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The Four Most Influential Bassists?

#181
Dr. Cheese said:
Just who you think are the four most influential bassists are and why you feel that way. Please, putting down others choices!

My choices are:
James Jamerson - using advanced harmony in Pop basslines

John Entwistle - popularizing roundwounds and upfront bass tones

Larry Graham - invented slapping

Jaco Pastorius - popularized fretless, harmonics, and favoring the bridge pickup
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What a fantastic list to kick things off. However being a six string Bassist I'd have to substitute Mr Entwistle, for Mr Anthony Jackson, I admire John Entwistle's playing, however I have never been a great fan of The Who.
 
#182
Clark Dark said:
Early P Funk??? You mean BC???, before Collins ?
It was fingerstyle mostly up to and during America Eats It's Young, but after Bootsy linked up it was about the "1" and the thump and pop for most of Parliaments hits and a good dose of thumping on a spate of Funkadelic hits though not all. But that wiki link I posted listed bassists from Adams to Zender, and encompasses all genres with musicians that "slap".
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There were names in that list that I would never associate with slap. Read the list.
 
#183
Dr. Cheese said:
5% of something as large as all if the music recorded on bass guitar is very significant. If you don't think 5% is substantial, try losing 5% of your income, lung capacity, or anything you use. BTW, during it's heyday, slap was more like half of the funk I heard on the radio I heard as a person who grew up in that era.
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I grew up in New Orleans which colors my tastes for sure. We are definitely more insular and not really into pop radio so maybe I'm missing out on that. If you grew up a big fm radio guy then our experiences are different.

I have lost way more than 5% of income in my life. 5% is still a whole lot less than 95%.

All I'm saying is that the style represents such a small percentage of what's actually being played in music that you can't possibly include a slap guy as one of the 4 MOST INFLUENTIAL.

Do I think slap n pop is a legitimate style? Of course I do. There's a hell of a lot more pick bass being played than slap in actual music not wanking in GC.

The biggest issue I have with it is guys doing it in songs where it sounds awful and doesn't fit or guys doing it who can't do it very well.

I love Marcus Miller and I think he is the best slap player in the world. Sadly he represents a very small percentage of guys out there.
 
#185
StrangerDanger said:
Early P Funk (read the best p funk) didn't feature slap stuff afaik. I'm not convinced by the few guys that you mentioned above when there are thousands more that don't. Listen to Cymande too when you can.

I don't think slap represents more than 5% of all recorded electric bass. That's a guess but I think it's probably being generous.
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I have to disagree with your maths, Slap isn't just a technique found in "FUNK" but, R&B, Hip-Hop, Disco, Rock, Metal, Jazz, Fusion, Pop.

on top of that, it has to be one of the most influential techniques, regardless of its percentage. Everyone has an opinion on Slap, weather you love it or hate it. Not many Bass Techniques affect the opinions of non bass players, or even non musicians, but Slap certainly does!
 
#187
I agree with both points being made here regarding slapping, popping, and every other nontraditional style of "percussive" bass playing. I don't believe these methods can adequately fill the primary role of bass in an ensemble which is to hold the bottom of the groove in an harmonic and melodic fashion, regardless of the genre or sub-genre. That said...I see young bassists all over the place pick up a bass and automatically start slapping, which was certainly not the case 30 years ago to that extent. That said...I would definitely consider a guy like Larry Graham one of the most influential bassists when he is one of four, since I'd be willing to bet that if you ask 4 young bassists today to pick up the instrument and start playing something... Guaranteed that at least one of the.4 Would automatically start slapping.
 
#190
Berry Oakley - I loved The Allman Brothers, and Berry because he was very busy but always in the pocket, driving the music forward like a locomotive.

Leland Sklar & Paul McCartney: Both because they were so versatile and prolific, and for their melodic styles.

Fourth bassist: Hard to pick one, maybe Geddy Lee because he's such a badass (and for his tone), Chuck Rainey (LOVE Steely Dan, and love his flatwound thud), Jaco (OMG!), Verdine White (fun, funky & stage presence), James Jamerson (played on SO MANY great songs, and could even record hit records lying down!!).

Edit: OK, I see now that this thread is about "most influential bassists", whereas I kind of went off and listed my favorites. Well, they are influential to me and, I suspect, to a lot of other bassists.
 
#191
Mine are:

Jamerson. Nuff said
Paul McCartney: (The entire reason I became a musician) He was not only an amazing player, but he sang lead and harmony vocals while playing. And the writing.
Larry Graham: Slap it to me
Geddy Lee: Made me practice out of needing to learn those licks.

