Bass Guitarists that are some of my Favorites
Submitted by 5intheface on Tue, 07/20/2004 - 02:08
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- Jaco Pastorius~ Tops the list because he's my hero and he's the best ever. He paints pictures when he plays and he's just amazing. Made the Fretless what it is today, as well as the bass in general as a tool for soloing. I want to play just like him. He had the coolest ideas and when you listen to something he played on your automatically drawn to the bassline. Check out Slang, I shot the Sheriff, or anything.
- Paul McCartney~ One of the first guys to burst on to the scene and play a moving bass part in Rock. Very simple yet effective bass lines and helped make the Beatles the best band ever. I like his work on Hey Bulldog.
- James Jamerson~ He played on every Motown recording you've heard. Do you know how many hits that is? A f***ing lot of them. He plays exactly what's needed, no more and no less. When I listen to him i go nuts because its so simple yet no one thinks of doing it! I love it, and I wish I could play more like him. Sometimes its harder to play less than more. Great rythmic ideas too. Any Motown recording is him, so there you go.
- Vic Wooten~ Yeah, he's amazing. He plays awesome stuff and bass and is phenominal live if you ever getthe pleasure of seeing him. He phenominal, but often plays too much and that's why I like Jaco more. But Vic is awesome, and check out Classical Thump or anything.
- Jack Bruce~ Cream was just a kick ass band. Clapton's hottest years and it was one of the greatest thing to ever happen to the blues. Bruce not only played like mad, but sang with a voice sweet and passionate. He also played a bunch more instruments, like cello on Anyone For Tennis, but his bass playing stands out as some of the best blues-rock lines ever.
- Bootsy Collins~ Its all about the funk, man. And he was THE funk player. Hands down. 'Nuff said.
- John Patitucci~ He's so good. On both Upright bass and bass guitar. It's phemonimal. Him and Weckl blend together so well.
- Marcus Miller~ King of slap bass. I actually had never heard him untill recently, and he's DEFINETLY one of the baddest player to every pick up a bass, that's for damn sure.
- Rick Laird~ I'll be honest, I've only heard him on Birds of Fire by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but that's all I need. That's a great album and has had a huge impact on me as a player. His lines are tell a story by themselves and help make the solos even more incredible.
- More to come.....
Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus . . .
I like Charles Mingus, I forgot about this list completely, I'll have to add somemore later...
I decided to make this a bass Guitarists list instead of including upright with it. All in all, they are just two completely differant ball games.
Remembering your praise of Jack Bruce, have you heard all the rumors of a Cream reunion. I came across a note in Billboard and read a short paragraph online from a CNN source. As always... still just a rumor, (or rumour in this case.)
Haven't heard these rumors. Man, that'd be huge though. Having Clapton back to his old rockin' wailin' self would be good enough, but if he could get together with Ginger and Bruce again....damn....
...Lets not hopes too high. Indeed, rumors are often too good to be true.
If you can stand acoustic bassists I'd like to mention Jimmy Blanton who changed everything that came after him and left us at the age of twenty-three. There's Ron Carter who was born to be a bassist: he has the best ability to listen to others that I've ever "heard" and each one of his fingers looks like a tennis racket (there's nothing that he can't physically play.) Christian McBride is the first bassist in I-don't-know-how-long who has a sound that you can identify with your eyes closed.
Tony Levin's range is unmatched (Peter Gabriel will not record without him.) Finally, I'd like to propose that Adam Clayton is the real talent in U2. He absolutely owns The Joshua Tree . If you're extroverted all you have to do is listen 70 seconds into the album and from then on he doesn't let up. If you are subtle in nature then the soft intensity of "One Tree Hill" is for you. He's like an oak floor only more polished, warm and solid.
Odysseus, is there a subject in which you are not at least a borderline expert?
Mostly borderline, very little expert. In this case I've seen Marcus Miller, John Patitucci, Ron Carter, Christian McBride, Tony Levin and Victor Wooten (I swear he almost dropped his bass on my head. Anyone who's seen the hula-hoop conclusion to his amazing bass solo feature will know what sitting down front might get you.) But I plead no contest when it comes to any special bassic instinct.
I have very strong opinions about culture and will discuss almost anything. That tends to fool people. I try to 'shed (and shred) here. I'm workin' on expressing myself in a way that can easily be enjoyed and understood on a variety of layers. I also love addressing topics with someone who knows more than I do and learning about things that make them passionate. Sometimes this takes some prodding. In this case I'm thrilled to learn that someone else thinks (thinks? knows!) that Jimmy Blanton is the man. I also never would have learned that 5intheface's favourite acoustic bassist is/was Paul Chambers. (Chambers hasn't made much of an impression on me but that is a smart, subtle choice which I'd never have guessed from the bassists above. It also prompts me to wonder, "Ray Brown"?)
The fact that I can type as fast as I think shouldn't fool anyone. It's fairly fast typing but pretty slow thinking. In the same vein, quality is not quantity (I just like the sound of my own voice.) Look at what I just wrote... people will go on for a long time about topics that they love. Hopefully no one will mind (and right now I have too much time and too few friends.)
It's surprising how many people confuse listening and curiosity for brilliance.
Don't think I know any Ray Brown off the top of my head. But since you seem to visit my topics often I know you'll reply to this question: Who the hell is kil5intheface. I just noticed I have some user endorsing me named Kil5intheface. Hasn't done anything but endorse me and someone else, should I worry witha name like that do you think?
I have a thing about anti-social behavior. Like most people, I try to pay attention to people who like me, but i often find myself wandering in the pasture. Never get in a car with someone you do not know and don't give out your credit card number over the phone. Take all the candy you want
Ray Brown is best known for his work in the Oscar Peterson Trio. Before that he was Ella Fitzgerald's musical director. That was when they were married... not so much afterwards. He played bass with Duke Ellington when they recreated the Blanton-Ellington duets four decades after the original recordings. He invented the piccolo bass. He was in the midst of many a practical joke, including one played on Lee Young (Lester's younger brother... a younger Young?) Young was doing a job with Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson:
"We're getting ready to play, and I can't find my snare drum. They had taken it out of my trap case and hidden it from me. Ray used to call me "Ripty," he said, "C'mon, Ripty, we got to hit it." I was really up a tree, because I couldn't imagine how you could leave your snare drum out of your trap case. They opened up with "Air Mail Special," just as fast as you could play it, and I had no snare drum. All of a sudden, here comes a waiter with a tray, my snare drum on it!"
Well, if listening and curiosity isn't brilliance, then at least it is rare intelligence (even if you claim that you just like the sound of your own voice). Anyway, still wondering: do you live in Africa.
Prod.
I actually started on upright bass, and then picked up bass guitar a year later. SO yes, I do very much love the upright, and I think of it as my primary instrument since its what I live off of pretty much. But this is a list of favorite bass guitarists, not upright bassists. Jimmy Blanton is the man, I love everything he did with Duke Ellington, which is a f'n lot, if you know what i mean. I have heard Christian McBride on this Sting DVD we watched in Jazz band one day when our teacher didn't want to teach us, and he's pretty cool. I did get a chance to watch Tony Levin (isn't he the guy who plays with the talons on his fingers) on a DVD, but I practiced instead. I'm not a U2 fan, but I didn't know he played Double bass. My favorite double bassist is probably Paul Chambers though, because he played with Miles during some of the greatest albums ever recorded and was perfect. So What has the best intro to a song ever pretty much.