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- And yet the instrument has its own proud tradition in popular music, stretching from the mighty upright work of Jimmy Blanton in Duke Ellington’s orchestra and bebop pioneers like Oscar Pettiford to fellow jazz geniuses like Charles Mingus and Ron Carter; studio champs like Kaye and James Jamerson; rock warriors like Cream’s Jack Bruce and the Who’s John Entwistle; funk masters like Bootsy and Sly and the Family Stone’s Larry Graham; prog prodigies like Yes’ Chris Squire and Rush’s Geddy Lee;...
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Jul 1, 2020 · Jonathan Bernstein, David Browne, Jon Dolan, Brenna Ehrlich, David Fear, Jon Freeman, Andy Greene, Kory Grow, Elias Leight, Angie Martoccio, Jason Newman, Rob...
- Geddy Lee (Rush) Blessed with an incredibly versatile vocal style in addition to his superlative bass skills, Gary Lee Weinrib – nicknamed Geddy Lee after the way his grandmother used to pronounce his name – tops this list for a variety of reasons.
- Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report, solo) It’s arguable that the greatest bass player who has ever lived was the late Jaco Pastorius, whose breathtaking technique, coupled with searing innovation, inexhaustible creativity and a charismatic personality, has made him a bass legend like none other before or since.
- John Entwistle (The Who) The Ox, as the stoic John Entwistle was labelled by his more extrovert bandmates in The Who, was a man whose influence on the bass world is difficult to exaggerate.
- Victor Wooten (Bela Fleck, solo) The top 10 bassists on this list are mostly old or no longer with us, which makes Victor Wooten’s appearance near the top all the more amazing.
- Brett Milano
- Jaco Pastorius. Jaco Pastorius used every minute of the short time he had to expand the technical and dramatic possibilities of the bass, giving his various clients – Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, and even Ian Hunter – more than they bargained for.
- Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney made a trademark out of the supple, lyrical bassline more than any rock player before or since, and that’s on “Paperback Writer” alone.
- Carol Kaye. Putting the bottom end into The Wrecking Crew, Carol Kaye played the indelible parts on “Midnight Confessions,” “River Deep – Mountain High,” The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and an estimated 10,000 other tracks.
- Stanley Clarke. Stanley Clarke was a bass virtuoso with a canny sense of riffs and grooves, plus a few great tricks like that finger-strum trademark.
- Geddy Lee. The Rush man has inspired thousands to pick up the bass guitar, and many of the other bassists in this rundown cite him as an influence. A leading frontman, songwriter and a remarkable bass talent, it's no surprise he remains perennially popular with you guys.
- Jaco Pastorius. Few would disagree that Weather Report bassist and solo artist Jaco Pastorius was one of the most talented bassists ever to walk the earth.
- John Entwistle. Although The Ox was a picture of stillness amidst the whirlwind of Townshend, Moon and Daltrey's stage antics, in terms of fretboard gymnastics and sheer volume, his contribution to The Who was impossible to ignore.
- Simon Gallup. The man behind some of the finest post-punk basslines ever committed to record, Simon Gallup joined The Cure in 1979 and recorded The Dark Trilogy of albums (Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography) before getting into a fist fight with Robert Smith and leaving the band for two years in 1982.
- James Jamerson. The most important and influential bass guitarist in the 66-year history of the Fender Precision he played, South Carolina-born, Detroit-raised James Jamerson wrote the bible on bass line construction and development, feel, syncopation, tone, touch, and phrasing, while raising the artistry of improvised bass playing in popular music to zenith levels.
- Jaco Pastorius. It's sobering to realize just how drastically Jaco Pastorius changed our world in the short time he was here. In seven years, between 1975 and 1982, Jaco’s staggering contributions to discs by Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, and Weather Report radically upended our expectations of electric bass, and he further cemented his legend on records by Herbie Hancock, Albert Mangelsdorff, Michel Colombier, Al Di Meola, and others.
- Paul McCartney. While Jamerson and Jaco were changing the electric bass in their own way, Paul McCartney was doing it with extreme visibility, front-and-center with the Beatles.
- Larry Graham. The story goes that as a teenager gigging with his mother, Larry Graham played organ pedals and guitar alongside a drummer. When the organ broke, he switched to bass until the organ could be fixed—and then the drummer left the band.
Jun 16, 2023 · Rush’s own iconic bassist Geddy Lee once said “Entwistle was arguably the greatest rock bassist of them all.” 4. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. As Led Zeppelin’s wildly visionary bassist-keyboardist, Jones brought a wide-ranging package of thematic references and inspirations to his work, but he never deviated into plagiarism or copy-catting.
1. Paul McCartney. We start with Paul McCartney, a name that music lovers all over the world probably know. He is not only a founding member of the iconic band The Beatles. His musical prowess has undeniably shaped the landscape of popular music for over six decades. McCartney’s bass playing was a defining element of The Beatles’ sound.
