Your favorite non-bass player

[DAMON]

Ok 'Heads, who are are your favorite non-bass playing musicians that still influence your bass playing? Here are mine:

#1-David Gilmour-The man just makes the guitar sing with deliberateness and feeling.

#2-Neil Peart-He is a human computer. He has that "I'm Rick James, b**ch" thing going, except it's, "I'm Neil Peart, b**ch".

Who gives you goosebumps that does not play bass?

[JBFLA]

My favorites:
Carter Beauford (drummer - Dave Mathews Band): maybe the most dynamic drummer I've ever heard. (OK, Keith Carlock is up there too.)

Jeff Beck: Besides amazing (and sometimes, unorthodox) techniques, he has great feel and seems to bring out, and appreciate, his band-mates efforts. This is a long time favorite.

Jeff Lorber: His "I can do it all" stuff is good, but I really like his work in band situations. "Wizard Island" is an all-time favorite.

[VroomVroom]

Fun. Way, way too many to count, but off the top of my head:

Michael Brecker, RIP
Vinnie Colaiuta
Scott Henderson
Herbie Hancock
Tony Bennett
Gladys Knight

[ksandvik]

I've always been fond of good multi-instrumentalists as they know and learn more than mere mortals, Stevie Wonder, Steve Winwood, Todd Rundgren, Paul McCartney and many others. Even Victor Wooten is a multi-instrumentalist....

...Would explain my studio setup full of instruments...

[Ryan L.]

Mike Ness from Social Distortion (big surprise there!).

One of, if not the, best songwriters out there. No, not a technical genius, but who gives a rat's ass. He has written more songs that just "hit home" with me over the years than any other artist ever has. And he's kept that band going since 1979---which is pretty damn awesome.

And he's a cool guy in person, to boot.

[chuck norriss]

Clint Eastwood / piano

[DAMON]

Thanks for the responses so far guys. I'm always looking for more influences. Personally, I left out Mike Patton. He's one of those guys that can play anything you hand him and he sings like a deity!

Vroom Vroom, you gave an impressive list. Care to pick a couple and elaborate as to why?

I love delving into the minds of other musicians... Keep it going boys (and girls, if you're out there!)

[VroomVroom]

Originally Posted by DAMON

...Care to pick a couple and elaborate as to why?...

Sure. To me it's about the music and the ensemble. I'm infatuated by performers who can elevate both...sometimes with one note. Scott Henderson - one prime example would be how he states the melody on 'The Chicken' .... @ roughly the 1:00 mark in this vid:

Sketchin' Movie - YouTube

One note in, you know that something is happening here, and it's probably best if you fasten your seatbelt. (Not coincidentally, Vinnie and Brecker are both on that album...Sketchin'...and Sketchin 2...along with the master himself, Anthony Jackson.)

Gladys and Tony Bennett do the same thing, which is something you really hear if catching either one perform live. Gladys is pretty much fully retired these days, but I still look back to January, 1991, when I got to hang with the full band for a day. She came out to rehearse - without a microphone - and filled the entire hall with positive energy. If you've ever caught Tony Bennett, when he lays the microphone down, and sings, "How High The Moon"....same thing. Chills.

IMO, the absolute master at extracting the last possible ounce of energy from an ensemble is Herbie Hancock. Space, voicings, call & response, syncopation...amazing. Here's an example that makes me smile every time, for a number of reasons...Herbie, number one. But it also includes two people I'd unhesitatingly add to the list here - Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. Balls, phrasing, soul...it's all there. Anyway, 'Space Captain.' And...boom, there's Vinnie again. This time with Oteil his ownself KILLING it on the P bass.

Herbie Hancock - Space Captain - YouTube

[HunterBrodt]

Brian blade

[bass12]

Nile Rodgers
Chris Dave
Bob Thompson (a little known guitarist from Maine)
Joe Sample
Cornell Dupree
Monty Alexander
Ramsey Lewis
Cal Tjader
George Benson
Wes Montgomery
Gene Lake

So many others...

[LilRay]

1st musician for I owe Damn near everything My Pop. Period.

Next the "famous folks"

#1 Ray Charles. Innovation changing the musical landscape. First "undefinable" artist of the Rock/R&B era.

#2 Stevie Ray Vaughan EMOTION (Hailed from my 'hood too)

#3 Django Reinhardt TWO fingers and he played like THAT! I'm done!

I could type all night. But Joe Meyer, Jon Packard and ^^That guy^^ Jerry Burdick are HUGE players and a few of my favorite people (The dood running this joint ain't too bad either)



God Bless, Ray



G

[Darkstrike]

Great topic, I'll have to think about this a lot.

First name that came to mind though, was Zakk Wylde, for his multidimensional talent. You know, rippin' shred guitarist and all that, but then you hear him play the piano and think, "Well, that's just not fair!"

Then you find out he's talented with the bass, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, organ....



I still can't play the dang bass rightwise....

[Bipslapper]

Cool Post Damon:

Stuart Copeland- my first (non-Neal Peart) favorite drummer. He just plain ole hits those fu@#in drums like you supposed to!

Declan McManus *(bonus points to the TBer who can name him). He is the best songwriter in modern times in my opinion.

Thelonius Monk- Not a traditional bone in his body. Cool Jazz to me.

Trey Anastasio / Brian Sances- Loved me a lot of Phish in college and years following. I liked Zappa and Phish seemed to follow suit. Trey has a cool way of playing, phrasing and soloing. My current band has a disciple of Trey as the leader. Very refreshing to me. Brian can really play...

