1 John Entwistle 2 Jack Bruce 3 John Paul Jones 4 Geddy Lee 5 Paul McCartney 6 Glen Hughes
OK it's six but I saw Hughes with Trapeze and Deep Purple. And one magic night in Abilene Texas he played note for note with Tommy Bolin so I give him Honable mention.
Operative word Rock. Now, what is Rock can be argued. But to say Jaco and Miroslav "are jazz bassists that surely substantially better schooled and skilled than Paul McCartney", while true, is off point, isn’t it? When it comes to technical virtuosity, Jazz musicians are universally more advanced than Rock musicians. But what makes a player "better" at Rock music is different than what makes a player great at Jazz music.
It’s hard to make non-musicians understand the significance of style in the approach to playing an instrument. Keith Moon was asked if he could play in The Buddy Rich Band. His reply was "No, and Buddy Rich couldn’t play in The Who".
Would Jaco or Miroslav playing bass in The Beatles rather than Paul have made The Beatles music "better"? Chances are very likely no. In fact, it would most assuredly have made it less good. I often hear "simple" music ruined by an "ambitious" musician "over-playing". That’s how Jazz musicians play Rock music. They don’t understand the role their instrument plays (unintended pun :-) in Rock music versus Jazz.
Is top 5 on skill level or profit level? Can we elaborate?
Also Jaco Pastorius, Miroslav Vitous are jazz bassists that surely substantially better schooled and skilled than Paul McCartney. Paul I would say is the most profitable and popular bassist.
effischer314 posts09-23-2016 8:02pmTony Levin John Wetton Mike Rutherford Tina Weymouth
and without doubt, Chris Squire
This list perhaps is the most truthful for rock bassists with great skill level. They're all above the level and caliber of Paul McCartney. I must also agree with John Paul Jones not only as bassist, but also as multi-instrumentalist. Definitely the brightest talent of Led Zeppelin.
Not necessarily my top five, but here are five who have not been mentioned that I think deserve a mention (and the first three are certainly top-five contenders in my book):
Larry Graham Miroslav Vitous Donald "Duck" Dunn Klaus Voorman George Porter Jr.
Props to Steve Chamb for the call on Jah Wobble. He had an amazing run back there in his day. I haven't cued up one of his records in forever, but that changes today!
Yup tostado, Brian wrote the notes on paper, but bringing them to life is also part of a bassists job, which Carol did excellently. Plus, I have no doubt she made a few suggestions Brian approved.
Rick Danko was sixth on my list! His playing on a fretless Ampeg and fretted P-Bass was just fantastic. I forgot to mention that Spampinato makes his Danalectro electric sound like a stand-up. Incredible! He has been undergoing treatment for Cancer since late last year.
Hard to argue with anybody's list of "best" since at a certain level, some of it comes down to personal preference/playing style. Some of the folks mentioned (Willie Dixon, Carol Kaye) are legendary. I've heard some of the others mentioned over the years (including the great Ray Brown back in the day) , but one of the "best" bassists (aside from my buddy Rob Stoner, who is extremely musical) is a guy that remains a mystery; he was backing Little Richard a few years ago. LR said he used to employ two bass players until he found this guy. He wasn't credited, and there was nothing on the web to identify him either. He was playing counterpoint against himself. (Show at BBKings in NYC within the last 5 years). I was with Stoner, who commented that the guy was "a hired killer." I also love the sound of double bass, compared to electric- more common in the early days of rock 'n roll, before the electric bass became ubiquitous. Caught James Hunter a month or so ago, and his bassist was playing a double bass- I had forgotten how much tone and upper harmonics you get with the real acoustic instrument. Really adds to the drive of the music.
Ah, what the heck, additional bassists to the above, regardless of style, that I like are:
John Paul Jones Percy Jones Jaco Pastorius Dave Holland Mike Rutherford Greg Lake Walter Becker Jeff Berlin John Wetton Jimmy Johnson Ray Brown Phil Lesh (lesh is more) Kim Deal Carol Kaye John Deacon Mani Mounfield Krist Novoselic Colin Greenwood Pino Palladino Cliff Burton Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond Charles Mingus John Myung Geezer Butler Jack Casady Paul Simonon Jay Wobble Squarepusher
Some faves of mine already listed, esp. Sir Paul and the two Jacks. I'm surprised no one has suggested Bill Black (early Elvis) or Les Claypool. Tom Fowler (Zappa, It's A Beautiful Day, Ray Charles, Steve Hackett, Jean-Luc Ponty) also deserves mention. Oh, and I love the way Rick Danko played.
bdp, FWIW Carol says Brian wrote out all those Beach Boy bass lines for her. She did come up with many other things including the classic line for " The Beat Goes On."
1- Willie Dixon. He not only invented Rock 'n' Roll bass playing, he wrote many of it's early songs. Played with Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters.
2- James Jamerson. Motown's bassist, and Paul McCartney's model for bass playing. How can you nominate Paul when he took his style from James?!
3- Jerry Scheff. The best bassist I have seen live, playing with T-Bone Burnett. He also played with both Elvis' (Presley and Costello), Dylan, Roy Orbison, Richard Thompson, and hundreds of others.
4- Joey Spampinato. When Bill Wyman left The Stones, Joey was Keith Richards' first choice as replacement. Joey turned him down (!), preferring to stay in the REAL Best Rock 'n' Roll Band in the world, NRBQ.
5- Carol Kaye. Played on recordings of The Beach Boys (think about all those great bass parts), The Doors, Frank Zappa, Ray Charles, Phil Spector, Simon & Garfunkle, and thousands (literally) of others.
Add John McVie, Rick Grech and Jack Bruce (Bluesbreakers + Fleetwood Mac, Blind Faith and Cream, respectively). If you're looking for guys talented with string instruments, IMO it's always a good idea to start with the Bluesbreakers.
mark anthony of van halen. the story goes eddie told him "put your finger on this fret, then keep playing eight notes. we'll give you a wink when the song ends."
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