Greatest Bass Guitarists?

[Teacher Rocker]

Rock-Flea. Hands down. Forget slap and pop, listen to the melodies and the groove!

Metal(yeah, I said it)-Rex from Pantera. Always nailed it. Yeah I know, Cliff rules, but... Props to ex-QOTSA dude Nick Oliveri...signature sound,too

Pop- Left field, but Pino Palladino is one of the best around. Plays with the Who when they go live, but check Paul Young's "Secret of Association" for "I'm gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down". Mad groove and technique! props to Mike Elizondo for gettin' the bass player some with Dr. Dre...

Jazz- An oldie but a Goodie--Charlie Haden. Historical because of Ornette, but damn fine in his own right. In The Year of The Dragon...beautiful.

Who did I forget?....

Alternative(when it was still a useful term)- Mike Watt. King of the indie bass players. Minutemen,Firehose. The guy PLAYS!

Classic rock- Come on. John Entwistle. You can have your Chris Squier (great player)...but John is (was, RIP) the MAN.

RnB-Bootsy, baby. James Brown, Parliament. Praxis.

[abrotz]

Jeff Berlin and Victor Wooten, hands down!

[dpd]

Been listening to a lot of Berlin since Christmas - got a few Bruford CDs with Jeff.

[Stevieb]

Jack Bruce... anybody who gets PAID to play music with Clapton is gonna be good.

[Krynos]

Ryan Martinie
Les Claypool
Pino Palladino

[roundhill]

Ray Shulman
Bryan Beller

[Rad]

Add Brian Bromberg ! What he does on bass others can't do even on a regular guitar.

[ripper6192008]

I am a guitarists so I dont follow to many bassist but I have always loved the dexterity and ablitiy of Victor Wooten to play any style under the sun, However I love Billy Sheehans creativity as far as the instrument is concerned.

[bottomender]

Pretty Subjective Topic:

Technical: Probably Victor Wooten (but there are a lot of realllly good technical players)

My Favorite:

James Jamerson
Jack Bruce
Chuck Rainey
John Paul Jones
Rocco Prestia
Jim Fielder (BST)

[lord_nikon]

When I listen to any band, I listen to the bass and everything is just fills around it, lol.

Must have been around 1992 when Bela Fleck and The Flecktones (right around the UFO Tofu album) came to town. 5 of us bassists from various bands (I was living in Athens Ga. at the time) including one of the bassists from the Atlanta Symphany Orchestra, were standing in front of Victor, amazed.

I loved reading all the posts, reminding me of all the bassists I've seen since the early 70's.

[HotRodJazz]

Carol Kaye - no other bassist has sat for as many recording sessions as she has. She was the very first studio musician to be listed in an artist album by name. Beach Boys "Pet Sounds". She gave John Paul Jones, among others, lessons. She is the master of pick use on bass guitar.

http://www.carolkaye.com/

Do yourself a favor if you like Wooten's solos and go to her web page and listen to the tracks there. She will wow you, I promise.

[sgray]

Some of those bassists listed are just incredible. Victor Wooten and Billy Sheehan are pretty much amazing. Here are some of my favorites; they might not all be widely considered bass greats but hey, greatness is in the ear of the beholder!

John Paul Jones
John Entwistle
Geddy Lee
Geezer Butler
Roger Glover-he is very much overlooked but he was quite a good bassist in his own right. As a matter of fact, everyone in that band was a good musician.
Bootsy Collins
Michael Anthony(yeah, i know, but he is a good bassist and sometimes a simpler style of playing can say a lot more than some of the more complex styles)

[ampeg5000]

It has probably already been done, but what do you guys think?

I've always liked Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, James Jamerson, Flea, etc...

Who do you guys think is the best?

ever hear of the band called "LORD TRACY"? there bass player BASS SOLO
YOU TUBE-LORD TRACY/KINLEY BARNIE WOLFE & CRAIG " check out his solo live and the first one he made back in the day.
he is a great bassist for his stlye and he even has a " TREM BAR " yep "WAMMY BAR " on the
bass that he plays in this video great had work a must see.
there is also another one i ran across one day that has this young dude playing " TURKISH RUNDO " ? i think thats what it was called now this guy is playing really mind blowing licks,

[Fred Rosbrugh]

ever hear of the band called "LORD TRACY"? there bass player BASS SOLO
YOU TUBE-LORD TRACY/KINLEY BARNIE WOLFE & CRAIG " check out his solo live and the first one he made back in the day.
he is a great bassist for his stlye and he even has a " TREM BAR " yep "WAMMY BAR " on the
bass that he plays in this video great had work a must see.
there is also another one i ran across one day that has this young dude playing " TURKISH RUNDO " ? i think thats what it was called now this guy is playing really mind blowing licks,

I must agree, i just watched it and he blew me away! "Great Call"

[billbru]

That's right Nathan East, he was a high school friend of my wife's and an awesome bassist. On the other hand I could listen to Victor Wooten all day every day.