ok my top 5 would be:

1. Billy Sheehan (of course)
2. Felipe Andreoli (of Angra, Karma and Paul Di'anno)
3. John Myung (Dream Theater)
4. Cliff Burton (He was destined for great things)
5. Franck Hermanny (Adagio)

of course theres alot of great jazz and funk players who can shred as well :)

:( Cliff Burton ACHIEVED great things ... just look at the adoration he still gets today!! And yeah he's up there in the top shredders on bass.

Dave Ellefson - Megadeth.

Rex Brown - Pantera. I love his work on a lot of their songs especially Primal Concrete Sledge and Domination.

Steve DiGiorgio. I'm listening to a lot of Testament lately.

Sheehan is the one for me.

Stefan Fimmers of Necrophagist
Erlend of Blood Red Throne

John Myung barely ever shreds :(

Billy Billy Billy !

Id whap Rex up there, very underrated imo.

I find "shreds" to be such a ridiculous term when applied to bassists. It just conjures up images of Billy Sheehan-wannabe's trying to solo but without any of the class or skill.

dunno bout shreds...but defo one to check out for talent is ryan martinez from mudvayne

Forgotten to the ages, but awesome nonetheless...Troy Gregory, formerly of Flotsam and Jetsam and Prong. Pick up (or download) Flotsam's "No Place for Disgrace" or Prong's "Prove You Wrong" for a fine example of what a slammin', high speed fingerstylist sounds like.

Steve DiGiorgio ive heard of him before and ive got 4 testament albums but ive never really seen him shred the closest ive seen him do was on "urotsudoki" off low album i think it was called.

Stefan Fimmers of Necrophagist ive only heard this one lick from him that was a cool sweep but like right after wards i saw a lick from franck hermanny that overshadowed it :P

dont underestimate myung either, just listen to metropolis part 1 :P

Sheehaan \m/!!

Myung does shred, listen to his dance of eternity solo, his ytse jam solo, and he also keeps up playing riffs high on the neck at 200bmp with petrucci.

Troy Tipton - Zero Hour
Shawn Kascak - Outworld
Franck Hermanny - Adagio
Michael Lepond - Symphony X
Juan Alderete - Racer X

Troy Tipton - Zero Hour
Shawn Kascak - Outworld
Franck Hermanny - Adagio
Michael Lepond - Symphony X
Juan Alderete - Racer X

wow i cant believe i forgot juan, i heard a bass solo from him live on a song called "rock it" he has a crazy tone like all the lows cut off and only high, you can hear it in "day of the baphomets" as well.

i saw troy tipton in the sweep bass thread you posted in before but franck hermanny was the stand out plus i can only sweep using the thumb method and not the cascading finger method

not too familiar with the michael lepond or shawn kascak i guess outworld is rusty coolies (sp) band and i havent heard much symphony x

not too familiar with the michael lepond or shawn kascak i guess outworld is rusty coolies (sp) band and i havent heard much symphony x

Yep, Outworld is Rusty Cooley's band. They just released their debut album in November.

here's Shawn's Myspace with some good clips of his playing
http://www.myspace.com/shawnkascak

John Myung
Steve DiGiorgio
Rex Brown
.... my mind is kinda blank right now lol haha

dunno bout shreds...but defo one to check out for talent is ryan martinez from mudvayne

it's martinie, close though

Yep, Outworld is Rusty Cooley's band. They just released their debut album in November.

here's Shawn's Myspace with some good clips of his playing
http://www.myspace.com/shawnkascak

ahh just listened to some of his stuff with outworld very sheehanesque :P especially the title track, i thought they had been around for ages though not just released a debut this year pretty cool nonetheless a band i will have to follow :)

I find "shreds" to be such a ridiculous term when applied to bassists. It just conjures up images of Billy Sheehan-wannabe's trying to solo but without any of the class or skill.

You forgot tone.

Wait, what am I talking about......Sheehan has tone?
Class & skill yes, but tone is another thing entirely

Stefan Fimmers of Necrophagist

+1

sheehan has a very particular tone which comes from alot of compression and splitting his high end and low end between two amps

all basses have tone, i personally like his tone but i dont have the kind of money to duplicate it :P

You forgot tone.

Wait, what am I talking about......Sheehan has tone?


Oh yes. How could I forget!

Both times I've seen Billy live his tone has blown me away, especially the second time (Vai only show), you really get the effect of it in the second row!

