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No 1 funk bass player EVER?

#43
Fullback32 said:
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.
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777-9311
alphabet street
...I won't list all the funky cuts he played bass on in studio for all the incarnations of his bands as well as Morris Day & the Time
 
#45
SoCal1 said:
Finally, Bootsy Collins, who played a lot of electronically assisted funk (Bootsys engineers played a huge role in his product.
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For all the praise that Bootsy gets, he's actually underrated in many respects. First of all, we KNOW he totally locked down those JB funk grooves without slapping or effects. But it seems like there are those who think that post-JB Bootsy was just one big walking effect. Sure, he eventually used a lot of effects, splitting his signal, etc., but he still wrote or co-wrote the tunes, and came up with his own bass lines. No matter how "electronically assisted" some of his funk may have been, he still had to play. That's why no one else sounds quite like Bootsy. Here's one of many examples of P-Funk Bootsy that proves (as if proof was needed) that Bootsy had no trouble throwin' down without effects; just listen to the nasty little note bends and slapping:

Bootsy Collins - The Pinocchio Theory - YouTube

And this is the sexiest bass playing and tone I've ever heard (you can hear the Mu-Tron III in this one, especially later in the song):

Bootsy Collins - I'd Rather Be With You - YouTube

Bootsy's extra gear only helped enhance his funkiness; it didn't make him any funkier than he already was. And to answer the OP's question, Bootsy is my #1 funk bass player ever!:bassist:
 
#56
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.

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
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Flea has most definetly played Funk. He added his own style to it though. Listen to their first album man.
 
#58
hdracer said:
No one has mentioned Duck Dunn or doesn't Soul Music count?

Haven't seen Bob Babbitt's name mentioned ether.
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Both terrific bassists but neither would be considered significant "funk" bassists...just great R&B bassists. Not that they couldn't play "funk"...just that the material they performed didn't call for that style, and unlike Jamerson...neither were the influential disruptive force which started the DNA link to "funk".
 

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