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- Chic - Good Times. (from Risqué, 1979) It would be cheap to suggest that Good Times represents Bernard Edwards’ finest playing, as his career was full of moments of pure genius such as this one.
- James Brown - Sex Machine. (single, 1970) Never known by its full title – Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine – James Brown’s ineffable recruitment drive for the funk was driven by the playing of Bootsy Collins and his brother Catfish, whose guitar line accompanies the bass.
- Stanley Clarke - School Days. (from School Days, 1976) Throwing everything into the mix and changing the face of bass playing in doing so, Stanley Clarke’s legendary School Days features superfast pizzicato, razor-sharp pops, huge string bends and his usual disregard for convention.
- The Stranglers - Peaches. (from Rattus Norvegicus, 1977) Two seconds into Peaches and you’ll know what song you’re listening to; five seconds later, you’ll be cursing Jean-Jacques Burnel for his talent and wondering how you can get that tone yourself.
- The Chicken – Jaco Pastorius
- Rio – Duran Duran
- Ain't No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
- Tommy The Cat – Primus
- The Chain – Fleetwood Mac
- Phantom of The Opera – Iron Maiden
- Teen Town – Weather Report
- I Want You Back – Jackson 5
- Hysteria – Muse
- For Whom The Bell Tolls – Metallica
The master of jazz fusion bass guitar, Jaco Pastorius, in his natural environment, running rings around an old Pee Wee Ellis jam on the Bass of Doom, his home-hacked fretless his tool for jimmying open the door to all-new possibilities for the world of bass guitar. Maybe this should have been higher in the list, folks? But it makes a great starting...
A hyper-kinetic bassline, Rio was described by John Taylor as being a love letter to classic rhythm sections who inspired him and drummer Roger Taylor. It’s Duran Duran’s finest hour, maybe British pop's too. As it has to be with pop music, everything is in lockstep, bolted together, engineered first then tested before taking flight. It has to be; ...
A James Jamerson masterclass in tone, feel and space. Jamerson’s best work is often found in what he chooses not to play, his discpline and restraint only serving to strengthen the fundamentals on which the song is built. Maybe that is the failsafe mark of a great player; the songs they play on are all great. This, of course, is a soul standard, li...
Expert angler, stoner, winemaker, bass player... Les Claypool is the polymath’s polymath, a man of our times. No one plays like he does. When Primus toured with Rush, it might have been Claypool who was in awe of his hero, Geddy Lee, but Lee was in turn inspired by the Primus man’s effervescent style. He’ll strummy chords, tap, hit harmonics and sc...
The bassline that we are talking about here doesn’t appear until the track turns on its heels towards the end, making The Chain feel like one of the most Janus-faced compositions in rock history. Yet somehow it works, the tension of the first half released in the second. Perhaps this is all to do how the song was composed, in bits, fractured and pi...
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was gathering momentum when Iron Maiden released their debut and Phantom Of The Opera gave it the ambition and scope that it deserved. As Steve Harris describes it, it was progressive, and it remains one of Maiden’s best moments. Seven-minutes of hectic feel changes and melodic grandstanding, it showcases Maiden’...
When you break down the Teen Town bassline and take one phrase at a time, and keep it slow, it could almost seem within reach. But listening back to the recording, at full-tempo, and it’s an act of bravura genius that really only Jaco Pastorius can pull off. Sure, many can play it, just as many can play Eddie Van Halen’s Eruption, but Pastorious in...
Crystalline pop perfection, a Motown hall-of-famer, and still a dancefloor staple 50-odd years on, I Want You Back has a lot to recommend it. But Wilton Felder’s bassline is the glue that holds it all together. It’s the melody. It’s the rhythm. And it’s impossible to get out of your head. Felder was equally well known for his saxophone playing. The...
A supernova of 16th notes, Chris Wolstenholme’s fuzzed-up bass really cuts through Hysteria. Here, as he often is, Wostenholme provides Muse with their sense of gravity. When Bellamy et al are taking things extra-terrestrial, his playing roots Muse in a rock tradition that could be traced back to the big beasts – Deep Purple and all that jazz. They...
The bassline to For Whom The Bell Tolls is best savoured live. It’s where they really let Cliff Burton cut loose with buzzsaw bass and wah pedal, a tradition respected by Jason Newsted and Rob Trujillo but scarcely with the sort of animalistic charisma of Burton. A standout track, Burton’s descending chromatic riff articulates a sense of pure dread...
- Another One Bites the Dust – Queen. Written by Queen’s bass player John Deacon, this bass line is iconic. Deacon actually recorded most of the instruments on the track too.
- Money – Pink Floyd. Cited widely as one of the best songs for bassists to learn, “Money” was released on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album in 1973.
- Give it Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers. Released in 1991, the song is based on the mantra “The more you give, the more you receive, so why not give it all away?”
- Hysteria – Muse. The bass line in “Hysteria” by Chris Wolstenholme was voted the best bass line of all time by a MusicRadar poll in 2011. It was followed by “YYZ” by Rush and “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, both of which are featured on this list.
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- Michael Jackson – Billie Jean. Album: Thriller. Year: 1982. Bassist: Louis Johnson. “Billie Jean” is the most-streamed song on the best-selling album of all time.
- Pink Floyd – Money. “Dark Side Of The Moon” is one of the most recognized albums of all time. With more than 45 million sales and “Money” being the most-streamed song of the album on Spotify, a lot of people have heard this iconic bassline.
- Ben E. King – Stand By Me. Album: Released as single. Year: 1961. Bassist: Lloyd Trotman. The oldest entry on this list, “Stand By Me” has remained a popular song for more than 60 years.
- The Beatles – Come Together. Album: Abbey Road. Year: 1969. Bassist: Paul McCartney. The Beatles are often regarded as the best band of all time. Thus, when one of their biggest hits is centered around a bass riff, you know it`s going to be one of the most famous bass lines of all time.
- Nick Wells
- My Girl - The Temptations (1965) Written by Smokey Robinson and Ronnie White from The Miracles, 'My Girl' became an all-time classic thanks to Jamerson's instantly recognisable bassline.
- Going to a Go-Go - The Miracles (1965) This next bassline doesn't necessarily indicate the work of a future revolutionary, but listen carefully to the rhythmic counterpoint between the bass and the toms of drummer Benny Benjamin.
- You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes (1966) This is a prime example of how Jamerson would drive a track from the bottom while the vocalist drove it from the top.
- Road Runner - Jr. Walker & The All Stars (1966) A hit song for Junior Walker & the Allstars in 1966, 'Road Runner' opens with a classic drum fill followed by eight bars of James Jamerson at his very best.
Jan 16, 2023 · 19: Pink Floyd: Money (1973; bassist: Roger Waters) The Dark Side Of The Moon classic Money is one of Pink Floyd’s most iconic – and accessible – songs, and much of that’s down to former leader Roger Waters’ bassline. Compact and cinematic, the song (which also features clever proto-samples of cash resisters and coins jingling) is ...
Apr 4, 2024 · The emergence of hard rock and metal gave us memorable basslines from Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris, and Primus’ Les Claypool. And the most recent two decades have offered some of the greatest basslines in history, with countless musicians capitalizing on strong, active rhythm sections in the rock and pop worlds.
