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The Four Most Influential Bassists?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
while i wouldn't debate most of the people mentioned in here, I dont know if i should feel like an idiot or an iconoclast that no bassists mentioned in this thread so far has been an influence on me(well...to be fair, indirectly, some must have been..meaning, since they influenced bass playing in general)
Yep... ask your influences who influenced them. It might not be a direct connection, it could be a few levels deep.
It's like saying Larry Graham didn't influence you, some current player who was influenced by Flea did.
You have to take one away to end up with four. Your list might be identical to mine.
If my list were longer, Jack Bruce would be up there.
If we're including double bassists, my views on this list are entirely different. Dragonetti, anyone?
Everyone you just mentioned here had feels that bore no resemblence to Graham's. I didn't say you said Graham played finger funk... "I" said he wasn't one in response to your saying you'd put people opposite Graham.
So did I. I said other than that they had practically nothing in common stylistically. If ability trumps actual content...
Hey, we just disagree. That should be okay. Anyone is free to disagree with my choices too.
I picked the people I did because they weren't like Graham. I was trying to show how the label "funk" covers a very wide range of styles. I suspect I did not make myself clear. I'm not worried about disagreeing, that is pretty normal when people discuss anything.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
I will highly disagree with this. If Jamerson was a pretty white kid he probably would have seen a lot more mainstream success/credit for his works. McCartney wouldn't exist without Jamerson.
I would agree with the OP since Jamerson defined pop bass as we know it. The Ox defined rock bass as we know it, even taking the first recorded bass solo in rock. Jaco allowed the bass to be a lead instrument. I will only disagree on Larry Graham, as I personally see Stu Hamm as a bigger contributor to our solo bass community. Maybe it is because I prefer tap to slap. I am sure many will disagree with me and think Stu Hamm is the A-Hole who brought two handed tapping to the masses.
I'm never one to downplay how race impacts the world, but I think the thing that kept Jamerson from being a star was he was a musician, and not a pop star, if it were just color, Bob Babbitt would have been a big star. McCartney, like Stevie Wonder, is a pop star who is also a fine musician.
As for Stu Hamm, he is a great player, but he is no where near the influence of Graham. For about twenty-five years, there was slap on every sort of recording and performance imaginable. The same is simply not true for two handed bass tapping.
Think of the influence Willie had on Led Zeppelin alone. Their first two albums of material came from him... and then think of how many people were influenced in turn.
Sorry if this was not supposed to include upright guys.
Andy Hall ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed] for credits) I had the great pleasure of having him as my teacher for many years. A lot of my fundamentals of playing come from him.
Geddy Lee - That you should never stop growing or expanding yourself as a musician, much less a bassist.
Karl Alvarez (Descendents/ALL) To be a true punk, you play with your fingers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fA-NCkRsRc
Jeff Caxide (ISIS - Palms) Just because you hold down the bottom does not mean you can't launch into orbit.
Geddy Lee - That you should never stop growing or expanding yourself as a musician, much less a bassist.
Karl Alvarez (Descendents/ALL) To be a true punk, you play with your fingers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fA-NCkRsRc
Jeff Caxide (ISIS - Palms) Just because you hold down the bottom does not mean you can't launch into orbit.
Glad to see Bill Black mentioned. But Black also said that Fred Maddox was his big inspiration as a bass player.
I can't see how that statement would be true.
I would have to go with:
McCartney
Jamerson
Jaco
Jack Bruce
McCartney has been quoted as saying the bassist for Motown (Jamerson,) inspired him to be more adventurous in his note choices
nailed it IMO.
McCartney was famous more for being a Beatle than a bassist i think. not to say that he's not a great player.
See, I get this mentality, however...
I'm a huge Motown/Jamerson fan. Learning his lines has been among the best educations I've received as a bass player.
I'm a huge Beatles fan, and learning McCartney's lines has also been among the best educations I've received as a bass player.
But I see them as diverging significantly, and contributing and influencing equally in their own distinctly different ways.
I mean, everyone has a bass player to whom they tip their hat, including Jamerson I'm sure. Should we discount his contributions because of his influences? I think not, for he surely took what he learned from his influences and amalgamated it into something new and unique. Just as McCartney did. And McCartney doubtless had many influences, not just Jamerson.
And I don't buy for an instant that McCartney only gets props as a bass player because he was a Beatle or a "pretty white boy." Those are among the dumber things I've read today.
Early in this thread I said McCartney is a great bassist. I even started a thread a few weeks ago about learning the Silly Live Songs a few weeks ago.
Saying that Jamerson influenced him is no put down. As for stuff about Macca's race, that was not me either.
McCartney is a great top four choice even if I did not make that choice.
I have no doubt that's true. But to say "McCartney wouldn't exist without Jamerson" shows ignorance of what was going on at the time. They were making records simultaneously. Actually, someone like Elvis was probably more of an influence to McCartney.
I agree that saying Macca would not exist without Jamerson is silly because the Beatles broke at roughly the same time as Motown. I think McCartney makes it clear that he started listening to Jamerson while he was having success, and looking for ways to grow and top himself.
McCartney and Jamerson were both great in their own right.
Though McCartney is my all time personal favorite bassist, it really goes back and forth.
"Who is better, Jamerson or McCartney?" is a question I often ask myself.
I can honestly never answer it 100%. I just really leave it at that.
Though McCartney is my all time personal favorite bassist, it really goes back and forth.
"Who is better, Jamerson or McCartney?" is a question I often ask myself.
I can honestly never answer it 100%. I just really leave it at that.
