Looking for bassists to study

[okieman]

I'm a beginner wanting to do some training by learning to play like bassists I admire. The style I'm looking for is sometimes called melodic, because McCartney is in there, and I dig him. I also like Willie Dixon and whoever played for Mississippi Fred McDowell. I'm interested in going just a bit beyond the tonic notes or chord based methods. I've heard some bassists do cool things like anticipate a chord change the band is about to make by jumping in ahead and playing a few notes leading into that change. The guy who played for Three Dog Night (Joe Schermie) had a different trick; he would drop out notes - just leave them out altogether - in such a way that it made the bass line interesting and a bit unpredictable. Don't know if this makes sense. I'm wondering if there are bassists out there I've overlooked that use some of these techniques?

[PDGood]

I know exactly what you mean. Don't limit yourself to just learning from bass players though - you can convert guitar info to bass easily and it's easier to find what you're looking for in guitar recordings. Check out Jack Pearson - guitarist who played with the Allman Brothers among others. He's one of the best at implying chords and has lots of interesting movements.
For bass players, the top dog here in Nashville is Michael Rhodes who is on just about everything these days. I've heard him play live many times. His thing is he keeps it solid all the time except every once in awhile throws in a long melodic run that leads to an upcoming chord change - very similar to what you're describing.

[bass12]

Pino Palladino is definitely someone to check out (especially during the 80s with folks like Paul Young).

[MalcolmAmos]

What you described is used in Country bass a lot. That chromatic run to the next chord - pretty simple really.

Target the next root note and miss it. Yep, miss it and then walk up or down to it.

On C want to get to F. Grab a D on the same string then go up a string to D#-E-F. Miss the F by enough so you can walk to it and be on F by the 4th beat.

Practice that chromatic walk of 4 beats, it's a piece of cake.

Have fun.

[Green1]

+1 on Pino Palladino. Willie Weeks is definately another. Good luck.

[Jpeachbass]

Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailly, Larry Grahm, O. Burbridge and Brian Bromberg just to name a few. Also try some easy trombone music. It will get you into the melody side of things.