What bass player inspired you to start playing?

[Basboeg]

Probably was Tim Commerford from RATM/Audioslave and Flea.
They are some of my most early influences which is kinda ironic since I hardly listen to them anymore, and Flea doesn't do anything fantastic any longer as he used too.

 

[Jake]

Ron Carter
Mike Gordon from Phish
Will Lee
John Patitucci

 

[4-Bang'er]

Queen's "New's Of The World" album 1977 ...guess it was John Deacon's tasty lines on trax like "All dead ,all dead" and "My melancholy blues"....the Precision bass just sounds so good.

 

[bwbass]

Brian Ritchie.

The solo in Violent Femmes' "Please Do Not Go" was a revelation for me. I had to be able to do that.

Ditto for me, same player, same solo.

 

[JacoLesFlea]

JPJ

 

[bevel19]

Gene Simmons and Phil Lynott(thin lizzy)

 

[Rune Bivrin]

I've only played bass in earnest for about five months, even though I've had a bass since the beginning of the eighties. So, the direct reason I'm a bass player now is I was recruited as a singer to a local band, and since they didn't have a bass player yet I brought mine for a laugh. And now they won't get a "real" bass player, so I suppose I'm stuck.

Anyway, the reason I got the bass in the first place is (drum roll, please!): John Illsley!
He played bass with Dire Straits, and I remember falling in love with that rolling foundation. It's heavy, groovy, and totally un-flashy. But it's completely necessary for those songs to work.
Now, I don't necessarily sound much like that. I've picked up a rather more melodic and jazzy style. Possibly reminiscent of McCartney, Mike Porcaro and Sting. But I try not to emulate them, just borrow a trick here and there where it fits the song I'm playing. The objective for me is to make sure what we're playing sucks when I'm having a bad rythm day, rather than just being slightly untight.

Rune

 

[Snakeman1066]

Geezer Butler

 

[Polka4001]

Jameson and McCartney.

 

[ifallalot]

Krist Noveselic on Nevermind.

 

[spanndrew]

Dan Briggs from Between the Buried and Me/ Trioscapes

 

[Bassnoise]

Les Claypool and Jack Bruce

 

[Bass Fund]

Cliff Burton was the big one, for me. I watched Cliff 'Em All 5 times a week.

 

[huckleberry1]

Strangely enough, no particular artist. My brother had a bass and I kept sneaking into his room playing it to try to get music out of it, he threatened to beat me if he caught me again. The next time he caught me I was jamming. He was impressed and told me to continue.

 

[MegaSwing]

Strangely enough, Jamerson, who I never knew was just one person until after he was dead; Klaus Voorman, who played on a lot of early-70s records and who made me first say "I can do that."—not that I could; C.F Turner of BTO, just because he played on the tunes I was first trying to learn; and Sir Paul, because after I discovered the Beatles, little else mattered for years.

 

[deathsdj]

Cliff Burton. I was all like

 

[NailDriver]

The very first was Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes. I was 13 or so, and borrowed a friend (Noel) 's bass to learn the bass lines from their eponymous album. That was my first foray into actual bass study, as I started on guitar. Then I went back to guitar, then to drums, and finally figured out I was a bassist when I was 30 or so. It's been a long ride, but I am a better musician from studying all 3.

I still go back to the self titled album for ideas. The bass work (acoustic bass, not upright) is really good. Really, really good.

 

[Jaco Taco]

Some obscure Canadian bassist by the name of Gary Weinrib... nobody's probably heard of him.

 

[Roy Vogt]

Chuck Rainey for me.His bass playing on steeley dans royal scam album.

Hi Bo! It's been awhile for both of us on here!
Chris Hillman, Harvey Brooks, Jack Bruce and Jack Casady did it for me. Shows how long I've been doing this!

 

[sparkyfender2]

John Entwistle.