Bassist and Non-Bassist Influences?

[tri33]

I am interested to hear which bass players and non-bass players are a major influence on everyone, and why they are.

For me my bass influences are:

Victor Wooten- Musicality, Technique

Wayman Tisdale- Tone, His Playing in General

Avishai Cohen- Musicality, Amazing Compositions

Paul Chambers- (Although I haven't listened to him as much in the past, I really admire his playing and huge body of work.)

Damian Erskine- His ability to hold down the groove and yet just kill it on his solos.

I feel like I'm forgetting a person or two. I was also just trying to pick three but at least for me it is really hard to decide who my top 3 bassists are.

Non-Bassists:

Coltrane- Harmonicly Sophisticated Compositions, Masterfull Improvisational Ability

Wes Montgomery- Improvisational Ability

Bela Fleck- Amazing Compositions, Almost-Unparelled Ability and Technique

Bach- Contrapuntal Mastermind, and He's Bach Nuf Said.

[kb9wyz]

Wooten-philosophy of music
Entwhitsle & Freeman - musicality
JuacoIIIX- technique

Bela Fleck and Bach (big time) - same reasons as OP

[Mike in Chicago]

Kieth Emerson.

I have lots of favorite bass players. Beatle Paul, Motown stuff, British invasion and prog rock. Jaco...

[clodhopper]

Non - Bass Influences:
Stevie Wonder - Boogie on Reggae Woman - I've yet to hear better bass playing than this synth bass part
Joe Zawinul - wrote many classic basslines

[NWB]

I can hardly begin a list of bass players, although Vic would be around the top.

Non-bass:

Bela Fleck - Just an absolute joy to listen to. I'd rather just sit back and listen to his playing than try to analyze any of it.

Neil Peart - His sense of timing and rhythm have been a big influence to me.

Ginger Baker - I get a lot of rhythmic ideas from him.

Stevie Wonder - How can you not enjoy his music?

[Diplowmatt]

Stevie Wonder.

Sean Reinert of Cynic.

Sean Malone of...ex Cynic.

Marcus Miller, Sharay Reed, Gary Willis, Steve Digiorgio, Vic Wooten, Roger Patterson, Jamerson, Pastorius, etc, etc. Bits and pieces here and there.

Lots more...

[HolmeBass]

Bassists, most of the usuals (Vic, Stanley, Jaco, Entwhistle, JPJ, Geddy, Ron Carter, Ray Brown, Rocco, etc), I'll add Family Man and Phil Lesh as trend-setters with unique bass voices and big impacts, and Pino because his playing is always so tasty.

Non-bassists: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Danny Gatton, Charlie Hunter (maybe he counts as a bassist? too ill!), Wayne Shorter, Joe Strummer, Joe Jackson, Pete Townshend, oh yeah- Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia! (this could take a while...)

[TOMANO]

BASS INFLUENCE:
Geezer Butler - The First 6 Black Sabbath albums are my favorite rock albums. The soundtrack to my youth. Geezer rocks!
Bruce Thomas - His work with Elvis Costello & The Attractions features some of the most inspiring bass lines I've ever heard.
Dee Murray - Incredible support and nuance.
Flea - Not so much for the flash, but the amazing lines he comes up with and his ability to support and shine at the same time.
Eddie Gomez - Always beautiful.
Paul McCartney - 'cause he's Paul McCartney.
Ron Carter / Dave Holland / Michael Henderson for their Miles Davis stuff & beyond.
Jack Bruce - 'cause he's Jack Bruce.
Jim Fielder - I loved the way he and Bobby Colomby held up the monster that was Blood, Sweat and Tears. Pillars of rythmn!
Phil Lesh and Jack Casady for their transcendent psychedelic play.
John Paul Jones - 'cause he's John Paul Jones.

Non-Bassist Musical Influences: Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits

Non-Musical Influences: Grouch Marx, Hunter S. Thompson, Clive Barker

Thump On!

MT

[mantrabass]

Bass influence... Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) got me interested in playing the bass, Jesse F. Keeler (Death From Above 1979) got me interested in playing with a style in mind. Jaco Pastorius and Victor Wooten taught me a little technique goes a long, LONG way. Stu Hamm, Jean Baudin, Michael Manring, and Les Claypool turned my interest in a little bit of tapping into reasoning to get into stick-like playing and ERB's.

As far as my musical influences... that's the tough one. I've gone through phases of being interested in different styles. Big into experimental stuff, as well as technical death metal, modern hardcore(the more punk than metal stuff), jazz, and pop rock. Contemporary electronic music has always been one of my favorite genres, so I'm really big into dubstep and drum n' bass these days. I'm also hugely into Wooten and Jaco's different philosophies regarding music.

