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Melodic bass players.
- Thread starter 25oclock
- Start date
A vote for the Welsh Wizards of Bass: Percy Jones, Pino Palladino
And for New Romantics: John Taylor, Roger Taylor? Whichever of them was in Duran Duran on some of the lines. Great and underrated bassist in general. Noone can even remember what he was called
There are some in the double bass arena.
And for New Romantics: John Taylor, Roger Taylor? Whichever of them was in Duran Duran on some of the lines. Great and underrated bassist in general. Noone can even remember what he was called
There are some in the double bass arena.
I think Dominic 'Forest' LaPointe, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Duff McKagan and Sean Malone are/were super melodic bassists.
The most melodic of all are often progressive rockers which draws me in. Some of the most melodic bass parts I ever heard were from those guys, and the countermelodies of Tony Levin and Trey Gunn in the dual-trio version of King Crimson are often beautiful. They were playing a bunch of Yes songs on the radio a couple of weeks ago, and even though I have trouble getting past Anderson's vocals I was really enjoying Chris Squire's baritone lines.
The most melodic of all are often progressive rockers which draws me in. Some of the most melodic bass parts I ever heard were from those guys, and the countermelodies of Tony Levin and Trey Gunn in the dual-trio version of King Crimson are often beautiful. They were playing a bunch of Yes songs on the radio a couple of weeks ago, and even though I have trouble getting past Anderson's vocals I was really enjoying Chris Squire's baritone lines.
Dunaway always springs to my mind in discussions like this. Great player, often very melodic and also one of the most underrated players I can think of.
The poster so cool I had to quote him twice! Yeah--Ron Wood is an outstanding bass player.
This is a cool thread, and I love that right in the OP, the mention of Colin Moulding. Excellent, melodic player (and a great songwriter.)
So many others I would have mentioned but others beat me to it.
Paul McCartney. Clearly an excellent choice. Of course, McCartney is most famous first for being a Beatle. Perhaps next for songwriting, and for his vocals. I always felt he was underappreciated as a bass player specifically, because I feel many non-musicians or more casual music fans just don't pay enough attention to the bass in general, or who plays the bass in various bands, etc. To my mind, McCartney is in some ways the PERFECT player...he does exactly what I feel a bass player should do, at least for the kind of music he makes. And some Beatles tracks almost have LEAD bass--"paperback Writer" comes to mind...yet he's not flashy...just tasty.
Aston "Family Man" Barrett...heck yeah.
Others already mentioned I have to agree with: Dee Murray, Rick Danko, Jack Casady, Carol Kaye (of course), Steve Harris, Geezer Butler, John Deacon, Peter Hook...I know there were more great names mentioned in this thread.
Not sure if they HAVE been mentioned here, so Ill add:
Carl Radle (RIP) (great session cat from my hometown of Tulsa.)
PLUS-- Glenn Cornick (RIP), Jeffrey Hammond and John Glascock (RIP)--ALL from the first 12 years or so of Jethro Tull. I'm not the huge Tull fan, but I am an admirer and I do like a lot of their early work. One of the things I love is the great bass work, and all three of these players were, IMO, stellar.
Glascock counts for me, although AFAIK some of the recorded bass on some of the albums of the period are occasionally Anderson, most notably Stormwatch, but also earlier, e.g. Jack-in-the-Green, which has a non-Glascock tone to it. That's not a criticism of Glascock!
Cornick was at his most melodic in parts of Stand Up IMHO. He was certainly an audacious player, pushing the boundaries of the form along with contemporaries... quite a bit of chording in that second album.
Another mention for the Focus bassist two - great solo (about 3 minutes of it) on... Anonymous 2 or whatever the track is called. Also one of the most ferocious jazz-fusion flute solos.
Cornick was at his most melodic in parts of Stand Up IMHO. He was certainly an audacious player, pushing the boundaries of the form along with contemporaries... quite a bit of chording in that second album.
Another mention for the Focus bassist two - great solo (about 3 minutes of it) on... Anonymous 2 or whatever the track is called. Also one of the most ferocious jazz-fusion flute solos.
Oh, me too! His work left me breathless. Tremendous musicianship and sense of contribution to the art of the song.
Graham Maby was the first name I thought of when I saw the title of the thread.
Not an obvious choice, but a great choice! People think of his thrash-funk stuff first and foremost, but Flea is super-melodic when he plays ballads.
Good call! You know your stuff, sir. Early Cocteaus is still my favorite. I like a lot of the later stuff as well, but the more buzzy, raw, harsh-sounding early work stands up best for me in some ways.
