Barking Spiders

Bottom line is as far as most pub/club audiences are concerned they're generally far more impressed if you can replicate a well known bassline, even if it's quite simple, rather than some shredding solo that they cant relate to. I often wonder at jazz and fusion bassists and other musicians putting in all that effort in just to remain largely unknown outside their tiny niches. If that's their bag fair play but if I were a professional I'd want to reach as big an audience as possible.

While I can proficiently play a good number of Level 42 basslines I've tried my hand at singing at the same time and struggle. Bluddy tricky. Mega respect to MK. I guess same goes for Les Claypool

My approach is my own list of 1,001 bass lines I must master . 90% are funk, soul, jazz funk and disco. I'm about a third of the way there as the goalposts are constantly changing as I come across new stuff. In this respect I'm probably a 2. I play what I like and generally like what I play. As I head towards 50 I have no interest in striving for Wootten-like virtuosity as I don't plan on making a living from playing music.

I didn't use my aged Aria Pro II Integra for a coupla years but once I'd swapped the rounds for flats I now play it as much as the others. So maybe make a minor change and it could seem like new

You cant go far wrong with the Golden Age of hip hop over from the late 80s to mid 90s,with a lot of the usual suspects already named and a lot of the early gangsta stuff still holds up. NWA's Straight Outta Compton is as good as its rep has it. Also Ice T'S Original Gangster, Dr Dre's The Chronic and Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Nas's Illmatic are pretty seminal. Of the current lot Run The Jewels stand out. Then there's yer instrumental hip hop, topped by DJ Shadow. Entroducing is a modern classic. Another good'un is Blockhead, on the Ninja Tune label, as was The Herbaliser who mash up funk, vocal and instrumental hip hop and jazz. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiTE-Eyx18A"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiTE-Eyx18A[/url]

Over the last 5 years I've only done dep work on occasions and expect to be paid the same as everyone else, particularly as I mostly play with function bands doing funk, disco, soul, reggae and latin covers where nearly all the tunes have upfront basslines

Oh yeah! 'kin marvellous stuff. Not heard that in aeons. Cheers for the heads up. Gonna have to get me some O Jays albums sharpish

I got hooked on bass aged 15 in the mid 80s though it was listening to an older brother's 70s stuff that caught my attention. Not sure exactly what tune it was but it was either the Stranglers Rattus album, Rhythm Stick or Freak Out. JJ Burnel's tone offered sheer aggressive excitement while the other two were cool and slick and drove the songs.

For me, number 1 and a 1/2 bass player nipping at Louis Johnson's ankles is a toss up between JJ, Larry Graham, Mark King, Bernard Edwards and Marcus Miller. Is the first heads up for MM in this thread?

Agree re the Who. Should've been my first example in the OP. Like the Stones, a way overrated, half-decent singles band in the 60s with a bass player who didn't move much on stage. Unlike them, they had a bass player who often tops greatest polls.

Yep, indeed I have owned albums bought just for the bass playing e.g. Stuart Hmm's Radio Free Albemuth. Cant say I cared for the classical pieces transposed to bass - all a bit poncey to me - but the regular tunes have top notch basswork. Ditto the debut by Winery Dogs, some Dream Theater album, a Steve Morse effort and a Rush compilation. It was hard going but I managed to get through all of them once but that was enuff.

Typically our fave players tend to be from genres and bands we like listening to but what about those you've come across whose playing grabs you by the cojones despite the music itself wanting to make you cut off your ears and then stick your head in a tub of offal. For me the first that springs to mind is Dave La Rue. Some bloke I used know reckoned I'd rave about the guitar work but it was the bass lines that I honed in on. Tasteful but skilled throughout. Right on the money. Billy Sheehan and Stuart Hamm. While I struggle to get to grips with the music I find these are go-to guys on YouTube when it comes to refining fingerstyle technique. That said Hamm's live rendition of 'Country Music' is great fun esp when his slapping goes mad.

In 1991 my first gig with a bass was when I was doubling up, my main thing being the alto sax, by which time I had a couple of dozen gigs under my belt. It was a Gibson EB copy which I'd copped for free. The only effects were a vintage Ross flanger and a wah pedal of unknown origin. Cant recall what amp it was.

Haven't gigged properly for a few years now but I tended to keep things simple preferring old style analogue effects pedals usually just a compressor, flanger, phaser and wah pedal . I've only ever had one speaker, a Marshall 100W combo keyboard amp that I ran both basses and guitars through. Did the job just fine.

Good see peeps here are much more open-minded than many others e.g. on amazon.co.uk's Music and Classical for a fr'instance. Seems to me those with the more closed minds have probably only heard the utter gash that passes for chart music and EDM seeing that stuff like Amon Tobin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, Orbital, Fila Brazillia etc. never gets radio or TV coverage.

is a common whinge among many music fans on Internet forums viz techno, hip hop, House etc. Personally I don't care how music is made just as long as it sounds good to my ears and feet. But I've come across many posters who can get quite worked up about 'electronica' and the use of laptops sequencers, samplers etc saying these genres aren't proper music. That said a lot of so-called dance/electronica combos do use real instruments live and sometimes in the studio. Just wondrin' what basschatters think. Feel free to vent your spleen if the mood takes you

though praps not in The Cramps, The Black Keys and The Doors

I find James Jamerson lines tend to be among the more tricky as they're typically not repetitive and feature a lot of subtleties. The bass line to Bernadette is a deceptively tough one to perfect

I'd been playing alto sax for 4 years before even looking at a bass. Initially I wanted to be like Charlie Parker, my old man being a fan. The bass player in a band I was in at the time went AWOL but left his EB copy behind so I thought it's only got 4 strings, can't be that hard. As he never came back for it I kept it, for another 12 years.

Louis 'Thunderthumbs' Johnson. I love slap and make no apologies for it and to me LJ was/is the master. Larry Graham may've started it all but LJ took it to another level while still keeping it relevant and not showboating for the hell of it.

or...this

or this

I'll never get over GAS as I'll never get close to getting what I'd ideally like which is .. this

I've always had three with me at any gig - one for slap, one with flatwounds for soul & Dub type stuff and a fretless. I tend to keep the ones I'm not playing out of sight just so no one thinks I look like a poseur.

'kin love Curve me, the best fusion of alt rock and electronica and a clear influence on Garbage