"Leading" bass style, what is it really?

[big_z_in_miami]

I have heard the term "leading bass style" applied to Jack Bruce, Leon Wilkeson, John Entwistle, and others.

I like their style and would like to know, from a technical perspective, what are the elements of their styles that leads to it being called "leading bass style"....other than the obvious observation that they are great bassists with great basslines, which are just as important to the tunes as the guitar parts.

One thing I have noticed is that Jack and Leon tend to hit the first note of their riffs on the high end of the scale, and then work down in tone. Jack Bruce's stuff is often traditional blues scale based, but the root is almost always on the high end with all the other notes below it in tone.

Leon....loves those open strings, and minimal movement on the fretboard. Some songs can be played with two fret locations and open strings.

Thoughts?

[gotmule?]

I think a lot of it has to do with your knowledge of theory. I listen and try to emulate most of the bass players you have mentioned, and I was able to even come close until I began improving my knowledge of music theory. Learning the different scales and how they relate to each other as well as learning what you can play over different types of chords will help big time. Learning jazz has also helped me improve my playing. Jack Casady and Phil Lesh are two other great players to listen to for lead bass.