Sometimes Simple Is Successful

[rhythumb]

Here's a fun twist on all those threads asking who the "best" bass players are. In your opinion, which bassists have achieved the most success while laying down the simplest bass lines? Your explanations are welcome.

Successful, for the purpose of this thread, is defined by Google as... "1) Accomplishing an aim or purpose. 2) Having achieved popularity, profit, or distinction."

Keep on rockin TB!

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

I think that Donald "Duck" Dunn and Tony Levin are the prime examples of minimalistic + effective approach to the bass guitar.

[Marial]

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

I think that Donald "Duck" Dunn and Tony Levin are the prime examples of minimalistic + effective approach to the bass guitar.

Agreed, and I'd add Adam Clayton, Billy Talbot, and the bass player for the Eagles, amongst many others.

There are all sorts of ways to approach the instrument but for me the song always comes first and my personal expression is ultimately subservient to that. I admire bassists who seem, at least, to follow that same m.o. The style of music, of course, also has a lot do with what's demanded of the bassist.

[mambo4]

I agree with Alvaro
Cliff Williams comes to mind too.

[tangentmusic]

Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton.
No nonsense, solid, straight forward rock bassist with not a lot of frills to his playing.

[kevteop]

Kim Deal

[topo morto]

Chuck Rainey - not all that simple, but a good rhythm-oriented philosophy

[baileyboy]

Todd Harrell, 3 Doors Down

[Mojo-Man]

It took me 10 years to figure this out.

Add Pino Pallidino, Joe Osborne, Will Lee, Lee Sklar, Bruce Thomas, to this list.

[Marial]

The thing about Pino and Tony Levin, for example, is they have monster chops to back up the simpler lines they lay down. In Pino's case I think of the the song Give Blood on Pete Townsend's White City album, and Tony's work in King Crimson.

[NKUSigEp]

Fieldy

[winterburn69]

Nikki Sixx.

[Basshappi]

Dusty Hill
Sting
Michael Anthony
Benjamin Orr
Tina Weymouth

Just to name a few.

[BROKEN OHMS]

Colin Greenwood from RADIOHEAD
Martyn Casey from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds\Grinderman
Roger Waters

[ronaldpdbrandt]

Andy Rourke of the Smiths
Simon Gallup of the Cure
Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

and +1 to Kim Deal of the Pixies!

(I seem to be in an 80s/90s mood today)

[onosson]

Stu Cook of CCR
Willie Dixon
David Brown of Santana
Tommy Shannon
Dusty Hill oops, already mentioned!

[Roscoe East]

Originally Posted by Marial

the bass player for the Eagles

I've found that on certain occasions I can be completely awed & mesmerized by the relentless simplicity of Timothy B. Schmidt's basslines. You not only don't hear him holding back or conciously restraining himself from playing superfluous parts; he comes up with lines that sound so perfectly complete that there's zero impetus to make them any more complex than they are, despite the fact that they're almost rudimentarily simple.

[Deathblade Eric]

Before Cliff Williams, there was Alan Lancaster

[Aussie Player]

"Let's play it simple for now", "We can complicate it later is we need to".
Paul MacCartney.