Best rock bass player

Good pick bkeske, Larry Taylor is a great one.

Larry Taylor, Phil Lesh, Jack Cassidy, Jaco, and yea, gotta throw McCartney in there. Always liked his style.

Yes, but that beard...hard to look at.

@chowkwan - fyi - there's another thread under music that begins with 'Great Rock Bassists' that's a lot more recent than this one, which is almost 4 years old. And yeah, Lee Sklar is a great bassist! 

Lee Sklar

 

 

Gary Thain of Uriah Heep, Keef Hartley - 1948-75 RIP
.
Felix Pappalardi of Mountain RIP + one of the Best Voices in Rock
Pekka Pohjola RIP
Jack Bruce RIP
Chris Squire RIP
Michael Rutherford
Patrick Djivas of Area, Premiata Forneria Marconi
John Wetton RIP
Tiziano Ricci of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Greg Lake RIP
Geddy Lee
Tim Bogert of Cactus, Beck Bogert & Appice

the Bass player from Dream Theater.

John Myung.  (you had better be good if you're going to keep up with the musicians in this band!)

Gerry McAvoy , from Rory Gallagher's band , and the late John Kahn .

Late to this thread, but I have to give a +1 to Geddy Lee. The man is simply amazing...

Yup .... Wasserman plays electric. A really cool electric upright and a more "traditional" electric bass guitar. Listen to his "Duets" and "Trios" albums for some excellent tunes.

Many greats listed.
Agree with Falconquest and Dodgealum for
Leland Sklar

Larry Klein and Bernard Edwards, though not necessarily rock oriented.

Wasserman plays on a great Rock/Jazz (as opposed to Jazz/Rock!;) record; 'Cosmic Farm' and totally kills it! The record has a 'fat' & 'beefy' bass sound!

Does Wasserman play electric? I know he's a fine upright player. How about Jim Fielder (Blood, Sweat and Tears, in their heyday, also appears on Freak Out and Buffalo Springfield Again)...

Rob Wasserman, a true artist on the bass, but not yet mentioned. And Led Zep would not have been one of the best rock bands of all time without John Paul Jones. First four Allman Brothers Band albums allowed Berry Oakley to show his wonderful talents (c'mon, the intro to Whipping Post is one of rock's best ever bass lines) and let's not forget Adam Clayton of U2.

So many great ones mentioned....I second (or third or fourth) Lesh, Entwistle and Graham Maby (so glad he is getting props here--his work with JJ is amazing! Geddy Lee (don't like Rush but his skills cannot be disputed) and Dee Murray--yep! Did anyone mention John Paul Jones? What about Leland Sklar and all the studio work he has done--awesome bass guitarist!

sorry, rox. agree with your take 100%--he's a bouncy guy.

Loomis,
I actually mentioned Graham Maby as one of my favorites much earlier in this thread. He has a great bouncy, percussive and energetic feel in his playing.

a couple not mentioned above whom i've always admired:
graham maby (joe jackson, freedy johnson et al)--a really lyrical player who really frames some excellent-sounding records. i have a special weakness for him cause he also played with they might be giants, the only palatable children's music ever
cris curtwood (meat puppets)--in their very brief heyday they were the best band in america, and he swung like a mofo. i understand he because a serious, dysfunctional junkie, but "up on the sun" is as good as brainfry gets

Honorable mention for Dee Murray of Elton John's classic band.

Falconquest,
All worthy choices. Each great in his own way.

Have to give the nod to Tony Levin for his work with King Crimson especially. Also John Wetton and Chris Squire are "musts" for this list. Possibly the greatest bass player that gets very little recognition but is immensely prolific is Mr. Leland Sklar.

I finally investigated and found the name of the bass player from the original soundtrack recording of Hair. I've always loved the fun loving bouncing musical bass lines there!

He is Jimmy Lewis who apparently had an impressive resume prior.

I need to dig deeper into some of those classic artist's recordings that he played on.

Yeah, Doug Wimbish applying that funk to 80s techno. Saw him with Tackhead; he used lots of effects and played a Jimi Hendrix solo on his bass.

