Best Bassists of all time
Submitted by matteyo327 on Wed, 12/04/2002 - 03:52
Tags:
- Victor Lamonte Wooten
- Jaco Pastorius
- Les Claypool
- Dave Schools
- Mike Gordon
- Flea
- Kim Deal
Author Comments:
Seriously though, I haven't seen Victor Wooten on any of these lists, if you have not heard Victor Wooten, I am telling you that he blows all the others away easily. He makes Claypool look like a teenager and flea look like a mainstream star... oops he is. BUY WOOTEN!!!!!
Cloned From:
victor wooten is a god. I saw him in concert in rochester new york. his bass playing is so fast and complicated it boggles the mind. you have good taste in your bassists. he is by far he best bassist alive
Awful list. Wow. You really dont listen to alot of different stuff. I can live with Jaco, Flea, Vic and Les, but come on, Dave Schools from Widespread? That fat bastard sucks ass. Mike Gordon and Kim Deal? Come on. Where's Stanley Clarke, wheres Chris Squire, Geddy Lee? Marcus Miller? Those are the guys who inspired people like Vic and Les. Ron Carter? Tony Levin? Chuck Rainey? Danyel Morgan? Get it together man.
Good bassists. Jaco is my hero and I want to be just like him. But to say those are best ever is being kind of iffy. What about all the jazz greats out there like Mingus and Paul Chambers and so on? What about Paul McArtney and James Jamerson, the two men who pretty much brought moving bass parts to Rock 'n roll? What about the first bass badass John Entwhistle? What about vastly under-rated John Paul Jones? And Edgar Meyer is f'n amazing and can do anything vic can dream of on double bass.
By the way, Jaco Pastorius blows Vic Wooten out of the water buddy. I'm a double bassist and bass guitarist myself and its damn true.
i agree 5th...and another unsung hero I must add is Dean Murray from Elton Johns first major stuff. He is stylish and tasteful. Not overwhelming as many so called bassists are. If you know anything about bass it has always been said its what you leave out not how much you can put in that makes a bassist.
John Paul Jones is highly underrated, and was considered only as a keyboardist.
Vic Wooten is highly overrated and is simply a lead guitarist playing a much more complicated instrument ie a bass.
Jaco is in a class of his own making and no one dares tread there.
Paul McArtney defined bass runs in pop/rock as did Jamerson who happened to be a favorite of McArtney. Only the ignorant could deny these two legends as anything but great. McArtney wrote the book on tasteful bass. He never overwhelms or disrtracts from the song. He can play any style ever dreamt of but with class and tastfulness. Listen to Abby Road for gawd sake. The B'side isy one of the best pieces of music compulation ever made with top notch bass on both sides of that album. Listen to McArtneys tasty piece of funk in the second verse of 'bathroom window' on sgt.Peppers or his 'signature' use of octaves in 'Rain' and 'Taxman'. Try follow his style in 'come together'. Its beautiful stuff...never trashy like so many 'lead guitarist' who got shuffled to a bass.
Similar styles were picked up by Dean Murray and John Paul Jones.
Jack Bruce absolutely in his own realm, sheer genius with a bass. He studied music from the classic era of mozart, beethoven and his sheer originality is un-matchable.
The kiddies who have all your Wootens and Getty lee's might want to start listening to what 'tasteful' bass sounds like. It isn't how much you can cram in a song, it is what builds the song. Along with a good drummer it is the backbone of the song. Guitar and vocals are the add-ons. Listen to Dean Murray in Eltons 'Philadelphia freedom'...great stuff.
Best example of this is the ending sequence of 'in the air tonight' by relatively unknown bassist John Giblin with Phil Collins. Listen to when the drums cut in with the bass putting together of music's most beautiful pieces of bass/drum rhythm combo's together. That is what I mean by tasty bass. It's what you leave out, not what you 'cram in' that makes a true bassist. That is funk bass.
How about the seemingly 'simple' bass runs put together in 'steeler wheels' 'stuck in the middle' or even the nifty bass line holding 'brown eyed girl' together for Van Morrison.
You may think that's 'simple' bass runs, however it is those bass lines that the rest of the music is built on and my point really is...cud you or anyone else have put it together for those songs. Wooten couldn't. He would flounder about trying to play 'lead guitar' on a bass and oh so cleverly pick a grade 3 tune using string harmonics! gawd!
Just to add, I think Bootzie Collins deserves a nod as well including costuming!! and don't forget Bill Wyman from the Stones...solid and smart stuff.