I first found victor wooten a couple of years ago, one of the first things I learnt on bass being the basic riff behind me and my bass guitar, without all the tapping and what not. Not that I played it very well, wen't to the schools guitar teacher, 'the school' being the school I was in at the time. I asked him what I should learn next, being a typical guitarist he opted for the obvious answer and said if you want to be good you have to learn some Jaco pastorius, so I did, Learnt teen town again not very well at the time, then I saw victor wooten talking about Larry Graham and Marcus Miller and I found larry King around the same time and basically I just followed a chain of bassists from there up to present day,
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Bassist who you idolized?
- Thread starter basskid76
- Start date
I started off listneing to whole bunch of different types of music from Punk to Motown. Now the bassists who inspired me, inspired me in a different way. Before I use to idolized bassists for being good, but now I find im idolizing people like Jaco,Chambers,Larry Grenedier, etc etc because they are good of course but also because I felt they did alot more then the other bass players did, and were innovative. IMO.
Chris Squire, Justin Chancellor, Roger Waters... The 3 artists that convinced me to pickup a bass... all so different too. Roundabout + Schism + Echoes(the Live in Pompeii version got me addicted to Roger Waters' basslines).
All notably pick users as well... which is purely coincidence. I'm also a Geddy Lee fan, I grew up listening to Jaco as well, but that was mostly because my dad is a Pat Metheny fanatic.
All notably pick users as well... which is purely coincidence. I'm also a Geddy Lee fan, I grew up listening to Jaco as well, but that was mostly because my dad is a Pat Metheny fanatic.
First starting off, Geddy Lee, Jack Bruce and others that were really lead players and in-your-face were my big influence. Nowadays, it's really the guys that hold it down in back like Mike Gordon, Chris Wood, Anthony Jackson and Phil Lesh.
The first album I listened just for the bass was Paul Young's No Parlez, for Pino Palladino's awesome work. That's when I decided to pick up that instrument and play it.
In my first years of playing, my band was covering a lot of old school English punk rock, like The Damned, Buzzcocks, The Killing Joke, ... and Captain Sensible is the man I tried to emulate so hard (except for the pink acrylic fun pants).
Otherwise, I don't know who I idolized, I always listen to the bass line because it helps me discern all the instruments and there's all sorts of styles, from the least gifted (Adam Clayton) to the most (Flea, Pino, Mark Kent, so many to list, sorry ...) and usually if the bassist does a good job, whatever his skill level, the songs are always good. As bizarre as it may seem.
But when Jaco Pastorius died I read his name for the first time in my life and went to pick up his very first album (I remember the approving face of the clerk) and that just hit me like a freight train.
I was never a big progressive rock fan until very late, so now I start liking Geddy, Levin and all these guys.
Thanks to Rhapsody, without which I would never be able to listen to all these guys (as a programmer, I like being paid for my coding, therefore I try to pay the musicians for their music, whatever Rhapsody pays them).
In my first years of playing, my band was covering a lot of old school English punk rock, like The Damned, Buzzcocks, The Killing Joke, ... and Captain Sensible is the man I tried to emulate so hard (except for the pink acrylic fun pants).
Otherwise, I don't know who I idolized, I always listen to the bass line because it helps me discern all the instruments and there's all sorts of styles, from the least gifted (Adam Clayton) to the most (Flea, Pino, Mark Kent, so many to list, sorry ...) and usually if the bassist does a good job, whatever his skill level, the songs are always good. As bizarre as it may seem.
But when Jaco Pastorius died I read his name for the first time in my life and went to pick up his very first album (I remember the approving face of the clerk) and that just hit me like a freight train.
I was never a big progressive rock fan until very late, so now I start liking Geddy, Levin and all these guys.
Thanks to Rhapsody, without which I would never be able to listen to all these guys (as a programmer, I like being paid for my coding, therefore I try to pay the musicians for their music, whatever Rhapsody pays them).
The reason I picked up my first bass was Peter Tork, even if he didn't play his own instrument at the time. I watched that TV show and by the time 68 came along and I was 13, I let her fly. My first songs I learned were Monkees tunes, then CCR. When I warm up today I still play the bass line from Hey Hey we're the Monkees, hahahaha BOB
I got into bass from seeing Shavo Odajian from System Of A Down. Although now I realize that he can actually barely even play the bass, he's still the one who got me interested in it.
I remember the first time I heard Billy Sheehan it was a huge reality check. Just because I had been playing for about two years and thought I was hot s**t, and after the first 30 seconds of NV4 3345 I realized I hadn't learnt anything yet. But Freshmen year egos aside someone who really inspires me to create music in a completely new and unheard way is definitely Michael Manring, thats a guy whos so good I don't even realize how good he is. No matter how much I learn about bass and music in general Michael Manring still finds endless ways to make my jaw hit the floor.
At the start it was guys like Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, Duff Mckagan and Dave Ellefson. All very differant but none the less all masters of there own right and pure bassists using the tools of there trade not to show boat but to bring the bands together, create the back links with the drums and make the bands what they where.
Have a lot of respect for other bassists like Flea and Les Claypool, Stu Hamm and other guys that have a stand out quality. But for me, bass is a driving, powerful and inspirational tool. On the right hands it can make a band who they are (at most bassists expense....overseen or underrated) in the wrong hands it can make bands look pathetic even if the other guys are all brilliant!!
I think it was Tom Hamilton that said the job of a bassist is to get peoples bodies moving, this has always been my inspiration!
\m/....
....\m/
Have a lot of respect for other bassists like Flea and Les Claypool, Stu Hamm and other guys that have a stand out quality. But for me, bass is a driving, powerful and inspirational tool. On the right hands it can make a band who they are (at most bassists expense....overseen or underrated) in the wrong hands it can make bands look pathetic even if the other guys are all brilliant!!
I think it was Tom Hamilton that said the job of a bassist is to get peoples bodies moving, this has always been my inspiration!
\m/....
....\m/