Im going to mention Glenn Cornick from Jethro Tull. Bass lines are powerful and somewhat jazzy

My list (includes funk & soul) …... most already mention but here goes anyway.
James Jamerson.. underpinned the Motown sound. Marvin Gaye sought him out to play on 'What's Going On' .
Paul McCartney … for his melodic lines … listen to I Want You (She's So Heavy) from Abbey Road
Bernard Edwards (Chic) … some of my favourite bass lines Check out "Good Times' Same bass line used on Sugar Hill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight"
Larry Graham … the father of slap.
John Entwistle …. 'Thunderfinger' …influenced many other bassists.
+ many more
Also have to mention Doug Wimbish (Living Colour, Jungle Funk) I had the pleasure of seeing him play live a couple of times … my jaw was on the floor!

A lot of good players already listed, let me add Leo Lyons of Tens Years After.

Martykl,
I was thinking of the second track, Groovallegiance. The bass player is either Rodney skeet Curtis or Cordell boogie Mosson. Bootsy Collins style was not as harmonic as this bass solo suggests. Anyone who loves the bass owes it to themselves to check out this track as well as Mann's Fate on Hot Tuna's first album. Two of my favorite go to songs as far as the electric bass guitar is concerned.

Who ever played bass on Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove deserves mention here as we'll.

I believe that's Bootsy, Baby! (Collins)

Jack Cassidy and Phil Lesh took the rock bass guitar where it never had gone before. Fat humbucking pick-ups on their Guild Starfires was the foundation of the San Francisco sound.
Who ever played bass on Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove deserves mention here as we'll.

Steve Harris and the Bass player from Dream Theater.

Also: Rick Danko (The Band). Fine work on the first two records.

+1 on Steve Harris.

Dusty Hill ZZ TOP! Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, and a call out to Bill Wyman for laying down the best rhythm with Keith and Charlie!

Yeah, Bach's feet are the Original Bass Player. And they rock.

James Jamerson (and the Funk Brothers rhythm section that he anchored) played on more #1 hits than the Beatles, Stones, and Elvis combined. But since he didn't sing, nobody cares.

Cym,

So you've heard Bach play then, I assume? :^)

Hard to argue with McCartney, all things considered.

Jamerson did the bass playing for Motown? That's a pretty good resume as well!

"Best" is indeed a vague way to ask the question, but here's what you need to know:

1. J.S. Bach
2. James Jamerson
3. Paul McCartney

There are others.

Doug Ferguson, original bass player in Camel was pretty awesome, as was Andrew Latimer when he picked up a bass guitar as well.

ALso a big fan of Richard Sinclair who played bass mainly with canterbury rock group "Caravan" (it's dromedary day I suppose) and also did a stint as bass player with Camel in teh late 70's.

Also gotta mention Chris Squire (Yes) in the discussion.

While on the prog rock track, in more recent years, how about Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree?

Mental, I had Entwistle on my list of eight.

FWIW the more recent players don't do it for me with the exception of Les Claypool. But the modern guitarists (Satriani, Van Halen, etc.) don't do it for me either.

Jack Casady was top of my list. I guess this far down people don't read all the posts.

In my time its Geddy Lee and Chris Squire. I saw them many time's since the late 70s.Most recently...Geddy Lee with the Clockwork Angels tour. In August of 2013 I saw the so called Yes....even though they were pretty good. They can never really be Yes without Jon and Rick.

Jack Cassidy...... Awesome.
Good call

jack cassidy of the Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna. Listen to any live Airplane album and you will hear how he unobtrusively drives the band intensely forward.

Jack Bruce is a technical great, but when playing with Cream went off on his own path during songs instead of laying down a strong bass line.

Neal

These days I would say either Geddy Lee or John Myung.

The Ox.

Steve Harris Iron Maiden
Roger Glover Deep Purple

There are a lot of great bass players already mentioned. Three others that belong in the discussion are Stuart Hamm, Dave Larue, and John Myung. Of those three, I think Larue is the best. I have seen all of them live, and they are all outstanding.

I agree with Geddy Lee. I listen to a huge variety of music and I don't believe I own any Rush. I have however seen them live in the late 70's/early 80's and I've never heard a bass player as good as him live or recorded. I'm talking electric bass however.

As someone earlier had taken the liberty of expanding the rock genre to soul and funk I would add Mark Adams from the group Slave.

Stanley Clarke's early albums were just as much rock as they were jazz.