Hey, I've been into classic rock since I was born (I'm 21) and I'm trained in playing Trombone, I play a little sax (tenor and alto) and guitar for fun, and I've recently decided to try my hand at Bass, since pretty much all t-bone jazz lines (well, the fourth part, anyway) run right with the bass. Basically, my problem is that all my knowledge of classic rock is based around the guitar players and the equipment they're on, as well as the legendary guitar riffs. What are the bass equivalents to the eruption solo? The Freebird solo? Who's the Hendrix / Clapton / VanHalen / Walsh of the bass world? Thanks!

I dunno about solos, but names you should know like the back of your hand are Jaco Pastorius, James Jamerson, Larry Graham, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Bootsy Collins, Stanley Clarke, Michael Manring, John Myung... the list goes on lol. Of course, these are all imho. Some of my (more controversial) favs are Flea, Les Claypool, Tim Commerford, and Geezer Butler.

:Edit: I almost forgot Geddy Lee! I'm sure there are more that I can't remember because work has numbed my brain...

Billy Sheehan!

+1 on whats already been said, especially people like, Larry Graham, Bootys collins, Victor wooten, stanley clarke, marcus miller, Flea, also check out Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, George Porter, John Entwhistle.
ill add more when my brain starts werking again

you should also know Steve Harris

A big +1 on John Entwistle. I just discovered him and I have to say that the man was a genius. Also check out Geddy Lee and Jaco Pastorius (Jaco being a kind of Hendrix for bass guitar).

Good avenues to follow, I'll be checking in to all of them. Wooten I'm still kind of on the fence about. An amazing player, to be sure, but it seems like he ruins stuff by showing off technical skill a little too much. Like his Amazing Grace solo with harmonics. It's awesome, and then he goes in to this really fast section that doesn't fit at all with the solitude of the song. It's like having a nice low jazz ballad and then bursting in to sing, sing, sing for a few bars and then back to the low jazz, kinda ruins it.

lets go a lil classic rock, Dusty Hill, John Entwistle, JACK CASSIDY, and GEEZER BUTTLER. throw them names on wikipedia and download some songs which im pretty sure u already have lol

John Entwistle
Chris Squire
Geezer Butler
Steve Harris
Geddy Lee
Paul McCartney

For tight grooving Rocco Prestia of Tower of Power.

How has no one mention Jack Bruce yet?

+1 on whats already been said, especially people like, Larry Graham, Bootys collins, Victor wooten, stanley clarke, marcus miller, Flea, also check out Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, George Porter, John Entwhistle.
ill add more when my brain starts werking again

+100 My version of the list....

James Jamerson, Larry Graham, Bootys Collins, Marcus Miller, Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, Chuck Rainey, Jerry Jemmott, Willie Weeks, David Hood, Duck Dunn, Tommy Cogbill, and Bernard Odum.

Good avenues to follow, I'll be checking in to all of them. Wooten I'm still kind of on the fence about. An amazing player, to be sure, but it seems like he ruins stuff by showing off technical skill a little too much. Like his Amazing Grace solo with harmonics. It's awesome, and then he goes in to this really fast section that doesn't fit at all with the solitude of the song. It's like having a nice low jazz ballad and then bursting in to sing, sing, sing for a few bars and then back to the low jazz, kinda ruins it.
I totally agree, but he is still regarded as one of the greats ;) :bassist:

some I would definitely recommend checking out include Jack Casady, Jerry Scheff, Joe Osborn, George Porter, John Paul Jones, Jack Bruce, Verdine White

Rock/Old school Metal bassists. (he asked for rock, Jaco and Wooten might be great but they ain't rock)


Cliff Burton
Steve Harris
John Paul Jones
John Enswistle
Geezer Butler
Duff Mckagen
Paul Mcartney
Lemmy
Rex Brown
Roger Waters
Flea
Geddy Lee
David Ellefson

equivalents to the eruption solo? The Freebird solo?
If we`re talking about the popular music and recognize-able tunes...
The all-famous intro of "For whom the bell tolls" and "Pulling teeth"by Metallica or "Around the World" by Chilli Peppers.

thanks a lot everyone this was even more info than I had hoped for. I've been checking these people out a bunch.

+1 John Paul Jones

anytime I am asked for a good classic rock bassist to study, I point people to Led Zepplin. John Entwistle is the other obvious choice.

you might also check past basscast podcasts for the "20 greatest rock bass lines" and "the next 20 greatest rock bass lines " episodes...