[Mayers]

Bass :

Alain Caron
John Patitucci
John Myung
Victor Wooten
Flea
Zander Zon

Non bass :

Bela Fleck
Chopin
Schöenberg
Soundtrack like Lord Of The Ring, God Of War, Transformers, Final Fantasy VII, Mega Man etc.
Yngwie Malmsteen
Spanish Classical Guitar stuff

[Terry Funk]

Bass Influence: Jamerson, Mike Watt, Geezer Butler, Mingus, William Parker, Family Man, Al Cisneros, Dave Holland, Jack Bruce, Don Pate, Paul Chambers, Cachao, Joseph "Lucky" Scott, Scott LaFaro, Kira Roessler (especially for her performance on The Process of Weeding Out. She destroyed on that album), Jimmy Garrison, Paul Denman, George Porter Jr.

Non Bass Influence: John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Tony Iommi, Curtis Mayfield, Josh Homme, Tisziji Munoz, Miles, Eddie Hazel, Bill Evans, Bernie Worrell, Greg Ginn, Rashied Ali, D. Boon, John Bonham, Pharoah Sanders, Sade, the RZA/Wu Tang, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, McCoy Tyner, Iggy Pop, Ron Asheton, James Williamson, Alice Coltrane, Public Enemy, Elvin Jones, OutKast, Nels Cline and on and on an...

[Muddslide]

^^^

@Terry Funk-

MAN those are some great lists. So nice and wide ranging. Punk, classic rock, classic funk/soul, hip hop, reggae and a good, healthy dose o' jazz.

Excellent.

You a Beefheart fan by chance?

[kesslari]

Non bass influences - Thelonious Monk, Louis Prima, Rogers and Hammerstein, Stevie Wonder, Necati Celik, Naftule Brandwein, Mickey Katz, Victor Wooten.

What - Victor a non-bass influence? Yes. I don't play like Vic, don't aspire to play like Vic, but his musicality and musical philosophy and teaching have definitely influenced me a great deal.

[Diplowmatt]

I'd also like to add George Harrison. I think he was a genius.

[Terry Funk]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

^^^

@Terry Funk-

MAN those are some great lists. So nice and wide ranging. Punk, classic rock, classic funk/soul, hip hop, reggae and a good, healthy dose o' jazz.

Excellent.

You a Beefheart fan by chance?

Much thanks, I really took that old Duke Ellington quote "There's two types of music, good music and the other kind", to heart. I just try to cherry pick and choose most interesting artists from each "genre" and get into it. And yes I definitely respect the Captain. Trout Mask Replica is one of those albums that you never forget the first time you hear it.

[Roscoe East]

Non-bassists:

Igor Stravinsky - his work showed me that justifying creative choices through reasons of craft does not negate reasons of beauty or emotion, but rather helps build a more beautiful or emotionally-rich composition.

Witold Lutoslawski - his compositions taught me that the connection between "interlocking" musical parts does not have to be a rigid link; it can be an elastic, proportional juxtaposition and still convey a musically compelling relationship.

Sol Lewitt - graphic artist for whom the Process was as important (if not moreso) than the Result. (I'm not saying that I approach music or bass playing that way, just that Lewitt's approach has made me consider Process as a method for generating bass lines.)

Alexander Calder - his mobiles taught me about balance as an architectural construct...and one that does not necessarily require symmetry to work.

LSD - mind-altering psychedelics taught me about being open to discovering aesthetic conceits in everyday observations.

[Terry Funk]

Originally Posted by Roscoe East

LSD - mind-altering psychedelics taught me about being open to discovering aesthetic conceits in everyday observations.

Indeed. +1.

[DWBass]

In my formative years, I had a lot of bass player influences such as all the funk bass players from the 70's, Stanley Clarke, Alphonso Johnson, Leon Sylvers, Marcus Miller and a few others. As I got older I was more influenced by contemporary jazz bands (and their bassists of course) but more so by the melodies, chord progressions and arrangements! Plus sounds and textures. I learned a lot from guys like Nathan East and Will Lee. Cats who play pretty simply and who play what's just right for the song. Bass wanking has it's place but it's not my thing! I get a ton of satisfaction when I get a compliment about my steady groove and note choices!

[NWB]

Originally Posted by kesslari

Non bass influences - Thelonious Monk, Louis Prima, Rogers and Hammerstein, Stevie Wonder, Necati Celik, Naftule Brandwein, Mickey Katz, Victor Wooten.

What - Victor a non-bass influence? Yes. I don't play like Vic, don't aspire to play like Vic, but his musicality and musical philosophy and teaching have definitely influenced me a great deal.

Hey, that's a great description of my view of Victor as well. I also greatly admire his strength of character.

[djshawn47]

Sabbath.