Top P bass players. All time.

[Frety_Kruger]

Good list but I'd like to make a couple of suggestions.

Didn't Larry Graham the father of Pop and Slap play a Jazz? I think he deserves to be #5 on your Jazz list..

Also, Duff McKagen bought a white metallic Japanese Jazz Bass Special in the mid eighties which he used during the Guns and Roses hey dey. That bass is technically a PJ on a Jazz body. I bought the same bass at the same time and while Duff became famous, I foolishly sold mine.

Maybe you need to expand beyond just four and where do the PJ players fit in?

Good point. Didn't think about that

 

[Eli Brockway]

Lets not get out of hand. Most of what Jamerson played was very simple.

Have you really dug in and listened to a lot of the stuff that he played? Some of it was fairly simple, sure, but on a lot of it he showed off all that harmonic language he picked up playing jazz, threw in some interesting rhythmic variations, and he could just as easily play all up and down the board as anybody else does. As a massive Iron Maiden fan, I still wouldn't say that anything Steve plays is really more complex or interesting than what James was doing when he was still around.

 

[PJ Muzikmansky]

My top five:

Jamerson {of course}
Weeks
Rainey
Kaye
Dunn

 

[2112]

Best I could do OP:

 

[Iroquoisroadwarrior]

Phil Lynott

 

[MotorCityMinion]

This happens every time a list like this comes up. Folks, it's John Deacon.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

I'll add Paul Jackson and Mars Cowling below Jamerson and Harris and above Kaye. And I'm not even a Maiden fan.
JJ Burnel thrown in for spice.

 

[sikamikanico]

I'll just add a couple names instead of picking 4

Chris Wood

Michael League

And I'll say Anthony Jackson too.... while he is probably more known for his jazz bass sound (late 70s early 80s), his early stuff was P bass (it seems), and his Presentation basses he played for the last 30 years are basically modern fancy P basses too

 

[ghorvers]

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Mel Schacher of Grand Funk. I always liked his style of playing.

 

[minimalist freedom]

Good starting point, where would it end? There are so many....

 

[bikeplate]

Billy Sheehan

 

[jmlee]

This has got to be some pecularity of bass and guitar players. I can't imagine that sax players are spending time putting together lists of the best Yamaha YTS players.

 

[2112]

This has got to be some pecularity of bass and guitar players. I can't imagine that sax players are spending time putting together lists of the best Yamaha YTS players.

Can confirm, I am sax player.

Funny how we bassists persistently claim to be above such peculiarities.

 

[matti777]

Lets not get out of hand. Most of what Jamerson played was very simple.

lol sounds you like you have never listened to his bass lines

 

[SLPimp]

Matt Freeman

Beat me to it. One of the greats.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Rob Wright from Nomeansno. Probably one of the best bassists you've never heard. He's pretty much the Chris Squire of punk.

 

[Rilence]

Fieldy.

 

[jmlee]

Rob Wright from Nomeansno. Probably one of the best bassists you've never heard. He's pretty much the Chris Squire of punk.

Made me look. That was a heck of a band—and Canadian—and I didn't know anything about them. Those Wright brothers are a couple of high flyers.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Made me look. That was a heck of a band—and Canadian—and I didn't know anything about them. Those Wright brothers are a couple of high flyers.

Yeah one of my favorites. John is probably one of the best drummers ever. He was an accomplished jazz drummer at age 13.