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Friday Fun Favourite Bass Players

fegs

fegs

pfm Member
Ok Just for fun, who's your fave bass player and why?

Note I said favourite not best!
We're not necessarily looking for technical prowess here, they may well just be cool as ........
Or they may well be your fave because they're masters of their craft?

here's mine in no particular order, and like all good lists this may well be different tomorrow

  • Paul Simonon - The Clash (Cool as ....)
  • JJ Burnel - The Stranglers (Great sound, great image, great bloke)
  • Peter Hook - Joy Division / NO (Plays as a lead instrument responsible for some great riffs)
  • Kim Deal - Pixies (Cool as .... and a great style and sound)
  • Patricia Morrison - Gun Club / Sisters of Mercy (Another great female bassist, some similarities between hers and kim Deal's style IMHO)
  • Kim Gordon - Sonic Youth (Beyond cool as .....)
  • David J - Bauhaus (Fretless and fantastic live sound, a joy to watch)
  • Robbie Shakespeare - Reggae legend (one half of one of the most amazing rhythm sections known to man!!)
  • Paul Gray - The Damned (Love that Rickenbacker sound)
  • Lemmy - Motorhead (He's Lemmy, enough said!!!)
 
OK. Top three only:

Chris Squire - Yes (need you ask?)
Jean Millington - Fanny (The first and best female bass player. So talented...and so unknown)
Peter Cetera - Chicago (No really...forget about the 80s balladeering and go listen to the first 3 or so Chicago albums)
 
Charles Mingus. No explanation needed really, he’s Charles bloody Mingus!

Ron Carter. He played on so many amazing Blue Notes, was part of one of Miles Davis’s best bands and eventually transitioned into soul-jazz on CTI etc. Still going strong.

Scott LaFaro. A life cut far too short, but his playing on Bill Evans Live At Village Vanguard is more than enough for immortality. Astonishing telepathic playing from the whole trio.

Robbie Shakespeare. From ‘70s dub to Grace Jones, Sly ‘n’ Robbie were it.

Jaco Pastorius. Amazing stuff from Weather Report through to some of Joni Mitchell’s best albums. He pretty much invented electric fretless bass playing.

Mick Karn. Took the above and made it so fluid and funky as hell in Japan, just amazing playing.

Mike Watt. The best rock bassist. His work with Minutemen and fIREHOSE is just astonishing.

Lemmy. More for those wonderful UA label Hawkwind albums than Motorhead, a very underrated player.

Holgar Czukey. The Robbie to Jaki’s Sly.

Peter Hook. The main reason I picked up a bass, he managed to be totally unique and innovative without doing anything even a novice like me couldn’t figure out.

That’s ten, but honourable mention to That Paul McCartney. Whatever one thinks about The Beatles the bass playing is never less than just about perfect.

Another that should be a household name: Kev Hopper from Stump, just bonkers playing in a brilliant way, harmonics and bends all over the place.
 
Well, Tony has done it really. Different fields - Scott LaFaro, McCartney, Mike Watt.

The end.

Oh, all right, Jean-Jacques too.

I don’t think any of the electric players I mention are prone to playing solos - which is good, as electric bass solos (especially fretless ones) are the work of the devil. (See joke accredited to Mark King.)
 
Now this is a good thread. There are two easy answers, but there are so many worthy third answers which I will need to ponder.

So, not making the distinction as to first or second, Lemmy (for the reasons stated by TonyL) and Mike Howlett.
 
There are so many, but back when I was 14 I was turned on to what the bass could do and add to music by Gary Thain (Uriah Heep) - still get a kick out of Easy Living to this day.
 
According to my avatar to your left, Giddy Lee, hands down.
Second position to the bassist of Joe Jackson : just listen to the song Friday and you’ll know why !
Third, Alain Caron with his fret less F Bass.
Fourth, Michael Manring with his Zon Hyperbass. He brought bass playing to another level, period.
Fifth is Marcus Miller, THE king of funk according to me.
I’m also very impressed by Victor Wooten but to me, this is more performance than music.
 
Tony L said:
Charles Mingus. No explanation needed really, he’s Charles bloody Mingus!

Ron Chambers. He played on so many amazing Blue Notes, was part of one of Miles Davis’s best bands and eventually transitioned into soul-jazz on CTI etc. Still going strong.
Click to expand...

Is that a way of combining Ron Carter and Paul Chambers in one go? ;) Both would be on my list. :)
 
Eddie Gomez (still alive)
Danny Thompson (still alive)
Paul McCartney (still alive)
Ron Carter (still alive)
Charles Mingus (not still alive)
John Entwistle (not still alive)
 
Stunsworth said:
Eddie Gomez (still alive)
Danny Thompson (still alive)
Paul McCartney (still alive)
Ron Carter (still alive)
Charles Mingus (not still alive)
John Entwistle (not still alive)
Click to expand...
Hummmm........
I must agree that the bass track of Silly love song from McCartney and wings is one of my favorites, especially due to the fact it’s played on a Rickenbacker 4001 bass !
 
Lee Sklar (mainly for Billy Cobham's Spectrum album)
Danny Thompson
John Entwhistle
Bootsy Collins
Charlie Haden
Scott Reeder (Kyuss and The Obsessed)
George Alexander (Flamin' Groovies)
Richard Davis (Out to Lunch AND Astral Weeks)
Miroslav Vitous
Geezer Butler
 
From me:

John Entwistle (The 'oo)
Craig Adams (Sisters of Mercy)
Lemmy
Percy Jones
Hartmut Enke (Ash Ra Tempel)
Steve Hanley (The Fall)
Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine)
Simon Gallup (The Cure)
John Patitucci
Bootsy Collins
 
Seeker_UK said:
The guy that copied Percy Jones lock, stock and barrel? ;)
Click to expand...


I don’t agree at all, Mick Karn just had an amazing funk groove/timing, and it wasn’t just that Japan were such an exceptional band, though obviously that helps - a rhythm section is never just one person. He took that flow and groove elsewhere too, no matter how rigid or constrained the beat, e.g. from Dali’s Car album (with Bauhaus’s Pete Murphy):


An extraordinary bass player IMO.
 
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