rule-breakers, otherwise known as pioneers

[Killed_by_Death]

I don't think Lemmy saw himself as a visionary

I doubt any of the folks I mentioned did.
If you listen to Peter Hook's Reverb video, he explains exactly how he ended up with his sound in Joy Division.

They're all pioneers, because their style was studied & copied (they opened minds). Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. specifically mentions Lemmy & plays some of his riffs in his Reverb interview, but I can't post it here, he does curse once.

I didn't try to make an extensive list, just folks that influenced how I want to sound.
IMHO Mr. Sheehan is to bass as Steve Vai is to guitar.

 

[Outbush]

Or Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1

View attachment 3903227

Lewis learnt how not to be Ralph Shumaker by being Fangio.

(Sorry if you’re on TB Ralph, I could even steer one of those things...)

 

[J-Bassomatic]

I doubt any of the folks I mentioned did.
If you listen to Peter Hook's Reverb video, he explains exactly how he ended up with his sound in Joy Division.

They're all pioneers, because their style was studied & copied (they opened minds). Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr. specifically mentions Lemmy & plays some of his riffs in his Reverb interview, but I can't post it here, he does curse once.

I didn't try to make an extensive list, just folks that influenced how I want to sound.
IMHO Mr. Sheehan is to bass as Steve Vai is to guitar.

I am actually agreeing with you, for instance, the painter Van Gogh. I do not think he was trying to pioneer a new style. He was on a thing that he was pursuing. It took a while but what he did finally 'sunk in'.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I do not think he was trying to pioneer a new style.

Neither was Mr. Butler of Black Sabbath, but it just happened.

Geezer Butler

What's funny is, part of his "sound" in the beginning was the falling-apart equipment the band owned.
I've tried 1,000 times to get that "Fairies Wear Boots" sound & if you hear him tell about the gear he was using, it's even more amazing!

add:
AFAIK, his use of a Wah on N.I.B. was the first time someone recorded Wah from a bass.

 

[The Owl]

Colin Hodgkinson for his innovative chordal playing with Back Door

 

[Admiral Akbar]

Jimmy Blanton.


“Im just doing an invitation of Jimmy Blanton and all the cats.”
—John Francis Anthony “Jaco” Pastorius III

With all due respect to the great players you guys are mentioning: simply put there’s Jimmy Blanton, THEN everybody else!

If you guys don’t know who Jimmy Blanton is, he’s basically the first guy outside of classical music who was a featured soloist. He played in Duke Ellington’s band. Duke composed a feature song for him called “Jack the Bear.” You want a pioneer? It’s one of the FIRST tunes ever that FEATURED THE BASSIST! Blanton played slap, but really played melodic horn lines on his upright. He was the FIRST to do that. Ellington and Blanton have also recorded a series of duets together that should be required listening for every student of bass, regardless of musical persuasion.
Sadly, Blanton passed away in his early 20’s, but his legacy in the history of human music is undeniable.

Blanton was the first true pioneer/innovator on bass.

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

The interesting question is, are there pioneers right now?
I think this guy is.

 

[bobyoung53]

Actually Paul McCartney and George Martin were pioneers in bringing the bass out front and louder in the mix of “modern” music. Real rule breakers!
McCartney played guitar before he reluctantly became the bass player so he improvised runs and made the bass guitar an equal partner to the guitars. He wanted to be upfront in the band so he played as an equal to the others. Many bands place the bass player as a backup support to the song...not an equal.

McCartney doesn't get near the credit he should for his bass playing, when he started playing electric bass it was virtually a new instrument even though it was almost ten years old, 99% of rock n roll used upright until the early 60's. During the early and mid 60's there were two standout electric bassists, McCartney and Jamerson, they wrote the book on electric bass, Jamerson was more on the funky side, Paul was more on the melodic/pop side. Jamerson was an upright player and brought the upright style to electric bass, where did McCartney get his melodic style? No one played pop music like he did before he did, I will postulate the McCartney was one of the top two or three electric bass pioneers in the history of the instrument. Listen to Sgt Pepper and 1965 to 1967 era Beatles first if you think I'm full of crap, NO ONE ever played like that before he did. Paul was even playing bass dyads (chords) in their early stuff. It's been said that The Beatles launched a thousand bands, well, McCartney launched a thousand bass players.

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

where did McCartney get his melodic style

I think he took piano lessons as a kid. Plus melodic pop of the post-war era always on the radio during his formative years.

 

[bobyoung53]

I think he took piano lessons as a kid. Plus melodic pop of the post-war era always on the radio during his formative years.

Yes, but it was a more a rhetorical question because no bass players played melodic like him before he did except maybe a few jazz upright players and they weren't playing pop music and there were very few electric bassist playing anything earlier. Jail House rock by Elvis was an early electric bass tune and that was 1958, it was also tuned down a half step but it was not melodic.