Beck - Just cool stuff

Johnny Cash

Joe Strummer - RIP

Scott Henderson - Tribal Tech is a huge influence on my as a wannabe jazz musician and Scott is a major reason. His bass player doesn't suck either.

I am sure I will come back and add to the list, this is off the top of my head..

[Jeff Moote]

This is a good one. I am really enjoying all of the responses above.

For me...

Hiromi Uehara - chops for days, immensely musical, and as much as I like her take on standards her compositions and various projects really speak to me in a big way. If you're not familiar, or even if you are, spend some time watching her live performances on youtube (or in person, if you ever have the opportunity!) - what I feel consistently, even through the medium of mediocre quality streaming video, is an incredible emotional connection through the music that you often don't get as well as chops like hers. One or the other isn't good enough - it's players who can offer both that are really worth my time and effort to listen to, IMO.

Jojo Mayer - the way he takes genres born out of electronic production and re-creates them live on real instruments is incredible. A killer player, but more importantly someone who really has a vision for music in today's context. Check out his TED Talk: Jojo Mayer - The Distance Between 0 and 1 - TEDxZurich - YouTube

Bela Fleck - he's taken the banjo to places many people probably never imagined when he was first breaking on to the scene 30 years ago. His career spans more years than I've been alive, and it really shows. Every time I get to see him play live, and in all of the video and audio recordings I get to hear, he demonstrates an immense musical knowledge. His ability to span genres and blend them seamlessly in what seem like unthinkable combinations is just icing on the cake.

Pat Metheny - I'll admit I find some of his playing a bit tacky, or I should say I find a lot of "traditional" jazz electric guitar tacky more than him in particular. I cringe at his tone sometimes. Still, when it comes to his sense of melody I can think of few musicians that can solo like him. His contribution to the jazz catalog over the years is immense as well. To think he wrote Bright Size Life at age 21 is hard to comprehend.

I could probably go on, but those are some major ones that come to mind at the moment. Writing this made me realize how hard it is not to name bassists when citing influences, but at the same time pointed out that I do have many non-bassist influences if I think about it.

[Gard]

Lemme get some bidness out the way first:

Originally Posted by Bipslapper

Declan McManus *(bonus points to the TBer who can name him). He is the best songwriter in modern times in my opinion.

Agreed, Mr. Krall* is indeed one of the best modern songwriters, and has been for over 30 years now. Seen him tear it up live several times too - pretty darn good performer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My list, which varies from day to day, but tends to have these guys circulating in it regularly:

Allan Holdsworth - How can you NOT be just gobsmacked by him?

Tom Brechtlein - Drummer for Robben Ford. HUGE pocket, great groove, and STOOPID chops - but the taste to use them solely in service of the SONG.

Alex Lifeson - With the other two guys in that trio from Toronto being such monsters, he can be lost in the glare of all that heat and light, but he is the GLUE that holds it all together and makes it work. And speaking of chops in service of the song? Son!

Steve Morse - A true American treasure. Dude can do it all, and make you think he's done that and nothing but that for decades. He's just that good.

Eric Johnson - Another true American treasure. He does what he does, not a jack of all trades cat, but a MASTER of his thing. And tone? Puh-leez!

Carter Beauford - First time I heard him was on an old defunct TV show, "Live from the House of Blues" back in the early 90's. Sitting at home drinking a couple beers with the drummer I was playing with at the time. I damn near choked on the beer. Wow.

Chick Corea - 'Nuff said.

....I could go on and on and on and on and...but I won't for now...I'll add to the list later, if the thread keeps going!

(*Mr. Krall aka Elvis Costello ...not only talented beyond fairness, but married to her too? I hate him. )

[DannyV]

For me, there's a long list, so a few:

Carter Beauford
Carlos Montoya (flamenco guitar)
Chuck Mangione
Allan Vizzutti
Philip Glass (have you ever tried playing that stuff on a keyboard? He's a monster)

Saw a video of Carter playing with DMB, and he's back there sounding like big funky mountains of granite solidity, blowing a bubble with his gum and grinning all the while.

Oh, and the group Dead Can Dance. Anyone who can rock a 5oo-year-old song, then sing a pitch-perfect vocal without tuning reference is something to hear.

[skwee]

Jeff Buckley
Björk (esp. on her Sugarcubes and first four solo albums)

The lessons they've taught me about my playing is to be as direct as possible, serve the song, make it different every time, and to go out on a limb. This is what I hear in their voices and on their records.

[Bipslapper]

Originally Posted by Gard

Lemme get some bidness out the way first:



Agreed, Mr. Krall* is indeed one of the best modern songwriters, and has been for over 30 years now. Seen him tear it up live several times too - pretty darn good performer. ]

Ding Ding! We have a winner! I owe you a large mug o' suds next time we meet. And to ease my pain, I will have one with ya!

[fuzzy beard]

Justin Townes Earle

[iJazz]

Originally Posted by LilRay

1st musician for I owe Damn near everything My Pop. Period.

Thanks, Ray. Just like you, My Dad, too. More than a drummer, Dad was a drum. I'll leave it at that. After all, no matter how many words one types about a mountain, its grandeur is lost for you 'till you see it.

As to others, while there are MANY, let me throw Monte Montgomery out for you. In a world awash in great guitarists Monte is a breakthrough in originality and talent unlike any other. That's an accomplishment worthy of note. We should all be that good.

iJazz