I realize this is very subjective, but I need to ask. I just sold all my guitar gear and used the cash to buy bass gear. I played hard rock / metal guitar for 23 years, but always appreciated many different kinds of music. I would like to hear from people what tunes they feel define the bass. Any genre of music accepted. I want to get an idea of what bass players listen to.

Listen to everything your teacher tell you :)

If you want to be a good bass player listen to other bass players.

If you want to be a good musician listen to everything you can get your hands on.

OK, so if you were my teacher, what would you tell me to learn?

To me, the perfect BASS player is Donald Duck Dunn. Buy the Blues Brothers soundtrack, and listen to "She Caught the Kady".

There is so much stuff. If you want to groove, you can listen to old James Brown stuff, some Motown stuff with James Jamerson on bass. I would recommend Jamiroquai's first three albums with Stuart Zender on bass. There's Paul McCartney. There's Victor Wooten who plays with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Marcus Miller. Of course, there's Jaco Pastorius.

The list goes on.... We have such a diverse group here that listens to all kinds of music. It's hard to narrow down. But just like there are so many kinds of different guitar players, there are so many different kinds of bass players. It really depends on what kinds of genres you are willing to explore.

Funk is very good for bass playing, as the bass line (and bass sound and feel) is so central. Personally, I think you can't get better than Herbie Hancock's 70's albums for funk - Headhunters, Thrust, Manchild, Secrets, Sunlight... Jamiroquai are also great for funk bass playing. Also, for funky jazzy playing - possibly the best bass player ever - Jaco Pastorius, both his solo albums and the Weather Report ones he played on (Black Market, Heavy Weather for example). I would say heavy rock/metal is not so good for bass playing (I'm sure some of you disagree) because the bass line isn't so central. Having said which, there's some great rock bass playing on The Beatles' records, particularly Revolver, Sgt Pepper, White Album, Abbey Road, i.e. the later stuff.

I'm listening to the following songs which I think have great grooving bass lines:

Whatever Gets You Through the Night - John Lennon (Walls & Bridges album)

Moondance & Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Bouree - Jethro Tull

Unbroken Chain, US Blues & Scarlet Begonias - Grateful Dead (From the Mars Hotel)

Motown is great, get "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". This book is part biography about James Jamerson and part music instruction. I'm also reading up on James Brown funk / R&B.

The Police (Sting) have some great rhythms. You might wanna give them a spin.

You guys are great! I love all of the suggestions so far. I think I'll need a part-time job to support my CD habit in the near future. I'm only surprised by the Beatles suggestion. I love the Beatles, so don't get me wrong, but I always felt they were relatively weak from the standpoint of bass and drums. I will listen again.

Thanks again, and please keep the suggestions rolling in.

Craig

Originally posted by worganc
I always felt they were relatively weak from the standpoint of bass and drums.

You are mistaken. After a closer look you will see that Sir Paul was a relatively good bassist. To me "Penny Lane" is a very good example.

josh

Paul McCartney was a pretty good bassist I think. He didn't really do much that was particarly tricky to play but he had a unique sound (listen to Sgt Pepper, I really don't know how he made that bass sound) and came up with some really good, original bass lines IMHO.

Hey hey fellow Ontarian! :)

Check out Les Claypool from Primus for some truly unique playing. His lines aren't necessarily the type you can cop in a cover band, but still inspiring.

If you're into hard rock and metal, Geezer Butler and Steve Harris are probably two names you know already, but the new crop of bassists features some pretty impressive playing. Check out Steve DiGiorgio (Death/Control Denied), Vortex (Borknagar), Sean Malone (Cynic), Tony Choy (Pestilence/Atheist)...

If you want to hear bass playing at its pyrotechnical finest, pick up a any Bela Fleck and the Flecktones or Victor Wooten CD.

There are as many correct answers to your question as musical styles. I will offer up no opinion on what bassist to listen to, but here's a tip my mentor gave me long ago. Listen to styles you wouldn't normally listen to, dislike, despise, even hate. I have found that there are a ton of good ideas floating around out there in styles I may not like listening to, and I can sometimes learn a fresh approach to something I would have not thought of otherwise.

(Puts "helpful" soapbox back under desk, pulls out "selfish list of guys I like" soapbox)

Now then...

-Motown stuff for your pocket education (Jamerson and Dunn exemplify the word "pocket")
-Country (yes country!) for learning what not to play is as important to the song as forcing a blizzard-o-licks into a half measure.
-Jazz for the coolness quotient (Jaco, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, etc)
-Funk for, well, the funk of it (Bootsy, Larry Graham, Flea) OMG, did I just say Flea?
-And just for pure over the top, Victor Wooten (run, don't walk to the nearest venue to see him!)

IMO, it can be a little discouraging to listen to these guys (I can't even play their mistakes!), but you will get a wide variety of ideas from a wide variety of styles. What makes you a player is not knowing the licks, but when to use them (or not) to make the song better. Good luck!

Listen to everything. Even stuff you hate.

....I can offer you a tip that I always give my students, that is, to listen to the music in your head. Figure it out.

Regatta de Blanc - The Police

esp.: Walking on the moon

"Giant steps are what you take ... "

phaty

http://natkin.net/webmaster/images/sting.jpg

Yeah, Walking On The Moon is a great bass line, and that album some really good stuff on it. Didn't know Sting played fretless though...

Listen to everything! the greatest musicians are also the greatest listeners. Miles Davis once said "dont play whats there, play whats not there" and I believe the same context could be used for listening.

Yep,

Listen to everything.

You'd be surprised how much material you actually listen to when you focus on the Bass and not the soloist/ band/group as a whole. I try and forget my leanings to any particualar style. Once you realise why you're listening you can switch on to anything from the simplest to the complicated...from any era.

Cheers.