Who inspired you to become a BETTER bass player

[ras1983]

There is already a thread about inspiration to start bass. but who inspired you to spend countless hours practicing.

Only one for me, Victor Wooten with Miller Time and Earth Jam.

[groove100]

for me its got to be dave holland right now...
i just got his songs off of itunes yesterday titled "overtime".

[Anti_Wish]

all my friends told me that they wanted to see a bass player "shred" so from 5th grade to 11th i have been practicing my arse off and dont particularly like the whole shred thing. but people like manring baudin and wooten inspired me to start tapping.

[Whafrodamus]

Jaco.

[msquared]

I got into playing bass because I thought it would make me a better drummer. So the inspiration to become better wasn't so much a question of "who" but a result of unexpectedly falling in love with the instrument and the role it plays in rock and jazz combos.

I don't consider myself a bassist so much as a musician who includes bass as a preferred instrument. Because of that I tend to be inspired more by the "team player" types than by the career soloists. For instance, Billy Sheehan's playing outside of Mr Big generally bothers me and I can't get into a lot of Jaco's stuff. Things like that sound weird to me, like a sumo wrestler trying to do ballet.

The people whose playing make me want to pick up and play are Family Man, Stuart Zender, Stefan Lessard, Jamerson, Sebastian Steinberg, and so on. My opinion is that if the groove is good enough, you shouldn't need a soloist.

[Norwegianwood]

Jaco.

[ElMon]

James Jamerson. It took a deep reservoir of technique, style, and soul to be able to move (groove) so deftly through ordinary pop charts. Understated flash, or extremely complex elegance.

[Philbiker]

Graham Maby

[12stringbassist]

Nice to see someone mention Graham Maby - as, though he's little known, he is one of the best bass players around and has been integral to most of Joe Jackson's marvellous output from the beginning. He's one of the best bass players, because he's got so much melodic style. He just fits - whatever mad stuff he does.

Anyway, back to the question - John Entwistle made me listen to bass in a whole new way and changed my own approach so much.

[lewibassist]

There has been a number of influences for me. When i started bass there was a lad in our school that was very good. My goal then was to be as good as he was. Once i felt i achieved that. I started looking at marcus miller stuu hamm and victor wooten that is just to name a few. They blew me away and they still do , they hav kept me inspired and motivated to carry on playing and improving

[stephanie]

Interesting. My obvious choice would be to say Jaco. I admire his passion and fearlessness.

However...the person I think who has most impelled me to be a better bass player is my own teacher, Matt. I could name so many famous (and semi-famous) bass players that I like and are a big help for my motivation, but he's the one first and foremost that pushes me to be the best musician I can be. He's helped me realize my goals and his own playing is inspiring (check out his band www.thereigningtoads.info).

[Jace The Bass]

A guy named Peter hoera from Moana and the Moahunters first got me to seeing a live Player
Then Marcus Miller for keeping me inspired

[Matt Till]

Sorry for not dropping a virtuoso name, but Claypool. I started out not knowing what exactly I wanted to do with the bass. He opened new doors for me.

[iriegnome]

Well John Entwistle and Chris Squire got me interested. The question was who inspired us to become better. The answer to that for me is: Everyone else I have ever seen on stage. Everytime I see a band with either a Great or Terrible bass player, I am inspired to become better. There are people out there playing everyday getting "The Door" that smoke on bass. Then again there are players out there that don't deserve the mad money they are making. Seeing others play drives me to be better. Everytime I pick up my bass I think about that little **** 15 year old in the music store that was doing all sorts of stuff. I also think of the band that I saw at the bar on Saturday that completely sucked. They may have sucked, but they got payed and were playing out.

[Jason Carota]

Stuart Zender. Return of the Space Cowboy was released about 6 months after I started playing bass. I had never heard anyone play like that before, so it was a big turning point for me.

[AlembicBob]

I am most inspired to improve my playing by the other musicians I play with. Often, these guys are more talented than I am and push me a little bit. I try to improve so that we are better as a group.

I have no goal to build monster chops, just to be able to hold down my end, hear what's going on, and adapt my playing to what the rest of the group is trying to do. I appreciate all the people who wish they could slap like VW, but that's just not where I want to take my playing. Supporting a groove is what I am all about.

-Bob

[Mudfuzz]

Mike Watt!!!
I saw him the first time when I was 19, and man, did it open my mind to what one can do.

But the same could be said for the time I saw Ray Brown or Bootsy or Tony Levin.

[jazzbo]

This guy named Eric.

[Eldermike]

Jamerson for me. I like the comment above about the groove replaces the solo. I started out playing trumpet, then guitar and then bass. Music is lost without a groove, I was always drawn to the bass line.

[j-raj]

Neal Fountain.