Your Biggest Influence

DreadyDiggs · #1 06-05-2008, 12:52 PM

We all have our favorite bassists and and what not, but can you name that one guy that when you heard, you were like, yea I'm gonna play bass one day?

Mine is Alvin Ewen. Someone most of you have never heard of. He is a former bassist of the big UK reggae band Steel Pulse and played with them 20+ years. I ordered their DVD one day, Live from the Archives, watched it, watched him jammin, and that's when I finally said I wanted to learn bass. He ain't no one near as influential as James Jamerson is to the bass community, but he's the guy that made me want to get my hands on my first bass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie_dQqqAsUk

This is taken from the DVD.

Name one person only if you can.

Drifta · #2 06-05-2008, 12:54 PM

I'd have to say the first line i ever tried/wanted to play was by Robbie shakspear. and he's one of my biggest influences, but i can't say THE biggest. 'Revolution" by dennis brown w/ sly and robbie maning the drum and bass.

namraj · #3 06-05-2008, 12:54 PM

my biggest influence on my playing is my late teacher J, who was incredible, not only in talent but in motivation and the nicest person I've ever met.

BassBus · #4 06-05-2008, 01:00 PM

The first bit of bass that made me want to play bass would be Pink Floyd's Sheep. Heard it on Alan Freeman's Saturday Rock Show back in the '70s when it first came out. Something about it just caught my ear and I was hooked. Did some summer work that year and bought my first bass which was truely awful but I was started. It's strange because I don't really rate Roger Waters as an influence. Main influences on fretted bass turned out to be Geddy Lee and Mark King.

Drifta · #5 06-05-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadyDiggs

We all have our favorite bassists and and what not, but can you name that one guy that when you heard, you were like, yea I'm gonna play bass one day?

Mine is Alvin Ewen. Someone most of you have never heard of. He is a former bassist of the big UK reggae band Steel Pulse and played with them 20+ years. I ordered their DVD one day, Live from the Archives, watched it, watched him jammin, and that's when I finally said I wanted to learn bass. He ain't no one near as influential as James Jamerson is to the bass community, but he's the guy that made me want to get my hands on my first bass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie_dQqqAsUk

This is taken from the DVD.

Name one person only if you can.

hey man, I remember i saw steel pulse on new years/eve!!! GREAT show. my friend took this rad picture mang!!!

Dude definately one of the best bassist i've yet to see live. Holds a Great groove, and in this pic is he is doing a sick solo.

another :

jerry · #6 06-05-2008, 03:20 PM

Can't forget Ronnie McQueen's work on the early Steel Pulse.
I saw Alvin Ewen with them a few times, awesome!

Tapout73 · #7 06-05-2008, 03:26 PM

It was many years ago and I have no clue what the guys name was, but I was sitting at a bar listening to a band play. When they were on break the bass player came up next to me to order a drink, and I commended him on his playing the guitar. Yes I'm sure back then I called it a guitar, I was a total noob, but dug the sound. He talked with me a bit about the bass and even brought it over for me to look at and showed me how to position my hands and play a couple notes.

I just thought it was really cool of him to educate me in such a friendly and accomidating way, and that I have been hooked on the instrument ever since. That one small introduction where I don't even know the guys name inspried me to take up bass, and I have never forgotten that introduction.

DreadyDiggs · #8 06-05-2008, 06:32 PM

Drifta that's Amlak Tafari. Alvin and Amlak definitely differ in their delivery, with Amlak being more comparable to Ronnie McQueen, slower and very groovy but speedy when it needs to be. Alvin generally sped things up a lot more.

Jerry, no doubt, Stepper is a great, but I didn't see many vids of him playing live til later, and as his nickname says, he just stepped haha. After seeing Alvin, I realized how much I have overlooked the Stepper. His lines are awesome.

I like that story Tap, much cooler than watching a vid haha.

Matt Till · #9 06-05-2008, 07:49 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBRyB4GA_GI

Honestly, watching this video makes me feel like I was born in the wrong musical era.

WayneS · #10 06-05-2008, 07:50 PM

Steve Harris... hands down, my biggest influence.

Visirale · #11 06-05-2008, 08:41 PM

My mom always listened to the oldies station when I was really young. Lots of Motown, Beach Boys, Beatles, and such. I always loved the motown songs because of the horns. So as cliched as it sounds, his (Jamerson's) lines were probably what got me into bass. After hearing disco (and absolutely loving it) those were the bass lines that made me want to be a bass player. Now I mostly dig the players who keep the groove and do some interesting things harmonically.... a la U2 and Coldplay.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love players like Jaco and Zender, but more as a listener than a player. I don't like to step forward that much with my own playing.

Ronbo61 · #12 06-05-2008, 08:46 PM

Ron Carter

MrBorisSpider · #13 06-05-2008, 08:49 PM

For me, after about a year of playing, the biggest influence I've had is Family Man from The Wailers. I've only been listening/playing some reggae for a few months, but it's really shown me that simplicity is better. James Jamerson and Bob Babbit are up there too for their ability to comp. Geddy Lee is there too because of the multiple styles he adds to his music.

GianGian · #14 06-05-2008, 08:50 PM

Probably Steve Harris, altough I don't sound exactly like him.

knarleybass · #15 06-05-2008, 08:55 PM

Steppen' Out was a big influence for me, Steel Pulse is an amazing band.

But most likely the biggest influence for me was the song "What Is Hip" from Tower Of Power. That groove and those 16th notes really really got me.

VincentPuleo · #16 06-06-2008, 05:56 AM

Same here for "What is Hip" The bridge made me want to learn the song

Phil Lesh, Ray Brown, Jaco Pastorious are all big influences.

Arsenal_Fierce · #17 06-06-2008, 08:23 AM

I'm going to take so much heat for this answer, but Mike Dirnt from Green Day. Dookie came out when I was young and impressionable, and it had a huge impact on my later musical tastes. To this day, Kerplunk still has some of my favorite basslines (in particular "80" and "No One Knows").

RiseAgainst · #18 06-06-2008, 08:42 AM

Joe Principe from Rise Against, Chris #2 from Anti-Flag.

And forever and ever. The one and only Mark Hoppus.

kesslari · #19 06-06-2008, 09:03 AM

Cool thread.
You actually hit 2 questions - "biggest influence" and "who got you into bass", which are quite different.
Then you threw in Steel Pulse. Having played reggae for years, Pulse rocked me hard. And (moving from Pulse outward to Reggae) Robbie and Family Man were both huge influences on me.

Oddly, the guy who got me into bass isn't a player who influenced my playing, and in fact I'm not crazy about his sound or style.
Chris Squire.
I was a teen in the '70's, and it was listening to a Yes album late at night that I first really heard the bass as a separate instrument. In that same rather hazy state of consciousness I had the thought "if music is able to make me feel so much, emotionally, and I'm just listening to it.... how cool must it be to be the guy PLAYING the music?"

That realization led me to become a musician

But at the time, Jack Bruce and John Entwhistle were much bigger influences.
Then Robbie and Family Man.
Then Rocco and Jamerson.
And now Pino for his melodicism.

COOL AND DEADLY · #20 06-06-2008, 09:18 AM

I'm with Drifta, Robbie Shakespeare. I love Family Man too but my style leans towards Robbie.