top 5 bassists

[willsi_1989]

hey people im 16 and a new bass player, ive only been playing for a couple of months.

Just wondered if people could like list who they think are top 5 bassists in the world so i can kind of have an idea of who to look at and learn from.

I would really appreciate people doing this.

Thanks

[ras1983]

First of all, music isn't about who is the best, because the guys i'm about to name are all equally good.

This isn't an exhaustive list, just the first few that come to mind...

Rock: John Paul Jones(Led Zeppelin), John Entwistle(The Who), Geddy Lee(Rush), Chris Squire(Yes),

Jazz/Fusion: Charlie Mingus, Brian Bromberg(amazing upright player), Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten, Nathan East, Chuck Rainey, Abe Laboriel, Paul Jackson(look up a song called 'Watermelon Man' by Herbire Hancock).

Pop/Rnb/Rap: James Jamerson(Motown Records), Michael Jackson, Prince, Leonard Hubbard(The Roots), Tony Levin(Peter Gabriel and solo artist), Pino Paladino(Many 80's pop songs with fretless bass), Mike Elizondo(Dr Dre), Kool Bell (Kool & the gang), Verdine White(Earth Wind and Fire), Larry Graham(Sly and the family stone aswell as Graham Central Station), Bootsy Collins(Parliament/Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band).

[Tendollarcat]

A cool thing to do is to isolate the bass lines in everything you listen do. I know I'm one of those bassists who is always listening for interesting grooves and tones. You can do this listening to bad pop music or watching MTV and it all helps you as a player.
I'd say listen to Flea throughout his entire career as a guy who keeps things interesting. Start on his early stuff and you'll notice that his playing has gotten simpler as he's gotten older. He'll give you great examples of slap, fingerstyle and pick playing.
Listen to Jaco (+1) as a guy who made bass a lead instrument. Don't let him discourage you though! The man was a freakish talent.
Listen to Justin Chancellor from Tool if you like heavier music. He's very clever and plays some beautiful lines.
If you want to become the sort of player every band loves, listen to lots of Motown. All bassists for Motown played grooves to perfection, especially James Jamerson (+1). These guys all played in the pocket of a groove.
Another player that I'd categorise with Jaco as amazing but impossible to play along with is Victor Wooten (+1!). His playing goes across all sorts of genres.

These guys aren't necessarily the best five. A couple are confirmed geniuses, a couple are modern greats and one is just a great player. Theres so many awesome bass players out there. Listen to everything and anything and make time to play along with your entire cd collection.

[tlwaps]

I'll give you my top 5 influences that are bass players:

1. Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne)
2. Victor Wooten (Solo Artist, Bela Fleck)
3. Bill Dickens
4. Flea (RHCP)
5. Christian Olde Wolbers (Fear Factory)

[Mojo-Man]

James Jamerson
Pino Palladino
Jaco
Jeff Berlin
Jonas Hellborg

[JacoLesFlea]

My top 5 influences when I started

John Paul Jones/Zeppelin
Geddy Lee/Rush
Chris Squire/Yes
Jaco/Weather Report,Word of Mouth
Larry Graham/Graham Central Station

[JacoLesFlea]

Originally Posted by Tendollarcat

A cool thing to do is to isolate the bass lines in everything you listen do. I know I'm one of those bassists who is always listening for interesting grooves and tones. You can do this listening to bad pop music or watching MTV and it all helps you as a player.
I'd say listen to Flea throughout his entire career as a guy who keeps things interesting. Start on his early stuff and you'll notice that his playing has gotten simpler as he's gotten older. He'll give you great examples of slap, fingerstyle and pick playing.
Listen to Jaco (+1) as a guy who made bass a lead instrument. Don't let him discourage you though! The man was a freakish talent.
Listen to Justin Chancellor from Tool if you like heavier music. He's very clever and plays some beautiful lines.
If you want to become the sort of player every band loves, listen to lots of Motown. All bassists for Motown played grooves to perfection, especially James Jamerson (+1). These guys all played in the pocket of a groove.
Another player that I'd categorise with Jaco as amazing but impossible to play along with is Victor Wooten (+1!). His playing goes across all sorts of genres.

These guys aren't necessarily the best five. A couple are confirmed geniuses, a couple are modern greats and one is just a great player. Theres so many awesome bass players out there. Listen to everything and anything and make time to play along with your entire cd collection.

Could not have said it better myself....excellent

[Baryonyx]

My top 5...

Jonas Hellborg
Geddy Lee
Stuart Hamm
Stanley Clarke
Mark King