Sheehan & DiGiorgio ;)

-Thomas Miller, formerly of Symphony X, great tone also!
-Kyle Honea, solo bassist, uses mostly two-hand tapping, but has grown over the years nonetheless.
-Joey DeMaio, and yes, I'm mentioning him to piss you all off.
-Alan Goldstein, mentioned in the Aghora thread, good all around bassist who definately can shred
-Tony Choy, not necessarily a neo-classical shredder, but worth checking out nonetheless
-Sean Malone, honorable mention for his solo in Textures off of Cynic's Focus.


Truthfully, I wish more bassists were willing to utilize more shredding moments in metal. Not that they should lose sight of the music, but it'd add a dimension you don't normally see.

Steve Di G for sure. Awesome to watch live. Awesomely nice guy.

Tony Choy does plenty of improvisation and is nice like...like a family member.

Lars K Norberg of Spiral Architect- amazing playing and lines, and he makes a fretted sound fretless!

Erlrend Caspersen of Blood Red Throne- I don't dig too much br00tal metal, but this guy- who sometimes makes a TB appearance- can sweep and play fingerstyle with the fastest!

Steve DiGiorgio ive heard of him before and ive got 4 testament albums but ive never really seen him shred the closest ive seen him do was on "urotsudoki" off low album i think it was called.:P

I actually had to clarify, the bass soloing on "Urotsokidoji" was actualy the original bassist, Greg Christian.

Lars K Norberg of Spiral Architect!

I really like listening to his playing but the singer is so atrocious I find I can only stomach small doses on Spiral Architect.

I actually had to clarify, the bass soloing on "Urotsokidoji" was actualy the original bassist, Greg Christian.

oh my mistake :P whats a good track that demonstrates his skill?

Sheehan all the way! Saw him live at Bx3 and it was awesome!

The guy from Seventh Wonder

oh my mistake :P whats a good track that demonstrates his skill?

For Steve DiGiorgio, I'd say the Death album "Individual Thought Patterns". He's all over that thing!!

Stephen of Necrophagist
And Martin of Decapitated

All three of these guys have added something to tech-death metal bassing.

And i personally think Billy doesnt have anything to offer. I never got him. He just sounds like a guitarist on bass to me.

Decapitateds last album is one of the best realeses to hit modern metal. Definatly one of the best in the last ten years. Its breaking new ground which is refreshing as all most all metal artists don't bother trying these days.

wow i cant believe i forgot juan, i heard a bass solo from him live on a song called "rock it" he has a crazy tone like all the lows cut off and only high, you can hear it in "day of the baphomets" as well.

Hmm... I'll have to check that out. It sounds like how some people would describe my tone, not a lot of bass, mostly mids and highs (it cuts through scooped g*****s like a mother ******).

I think Juan Alderte is right up there with Sheenan. He did some crazy ****ing **** with his Japanese Squier and Fender Jazz basses with a little chorus added.

Check it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2AcQBHTWcno

I think Juan Alderte is right up there with Sheenan. He did some crazy ****ing **** with his Japanese Squier and Fender Jazz basses with a little chorus added.

Check it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2AcQBHTWcno

wow very cool video, his tone is different in that video though, very interesting how he plays using only 2 fingers to finger pick when he shreds, have a listen to this one his solo from the racer x song rock it

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cqG9oo_w4MU

same tone on his "soloing" bass as he uses in day of the baphomets on mars voltas recent album, in the scarified clip he has a similar tone to billy sheehan except no distortion :P

another video of Juan.
Racer X playing YRO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLZyDr3HA6o

watch at 2:50

-Joey DeMaio, and yes, I'm mentioning him to piss you all off.
:D I found myself browsing this thread to see if anyone mentioned him.

wow very cool video, his tone is different in that video though, very interesting how he plays using only 2 fingers to finger pick when he shreds, have a listen to this one his solo from the racer x song rock it

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cqG9oo_w4MU

same tone on his "soloing" bass as he uses in day of the baphomets on mars voltas recent album, in the scarified clip he has a similar tone to billy sheehan except no distortion :P


Those pants he's wearing really, really scare me.

