TOP THREE!

[Dr.Dave]

I can only think of this in terms of being an inspiration to me. I don't do hero worship and there's so many great players - and so many great performances. Anyway - for what it's worth.

Jimmy Lea

John McVie

Geddy Lee

[Tee]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='313764' date='Oct 24 2008, 01:22 PM']I can only think of this in terms of being an inspiration to me. I don't do hero worship and there's so many great players - and so many great performances.[/quote]

+1

[Wil]

At the moment, it's Brian J. Robinson from A Wilhelm Scream, Cass Lewis from Skunk Anansie, and that's about it. I can't say I've been inspired by many bassists of late, I'm listening to guitars more these days.

[dabootsy]

Bootsy just for sheer madness
Pino Palladino for his tight grooviness
Michael Manring for his inventivness


i have more but only a loud three

[KevB]

Amazed that we got through to 4 pages before either Macca or Squier were mentioned - shame on you! OK, they are old men but their influence can't be ignored. Squier particularly inspired me to start playing even though I play nothing like him (as if!). Someone not previously noted but worthy of a mention:
John Glascock (r.i.p)

[Cabal]

Keep 'em comin' people...

[lonestar]

Can I have another 3 then?

John Entwhistle
Duck Dunn
Tony Levin

[Raslee]

For me it has to be: 1st 3 (in no particular order)

1.Bootsy Collins (For being purely funky, not the most technical by far...but just pure gratuitous fonk)
2. Aston Familyman Barret (For being the most rounded beautiful PERFECT melodic and phat deep bassist ever)
3. Jaco Pastorius (Nuff said!)

Gonna be cheeky and have another 3...i know its rude but blah blah

1. Robbie Shakespeare (For being the second best most rounded beautiful PERFECT melodic and phat deep bassist ever after Familyman)
2.Louis Johnson (For having the maddest fingers and beating up basses by slappin' em' to bits)
3.Larry Graham (For being a beautiful nice peace lovin hippy who'd probably choose 6 top bassists when only asked to choose 3)

Clarke, Miller, Wooten....ah i'll get my coat now!!! Peace out

[Tinman]

1. Mike Rutherford - beautifully melodic
2. John Entwhistle - Nuff said
3. John Deacon - Rock solid

Ithankyou

[Bilbo]

Electric: Steve Swallow, Anthony Jackson & Jimmy Johnson

Acoustic: Dave Holland, Marc Johnson & Charles Mingus

[Bay Splayer]

geddy lee - rush

nard - chic

pino palladino - (mainly his paul young stuff)




reserve team....

geezer butler - black sabbath

mark king - level 42

marcus miller

[thebeat]

Michael Davis ; MC5


Paul Simonon ; Clash


Rick Danko; the Band

[cd_david]

These are the only three i can think of off the top of my head!

1. Geddy Lee-Ali-McMordie-Mike-Rutherford-Jimmy-Johnson-Billy-Gould,

2. John Taylor-Victor-Wooten-Mark-King-Lemmy-Paul-Simonom-Bernard-Edwards,

3. John Entwistle-Les-Clypool-Seggs-Bruce-Thomas.

Dave

Edited October 24, 2008 by cd_david

[Thunderthumbs]

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='313367' date='Oct 23 2008, 10:13 PM']Hadrien Feraud has the most peerlessly seamless technique I've ever seen.[/quote]
I was tempted to put Hadrien, as I'd never even heard of him before I saw him live at the Bass Day last year, and he blew me away. It was just effortless, and he influenced me in a way that no bass player has done for many a year. It was just that the other three have had more of an effect on my bass playing over a longer period.

[Kiwi]

In all seriousness:

1. [url="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=7213483"]Sharay Reed[/url] - I haven't wanted to play like anyone so much since the mid 80s. His funk is pure, dripping, nasty, fermented seepage and it leaves a persistent stain behind. It's what bass is all about for me and if I could have one ounce of this guy''s talent I would die a happy and contented bass player.
2. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeybjVt0-AI"]Gene Perez[/url] - he swings like a master and I think a worthy contender for Bernard Edwards funk crown now Meshell has gone all rocky. He's the only reason I wanted to own a jazz bass.
3. Bernard Edwards - still the groove master. RIP.

I would have normally listed Meshell but her latest albums have left me a bit untouched as she gets rockier. I would have also listed Julian Crampton but his playing is very riff based and I've moved on from that.

[Lorne]

You probably won't believe this,given the sharpness of my basses but

Billy Sheehan missed the list,as he's just got so repetative,so

Bernard Edwards (R.I.P.),and a B.C.Rich player to boot-good man

Pino Palidino

John Myung

and bringing up the reserves,my good friend Bob Daisley

[paul, the]

I can't think of two other bassists that excite me nearly as much as [b]Jamerson[/b].