Next for me would be:

Jaco: Mind blowing technique
Chuck Rainey: Groove city
John Entwhistle: While I was never a big Who fan, that man had chops and brought bright tone to the bass world
Bootsy Collins: Pure funkalicious
 
#192
StrangerDanger said:
Early P Funk (read the best p funk) didn't feature slap stuff afaik. I'm not convinced by the few guys that you mentioned above when there are thousands more that don't. Listen to Cymande too when you can.

I don't think slap represents more than 5% of all recorded electric bass. That's a guess but I think it's probably being generous.
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Still curious... were you listening to this music in real time or after the fact?
 
#196
StrangerDanger said:
I'm 38 not 58. Lol
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I figured that's why you ignored the question the first time.
:D

So you're debating things you've only read about vs. actually lived. Anecdotal expert FTW. Lol


You don't really know what music was like before the Meters or James Brown... but clearly you think you do. It's amusing when someone like you takes such a hard yet uninformed stance. Lol again. Seriously.
:D
 
#197
Brad Johnson said:
I figured that's why you ignored the question the first time.
:D

So you're debating things you've only read about vs. actually lived. Anecdotal expert FTW. Lol


You don't really know what music was like before the Meters or James Brown... but clearly you think you do. It's amusing when someone like you takes such a hard yet uninformed stance. Lol again. Seriously.
:D
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I'll try not to be as condescending as you.

Just because you're old doesn't mean you know anything worthwhile. You're probably my Dads age and he knows jack about music history. Just what he likes. Are all the experts on classical music a bunch of charlatans because they didn't live in the same time as Bach? Your point is completely irrelevant and amounts to a weak ad hominem attack. And I am plenty informed Bradley.

You're so old you should know better.

I'll leave out the smilies and lols.
 
#198
StrangerDanger said:
I'll try not to be as condescending as you.

Just because you're old doesn't mean you know anything worthwhile. You're probably my Dads age and he knows jack about music history. Just what he likes. Are all the experts on classical music a bunch of charlatans because they didn't live in the same time as Bach? Your point is completely irrelevant and amounts to a weak ad hominem attack. And I am plenty informed Bradley.

You're so old you should know better.

I'll leave out the smilies and lols.
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You can't even be bothered to check what you've stated as fact. Your dad has nothing to do with this conversation, your ignorance on the subject does. But like many, that doesn't preclude you from digging in. And any music scholar who was as demonstrably incorrect as you were would've been confronted by their peers.
:D

I didn't contend that I'm familiar with this because of my age. But thanks for taking it to that silly conclusion. I'm familiar with this because I was there. Like many, we experienced the changes as contemporaries. Anyone familiar with how history works knows how skewed it can get after the fact. Like what you thought you knew.

The Meters aren't the problem... you're overblown and inaccurate history of them is. By the same token your view of James Brown was either ignorant or condescending. Neither is a desirable stance. So let your reality be yours... many folks know better and I simply pointed out why. You don't have to like it.
:)

Often its folks like you who don't even understand how blurred your timelines are who equate/judge one thing against the other... because at their core, they simply don't know any better. Like putting Larry Graham and Louis Johnson together.
:cool:
 
#199
Brad Johnson said:
You can't even be bothered to check what you've stated as fact. Your dad has nothing to do with this conversation, your ignorance on the subject does. But like many, that doesn't preclude you from digging in. And any music scholar who was as demonstrably incorrect as you were would've been confronted by their peers.
:D

I didn't contend that I'm familiar with this because of my age. But thanks for taking it to that silly conclusion. I'm familiar with this because I was there. Like many, we experienced the changes as contemporaries. Anyone familiar with how history works knows how skewed it can get after the fact. Like what you thought you knew.

The Meters aren't the problem... you're overblown and inaccurate history of them is. By the same token your view of James Brown was either ignorant or condescending. Neither is a desirable stance. So let your reality be yours... many folks know better and I simply pointed out why. You don't have to like it.
:)

Often its folks like you who don't even understand how blurred your timelines are who equate/judge one thing against the other... because at their core, they simply don't know any better. Like putting Larry Graham and Louis Johnson together.
:cool:
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Just for my edification please tell me that you're in your seventies and played with James Brown in the 1950s.

My contention is that Art Neville and the boys had as much or more to do with creating the genre known as funk as anybody including JB. It's not a new phenomenon that Nola musicians get discounted by Yankee elitists. It's the way of things but I'm not going to do the same thing. No way.
 

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