Stefan Fimmers (Necrophagist)
The guy from Angra
Roger Patterson (Atheist)
Tony Choy (Cynic and Atheist)
Steve DiGiorgio (too many bands to name)

If i were to choose just one, i'd say Tony Choy.

another video of Juan.
Racer X playing YRO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLZyDr3HA6o

watch at 2:50

pretty cool, racer x definently one of the most underated bands. like every dude in that band is incredible have a listen to scarified it has crazy bass runs, crazy guitar harmonisation and crazy drumming and they even got a sweet vocalist whos not domineering but knows how to ROCK OUT. im so disapointed these guys never got the label attention they deserved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isFPCMAcPZM&mode=related&search=

scarified

hey thanks "tired thumb! " =) for mentioning me bro i appreciate that!

i wish i could have more people in metal hear my band aghora.

i also wanted to say, we have played with 2 guys u mentioned from :

( necrophagist , and atheist ) both shows were in miami. great players!

did you get to see the shows?

i have alot of youtube footage , some from those shows!


my favorite show we did has to be the double nighter we did with my idol allan holdsworth trio ( jimmy johnson on bass ) a true pioneer on the 5 string bass. .. ( one of the first 5's ever made, ( alembic, was for him might i ad. )

and my fav "metal" bassists are :::
( and how could you all forget ? )

STEVE HARRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( iron maiden ) amazing.
geddy lee ( rush) best! a hero of mine.
robert trujillo ( only the cd : plague that makes your booty move, its the infectious grooves. )
cliff burton ( metallica ) rip master cliff
billy sheehan ( talas ) nice guy
tony choy ( atheist) another great guy , and friend
ryan "ryno" martinie ( mudvayne ) super nice guy, killer player
greg christian ( testament ) great
jeroen paul thesseling ( pestilence - spheres)
sean malone ( sean was on my bands first cd on bass. ) aghora - aghora he did a killer job on it. amazing.
steve digiorgio ( death ) great and untamed!
peter steele ( type o ) not for his playing, but cuz he is cool to chill with , and im a huge fan of type o . he sings too .
wanda ortiz ( the iron maidens ) we just did a show together in seattle WA i love this chick on bass! !
VALium ( pist*on ) what a cool band this was. i miss them . she was sexy too.
tom araya ( slayer ) haha! gotta love him , cmon! lol
wimbish / skillings ( living colour ) got to meet wimbish this past january in a restaurant.
alex webster ( cannibal ) cool guy, a friend
troy tiptun ( zero hour ) cool friend also

im sure i forgot someone here.

thanks, alan

and my fav "metal" bassists are :::
( and how could you all forget ? )

STEVE HARRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( iron maiden ) amazing.
geddy lee ( rush) best! a hero of mine.
robert trujillo ( only the cd : plague that makes your booty move, its the infectious grooves. )
cliff burton ( metallica ) rip master cliff
billy sheehan ( talas ) nice guy
tony choy ( atheist) another great guy , and friend
ryan "ryno" martinie ( mudvayne ) super nice guy, killer player
greg christian ( testament ) great
jeroen paul thesseling ( pestilence - spheres)
sean malone ( sean was on my bands first cd on bass. ) aghora - aghora he did a killer job on it. amazing.
steve digiorgio ( death ) great and untamed!
peter steele ( type o ) not for his playing, but cuz he is cool to chill with , and im a huge fan of type o . he sings too .
wanda ortiz ( the iron maidens ) we just did a show together in seattle WA i love this chick on bass! !
VALium ( pist*on ) what a cool band this was. i miss them . she was sexy too.
tom araya ( slayer ) haha! gotta love him , cmon! lol
wimbish / skillings ( living colour ) got to meet wimbish this past january in a restaurant.
alex webster ( cannibal ) cool guy, a friend
troy tiptun ( zero hour ) cool friend also

im sure i forgot someone here.

thanks, alan

Great list. All of my faves are mentioned there except Ron Broder (Coroner). He was a big inspiration for me. He could match all the crazy classically influenced mad scales and frenetic riffing that Tommy Vetterli was playing, as well as do lead vocals.

Troy Gregory, formerly of Flotsam and Jetsam. Pick up (or download) Flotsam's "No Place for Disgrace" for a fine example of what a slammin', high speed fingerstylist sounds like.

excellent, excellent album!:bassist:

shredding is my fav thing to do on bass defiently influnces go to john myung, cliff burton

all U metal guys who posted here, i would be honored if you come hear me / my band

links below, thank you!

Great list. All of my faves are mentioned there except Ron Broder (Coroner). He was a big inspiration for me. He could match all the crazy classically influenced mad scales and frenetic riffing that Tommy Vetterli was playing, as well as do lead vocals.

Hey bud...I'm Nefesh on the Coroner forum. Ron's my number one as well for the same reasons as you list, but honestly what I love about him is that he DIDN'T shred- he doubled Tommy's stuff and really held down the fort. The few little fretless lines he does on Grin and the s/t record are cool, and he does nice fills elsewhere, but for the most part Ron's fantastic because he kept his chops in check in all the right ways.

Props! :D

PS: When the crap did Rex Brown EVER shred in Pantera?

Maybe I'm missing something, but the beauty of his playing IIRC was the groove monster he and Vinny created.