawk but still the inspiration behind Wooten and Claypool.

John Entwhistle -obvious, unstoppable, the only reason I am still looking for a Gibson.

Jack Friggin Bruce! His Cream stuff his great but his stuff with Zappa is even better.

and Geezer my guilty pleasure.
 
Les Claypool
Billy Sheehan
Geddy Lee
Geezer Butler
and I will leave it open for the fifth - too many I don't want to exclude.
 
I'm impressed that you had Cliff Burton ranked so high...

...got to go dig out that Cliff 'em All VHS from that box in the basement...

Anesthesia is the s!it...
 
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