I will say [b]Fams[/b] and [b]Jerry Jemmott[/b] for the love. They both knew how to employ passionate restrain whilst remaining vocal.


'though bassists here have impressed me no end. Who was the guy who did the tracks on the £50 P-copy. He had superb and innovative feel.

Edited October 25, 2008 by paul, the

[Clarky]

Curiously, noone has voted for me yet

[Prosebass]

1. Jaco

2. Stanley

3. Percy Jones

predictable but they are the guys who made me pick a bass up.

As far as sound goes it has to be

1. Mick Karn

2. Percy Jones

3. Pino Palladino

[project_c]

rob wright - nomeansno
mike watts - firehose / minutemen
jaco

[Beedster]

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='313432' date='Oct 23 2008, 11:19 PM']Wow! That's pretty contentious Chris!!!

Didn't Entwhistle win that Melody Maker vote in 2000 as the most important / influential bassist of the 20th Century? Obviously, being a British, rock/indie focused magazine, Entwhistle was bound to gain prominence in that kind of Poll over someone like Jamerson for example.. But nonetheless, Entwhistle as a musician has to be viewed in the context of the era in which he played.. And in the early 1960's, what he was doing with the bass guitar was extraordinary! Besides that, I doubt there's any other bass player in the world who could have held their own in a band which had Keith Moon on drums and Townsend on guitar

Can't disagree with you about Jamerson who almost single-handedly created a bass playing vocabulary on his own.. But as I've said before many times on this Forum (and been shot down for it), to rate Zender as a innovator in bass playing history is way off the mark, fine a player as he is.

Bernard Edwards, Larry Graham & Bootsy have each had considerably more impact on the development of Funk/Soul/R&B bass playing than Zender, who is someone who's style owes a great deal to those three players I think.. Personally, I've never been a fan of the RHCPs or Flea, but I agree that he is an innovator and has had a huge influence.

Anyway, the bass players who have influenced my playing style more than any others are:

Bernard Edwards (Chic)
Leigh Gorman (BowWowWow)
James Jamerson (too many to mention..)

I'd also have to throw in a special mention for Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper), John Gustafson (Roxy Music), Trevor Bolder (David Bowie & The Spiders from Mars) and Paul McCartney all of whom I admire for different reasons...[/quote]

Taste's a funny thing isn't it Nik! You're probably right about Zender not being an innovator, although you could argue he successfully synthesised the styles of the several great '70s funksters you mention, and you could argue that a new synthesis is in fact innovation.
Then again, you could also justifiably say that I'm talking complete b*llocks
Now, Mr Entwhistle. With few exceptions I always found his lines complex but predictable, a bit like listening to Mozart, you know what's coming next (OK, in both cases the exceptions are pretty exceptional). I also find Who songs [i]generally[/i] relatively easy to play, despite the apparent complexity of the lines. However, I find Jamerson, Flea and Zender's lines mostly pretty susrprising and way different to what I would instinctively have put down (although I have to say that having spent some time listening to lots of Motown recently I'm starting to see a pattern in Jamerson, it's a it of a chaotic patern for sure, but it's certainly there). I'm not for one second saying Entwhistle wasn't one of the greats, he was, but then so are all the others mentioned in all the posts above.
Except McCartney of course
Chris

[RayFW]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='314249' date='Oct 24 2008, 11:32 PM']In all seriousness:

1. [url="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=7213483"]Sharay Reed[/url] - I haven't wanted to play like anyone so much since the mid 80s. His funk is pure, dripping, nasty, fermented seepage and it leaves a persistent stain behind. It's what bass is all about for me and if I could have one ounce of this guy''s talent I would die a happy and contented bass player.[/quote]
That is soooo damn funky. I just had to grab a bass and start playing along.
Thanks for the linkage. Do you have any more stuff by him?

[Kiwi]

[quote name='rayfw' post='314457' date='Oct 25 2008, 12:10 PM']That is soooo damn funky. I just had to grab a bass and start playing along.
Thanks for the linkage. Do you have any more stuff by him?[/quote]
I've been looking but haven't found anything yet. If I do find more stuff, I'll post it on the forum.

[Huge Hands]

For me:

James Jamerson
Willie Weeks
Aston "Family Man" Barrett

I'd also add that one bloke who rarely gets a mention in the Motown thing is Bob Babbitt (admittedly this has got better since the Standing in the Shadows film was released) - the guy did a pretty good Jamerson impression in those days and has an impressive catalogue of tracks since then.

[BigRedX]

Peter Hook and Mick Karn. At the time both combined originality with their approach to the bass while still remaining sympathetic to the song as a complete piece.