Non technical yet excellent bassists

[Honch]

Now JPJ. Which hard rock band had any musician capable of playing keyboard and BASS PEDALS at the same time? And you couldn't tell when he did what, i e playing bass pedals or the bass guitar. Skip the hard rock, or metal, just ANY band. It was mostly in the jazz organ trios. As Amanda Galas said once in an interview "JPJ is the only one in that band worth any s*h*i*t, the others should go and raise geese or something instead" Well, that sums it up pretty well.

 

[Lowbrow]

Pete Farndon. His bass makes the song. Very Bruce Thomas, if I can say that.

What does 'technical' really mean? Farndon was a MONSTER player! And though his recording resume is slim (dying will do that) he is fortunate on The Pretenders debut LP to have what IMO is the BEST rock P-Bass sound yet captured.

 

[consectaneus]

^^^
Yep, I think of technical players as guys who play jazz fusion or Prog rock. I don't know about the rest of you, but most of those mentioned in this thread are not simple!

Now JPJ. Which hard rock band had any musician capable of playing keyboard and BASS PEDALS at the same time? And you couldn't tell when he did what, i e playing bass pedals or the bass guitar. Skip the hard rock, or metal, just ANY band. It was mostly in the jazz organ trios. As Amanda Galas said once in an interview "JPJ is the only one in that band worth any s*h*i*t, the others should go and raise geese or something instead" Well, that sums it up pretty well.

I just remembered, (I'm an REM fan) they hired JPJ as orchestral arranger on their great "Automatic For The People" and Mike Mills was pretty much in awe of him.

 

[Raman]

I think one of the important things about Kim Deal is that even though she was a relatively new to the bass, she had a philosophy about the role of the bass and how it should be played. She plays what she feels, even if it's simple.

On the Pixies DVD, she actually elaborates about this. She consciously chooses simplicity in her playing and resists the temptation to insert passage notes everywhere. IMO, that's what gives the Pixies's songs their brute strength.

 

[The Rage]

Ian Hill. I really like Simon Gallup:

 

[bassliner50]

 

[RBrownBass]

You mean bassists who got lucky and made a living off a few signature riffs?

This.

And what's more, I bet these guys can play. The fact that the songs that made their bands famous don't call for it doesn't make them just like X% of the TBers who think they'll be next.

 

[Geronimo Atwater]

I submit two who both played what I consider "Rhythm Bass":

Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy.

And Lemmy.

 

[funkymonk13]

Mike Watt is pretty amazing

Also, Nick O'Malley of arctic monkeys had a lot of great bass lines. Super catchy.

Flea

Can't tell if joking?
I think even from the start he was playing a lot of stuff the average bassist can't play. I know a lot of people don't like the peppers anymore but after John quit the band, flea went to music school and his playing has really turned into something else. There's a lot of flea hate on talk bass but the dude can hold his own with any of the greats.

 

[calypsocoral302]

6 pages in and NOBODY has mentioned John Deacon (of Queen)?!?!?

(I had a meme based on the movie Office Space, but thought i might get in trouble for posting an image that had H-E-double-hockey-sticks in it, so i took it down).

 

[Clef_de_fa]

No mention of the dude in Blink 182 ? Bare bone, you can't be more bare bone than that.

 

[devnulljp]

Pete Way

 

[Planespotter]

Dusty Hill!

 

[Afc70]

Mike Watt is pretty amazing

Also, Nick O'Malley of arctic monkeys had a lot of great bass lines. Super catchy.


Can't tell if joking?
I think even from the start he was playing a lot of stuff the average bassist can't play. I know a lot of people don't like the peppers anymore but after John quit the band, flea went to music school and his playing has really turned into something else. There's a lot of flea hate on talk bass but the dude can hold his own with any of the greats.

Flea is great, has great slap chops & a funky bass player, but I don't consider him a super technical player- when I think "technical" I think of players like Michael Manring, Richard Bona, Gary Willis, Alain Caron, Adam Nitti, etc...

 

[BassManKK]

They won't amaze you with their chops, theoretical knowledge or sight playing.
But they give it. They are the bass.

I agree about Rick Danko and 'Family Man' Barrett.

I'd add Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead) and Peter Albin (Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Dinosaurs) and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth).

I'm sure I'll think of a few others.

 

[Madhouse27]

I'm not sure if I've quite got the gist of this thread, but if we're talking about players that can really lay down a groove, I'm going with Kenny Aaronson.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

ME! I coulda been a contenda!

 

[Blaargh]

Kim Gordon is awesome, but I have never been able to get into Sonic Youth, which is just a personal taste matter.

Fair enough, I can see how Sonic Youth don't do it for everyone, all that experimental kinda stuff is the type of thing I really got into in my teens though. Pixies are great, but the really wild noisy Sonic Youth material really began to grab my attention more as I got older, the idea that you don't have to treat your instrument as it's traditionally treated, you can do what you want. So long as you're expressing yourself in an interesting, musical way, there really aren't any rules that you have to follow.

People mentioned Phil Lynott. I'm actually a little ashamed I didn't think of him sooner- He's one of the first bassists that made me really want to play bass. I remember jumping around on my sofa as a kid listening to Live and Dangerous, he was the driving factor behind that band and owned it. Thin Lizzy were one of the first bands I heard where the bass drove the song and was really prominent in the mix, he laid the scene for Steve Harris, definitely. Even the lighter stuff like Dancing In The Moonlight, just awesome. Incredible, charming frontman, great lyricist ('and your heart was just like that promise, made to be broken').

 

[consectaneus]

I submit two who both played what I consider "Rhythm Bass":

Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy.

And Lemmy.

Lou Barlow and Clint Conley (Mission of Burma) are two others in that camp.

 

[Ant Illington]

They won't amaze you with their chops, theoretical knowledge or sight playing.
But they give it. They are the bass.

Carmine Rojas. I believe he was on the Bowie Let's Dance Album and I saw him in concert with Rod Stewart 2x. We almost never hear about him.

Edit: yes, all but one song on Let's Dance. Bernard Edwards on the other one. Gold bass lines. Apparently he's been long time with Joe Bonnamassa. Meh. Good payday for Carmine, though, and I'm sure the bass grooves were the highlights.