• 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.

No 1 funk bass player EVER?

#22
There's a ton a great funk bassists out there but I'll name a few.....Bobby Vega! Dude can lay it down in any style and it just oozes outta him! Larry Graham for straight up funk and the father of slap! Rocco......well, no one can play like he does consistantly! He's been unmatched so far! Marcus Miller.....does it all. A true contemporary 'musician'! Me'Shell Ndegeochello.....insanely funky! Rhonda Smith.......insanely funky! Victa....nuff said! All the unherald funk bassists that came out of the 70's funk scene! Just way too many to mention. Mark Adams (Slave)! Lequeint "Duke" Jobe....insane! Nate Phillips....insane! I could go all night. Just way to many to mention. Check out my Funk 101 thread. Many different bass players are mentioned!
 
#24
FrettyBassGirl said:
Who do you think? Out of everyone??

I can only name a few...

Marcus miller
MeShell Ngdechello
Victor wooten
Flea
Lois Johnson
Larry graham

Your opinion?? But I want some more experienced players/ listeners ( than me) to answer. I'm 12 and only just discovered the legend of funk.
Click to expand...

Flea, Victor, and Marcus are not really funk players. While funkY, they are a zit on the bum of lock down funk groovers like George Porter Jr, or Rocco.

I think you need to dig much farther into the pocket before posing such an all-encompassing question.

And for the record, slapping does NOT = funk, and in the wrong hands is often the exact opposite of funk. I can't count how many students have shown up at my door saying they want to "learn funk" and then proceed to butcher the intro to the pepper's version of "Higher Ground" and ask me a bunch of questions about slapping. :rollno:

If you want to know the current pinnacle of the funk art form on earth, google this guy: Rodney "Skeet" Curtis

Funk is a feel, a vibe, a phrasing. Something that can only be suggested and never nailed down to a firm definition. One of the funkiest bass players of all time is Reuben Wilson's left hand on the Hammond.

Here is the test I give all my new students who say they want to pursue the holy funky grail: If you can play as far behind the beat as the rhythm section on this tune, then my friend YOU have the funk!

The intro is also HILARIOUS! ("with phasers set on Funk Funk!")

Behold the mighty, mighty, Cameo before they went all codpiece and Diet Coke in the 80s. Still possibly the single nastiest funk groove ever recorded, this shiz is so late behind the beat, 30+ years later the world is still waiting for the song to end.

"We can be as funky as we want to be, and even funkier than that!"

Funk, Funk 1977 - YouTube
 
#25
bigfatbass said:
Flea, Victor, and Marcus are not really funk players. While funkY, they are a zit on the bum of lock down funk groovers like George Porter Jr, or Rocco.
Click to expand...
I disagree that Marcus is not a funk player. While he plays a lot of other styles and plays other instruments...his come-uppance and early days was all funk! His live shows just exude funk among other styles. Put him aside any funker and he can go toe to toe! Flea and Victa both emcompass funk in their works and are extremely funky. Not funk players? Hmm...maybe, maybe not but I would include them. They have all contributed to the genre!

I agree with your video 'test'! It's all about where you place the notes and always come back on the 'one'!
 
#27
DWBass said:
I disagree that Marcus is not a funk player. While he play a lot of other styles and plays other instruments...his come-uppance and early days was all funk! His live shows just exude funk among other styles. Put him aside any funker and he can go toe to toe! Flea and Victa both emcompass funk in their works and are extremely funky. Not funk players? Hmm...maybe, maybe not but I would include them. They have all contributed to the genre!
Click to expand...

+1 I vote for Mr. Rocco Prestia for one of the best..
 
#28
I can't argue with that. I am a big Marcus fan, I think I was just thinking of the question as more of who are the real funk roll players, not so much the soloists. To me funk means repeating a phrase, something Wooten almost never does, and I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way.
 
#29
I'd start with James Jamerson. He was the genesis of funk. No he didn't slap and pop, but he set the pace with his syncopation and feel. All of James Browns bassists played very funky lines. Rocco Prestia, also not a slapper, but his unique fingerstyle technique and 16th note patterns helped usher in "funk" as a trademarked genre. Then the floodgates opened up with the slappers with Larry Graham leading the way. Also Louis Johnson, Marcus Miller (jazzy funk), Flea (whitebread funk). Bernard Edwards, Verdine White and others contributed to commercial funk. Finally, Bootsy Collins, who played a lot of electronically assisted funk (Bootsys engineers played a huge role in his product.
 
#30
Clark Dark said:
Prince
Click to expand...

No offense intended, but how do you figure Prince? I think of him as a guitar player and not really a funk player, in the normal meaning of the word anyway. When I think of funk, i think of Parliament/Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone, Rufus & Chaka Khan, the Isley Brothers, Ohio Players, Confunkshun, or even Rick James etc.

Serious question, is there something I am missing about Prince? Yeah, he had had some "funky" songs, but he always seemd to be in a genre of his own. An excellent musician for sure though.
 
#31
I think your question is a sincere one, but almost impossible to answer. This may not be the case for most of the folks on this forum, but I grew up playing funk bass in the 70's. That by no means makes me an expert, but most of the names that get thrown around today are just the cats that became popular enough for whatever reason to be known. That doesn't mean those guys can't play, just that we probably wouldn't have considered them the "best." Funk music wasn't the pop music of it's day, so the majority of it is unknown to the masses, and so are the bassists that played it. I'm a huge Marcus fan, but I would never never consider him a funk bass player, though I fully understand why you might. In discussions like these, Larry Graham and Louis Johnson's names inevitably come up, and rightfully so, but my point is that back then, lots of cats played like that, including two in my neighborhood and one at my high school. They didn't play in big records, so we don't know them.
 
#32
DWBass said:
There's a ton a great funk bassists out there but I'll name a few.....Bobby Vega! Dude can lay it down in any style and it just oozes outta him! Larry Graham for straight up funk and the father of slap! Rocco......well, no one can play like he does consistantly! He's been unmatched so far! Marcus Miller.....does it all. A true contemporary 'musician'! Me'Shell Ndegeochello.....insanely funky! Rhonda Smith.......insanely funky! Victa....nuff said! All the unherald funk bassists that came out of the 70's funk scene! Just way too many to mention. Mark Adams (Slave)! Lequeint "Duke" Jobe....insane! Nate Phillips....insane! I could go all night. Just way to many to mention. Check out my Funk 101 thread. Many different bass players are mentioned!
Click to expand...
+1 Nate Phillips! Paul Jackson! You are right on the money.
 
#37
Well, the title of the tread said number one funk player. So if I were to choose just one, I'd have to go with Rocco Prestia. That said, there have been plenty of great players already mentioned, so I wont repeat them. But I would also like to add to the list Jerry Jemmot.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back