Bassist Hero Worship

Hi Deaky, great to have you here.

"Under Pressure".

I think that John Paul Jones is an excellent bass player, even better arranger.  Also Entwhistle is definately one of my favorites.  Jack Bruce has got to be my favorite of all time though (hes the one from cream).  I dont really know why but i love the way he talks to Ginger with the bass.  Its great.  Its like a conversation in a totally different language.  Its like the Page Plant thing but they dont copy what the other said.  They respond.

Another overlooked bassist - Guy Pratt of Pink Floyd. Brilliant bass player (little known fact - Guy owns one of the last remaining 1951 first edition slab body Fender P basses).

Why is it that bass players aren't really noticed? Obviously people say 'Oh, that guy has been standing on stage for a long time with that bass guitar'. You never see bass players hitting the front page for bashing an old lady and stealing the loot.

Maybe that's a better thing.

Oh, I don't know, quite a few bass players kick up a fuss now and then. Don't be surprised if you see Nirvana's Krist Novoselic on a politics show near you very soon, and, well, nobody kicked up quite as much of a fuss as Sid Vicious.

Sid wasn't much of a bass player though, was he?

Bass poser, more like.

And I say this as the greatest Sex Pistols fan the world has ever known.

If that - he didn't even know how to play the thing when he joined the Pistols. But then again, Flea couldn't play bass when he joined the Chilis (true), so he could have just been completely talentless after all.

hmmm....bass heroes

besides the bassists already mentioned
current favourites are

Cannibal Corpse's Alex Webster

Suffocation's former bassist Chris Richards

Cryptopsy's Eric Langlois ( not sure if thats his name )

Marcus Miller

Stanley Clarke

Victor Wooten of course

Atheist bassists Tony Choy and Roger Patterson

Alx Webster and Roger Patterson are the ones who inspire me the most

i dunno why but they really do

Im sure there are many others who i'll remember when i click the post button

I know he's alreadey been mentioned, probably several times, but for my money Paul McCartney was one of the most uniqure bass players ever.. listen to his basslines, there's nothing like 'em. "melodic' is the word that comes to mind. listen to "Silly LSove songs" sometime... a good song but the bassline will stickl with you for days

also as donnelly and I were just discussing Bakithi Kumalo, who played bass with several people, notably Paul Simon, is ver Talented and very overlooked

Paul McCartney is one of the best - and most effective - bass players ever. That unforgetable little fill in "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in between "And I'll tell you something" and "I want to hold your hand" really made that song. It's the little things.

Lord, have mercy on my soul...
How did I manage to forget Pat Daugherty of Black Oak Arkansas? :-[

You young ones probably never heard of these guys, and some of you 'older' ones may not have, either. BOA was big-time in the early to mid  '70s. Tommy Aldridge, a drummer who later played with Ozzy and Whitesnake, got his start in this band. James (Jim Dandy) Mangrum, the singer, was David Lee Roths role-model.

Pat was a superb Bass player. He could lay down some of the funkiest Boogie-Blues-Metal lines that you've ever heard!

Want a sample? Look for a CD called HOT & NASTY THE BEST OF BLACK OAK ARKANSAS.

EDIT: Keep in mind, these guys used to have SKYNYRD as the opening act. No small potatoes.

"Go, Jim Dandy, GO!"

Mike Mills - top quality bass player.

Mentioned before, but John Paul Jones.

The bass on The Lemon Song really gets funky, as well as Celebration Day and others that I don't feel like thinking about.

Check out his solo album "Zooma" if you want crazy solo bass stuff.

Played a mean mandolin and keyboards as well.  Organ solo in You Shook Me is pretty cool.

I would like to add Adam Clayton and Simon Gallup.