Which Bassists were your inspiration when you started playing?

[Element Zero]

Geddy Lee, Cliff Burton, Tim Comerford, Les Claypool, Jason Newstead, Dave Ellefson, Jaco Pastorius. In that order.

 

[TWood97]

Definitely Flea when I started, probably Chris Wolstenholme and Tim Commerford too

 

[Alkali Ike]

At the time I started playing in my teens, I thought that my biggest inspirations were probably John Paul Jones, Roger Waters and Sting. But in retrospect, I think I was actually more influenced by the many nameless, faceless bass players that I had listened to on AM radio long before I ever started playing. Those folks turned out to be bassists like Bob Babbitt, Ronnie Baker, Wilton Felder, James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Carl Radle, