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Basslines That Inspired you to Play

B

bassguitarist08

Jun 12, 2006
75
0
www.myspace.com
#1
Well I guess I'll start out by saying I'm new to TalkBass, and I've spent alot of time reading over other's threads, before I decided to make this one....So Tell Me what Inspired you to Play Bass...

For Me it Was Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer" - My Dad Is a huge fan, so when I was growing up, well it grew on me and I couldn't get enough, I've been playing for 3 years now..

I Have other influences but I would most definately say Bon Jovi Did it Best.

Tell me Yours!:bassist:
 
#2
I have a lot of bassists whom I consider influential or inspirational to me, but these were the basslines that contributed the most to me really wanting to play bass. In no particular order:

-"Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2
-"New Years Day" by U2
-"Freewill" by Rush
-"Fly By Night" by Rush
-"The Real Me" by the Who
-"Graceland" by Paul Simon
-"Money" by Pink Floyd
-"In The Cage" by Genesis
-"Counting Out Time" by Genesis
-"Under Pressure" by Queen
-"Radio Ga Ga" by Queen
-"I'm Going Slightly Mad" by Queen
-"Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" by Elton John

Yeah, those were the basslines that I really noticed. Thank you Dad for playing this music when I was growing up!
 
#3
I kinda came into it through the side door ... subbing on bass during blues jams ... that was so long ago , that there are folks who don't remember that I was a 6 slinger for years.

Influences ... all the basslines from blues and R&B greats ...
 
#4
Awesome, U2 and Rush are Great as Well, I also have a few more..

Sweet Child O' Mine- Guns N Roses
Hysteria - Def Leppard
Californication - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Though I haven't yet got it all down)
Girl, Dont Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) - Motley Crue
Life Goes On - Poison

Just a few off the top of my head, Thanks for Responding! Those aren't in order either.
 
#5
"Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin
"What is and what should never be" - Led Zeppelin
"The Trees" - Rush
"Yours in no disgrace" - Yes
"Long Distance Runaround" - Yes
"Have a Cigar" - Pink Floyd
"Dear Prudence" - The Beatles
"Paperback Writer" - The Beatles
"School Days" - Stanley Clarke
"Carry On my Wayward Son" - Kansas
"Smokin'" - Boston
"Runnin'" - Santana
 
#6
I got a Bass as my first musical instrument for my 14th birthday about a year and a half ago. I didn't really want to play Bass and I would've have rather played guitar at the time but my friends persuaded me to so that their band would have a Bassist. Then that particular band came to nothing and now I'm learning Fretless for when I join my school's Jazz Band for three years starting this September.

It was mostly simple Nirvana basslines that started me off I suppose. Then I recently got into more Jazzy stuff through listening to Jaco, of course.
:hyper:
 
#10
what got me started on bass was the bassline to smoke on the water...i didn't think much of the notes, but that tone really impressed me...i thought to myself, if i ever play in a band, i want to sound like that" :)

also the entire Cream catalog really kept my inspiration in bass (and it still does :))

other inspiring pieces that i heard were a few RATM lines like wake up, no shelter and war within a breath...what inspired me was Tim's use of effects and how to my ears it just sounded like chaos, and i loved it :)

same goes for Jacob fred jazz odysey, Reed's use of effects (along with tim's) really inspired me to transcend the bass' traditional roles of only holding down low end (while still making the song sound good).
 
#12
Bit of an eclectic mix but:

Rio - Duran Duran (just love the bass 'solo' in the break)
Dune Tune - Level 42 (had to get Mark King in somewhere)
Best Friends Girl - The Cars
Smash it up (part 1) - The Damned
How many more times? - Led Zep
The Trees - Rush

Hell you could just go on and on and on.......
 
#13
Good topic...

Several of the following are tunes with basslines that inspired me sometime after I began playing the bass. But all of them at least reinforced my realization of being a natural bassist - because of how readily I picked up on the basslines and derived satisfaction from them... :cool:

  • China Girl - David Bowie
  • Modern Love - Peter Gabriel
  • I Want You (She's So Heavy) - The Beatles
  • Out of the Blue - Roxy Music
  • Siberian Khatru - Yes
  • Paradise - Sade
  • Pump It Up - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
  • Rio - Duran Duran
  • Watcher of the Skies - Genesis
  • Maneater - Hall & Oates
  • White Room - Cream
  • Radar Love - Golden Earring
  • The Ocean - Led Zeppelin
  • Riders on the Storm - The Doors
  • Green-Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf
And so many more...

MM
 
#14
like mysticmichael, most of the list below inspired me to play and develop more and more over the years.

i have to credit les claypool as being the bassist that inspired me to pick up the bass in the first place. particularly "sailing the seas of cheese."

but since then:
"the lemon song" - led zeppelin
"out on the tiles" - led zeppelin
"immigrant song" - led zeppelin
............hell, every zeppelin song, really. jpj rocks!

"xanadu" - rush
"freewill" - rush
"yyz" - rush
............i'll have to stop here again and say all the early rush catalog... up until moving pictures. i learned all those albums front to back.

"dead goon" - mr bungle
"my ass is on fire" - mr bungle
"love is a fist" - mr bungle
"ars moriendi" - mr bungle
"carry stress in the jaw/the secret song" - mr bungle
............i have the highest admiration for all of trevor dunn's work. what a versatile, talented player!

"the lamb lies down on broadway" - genesis
"dancing with the moonlit knight" - genesis
............here i go again: all of the early genesis stuff, when they still had peter gabriel. awesome songs, awesome bass work by mike rutherford!

"living in the past" - jethro tull
"a passion play" - jethro tull
"teacher" - jethro tull
"hunting girl" - jethro tull
"songs from the wood" - jethro tull

jaco, of course.

and a whole buttload of classical music (which really helped me to realize the different roles "bass" could play in any setting..... shostakovich's 5th symphony and stravinsky's "the rite of spring" come to mind right now, but the whole catalog, from bach to penderecki and john cage and beethoven.... i love it all. especially the 20th century stuff.)
 

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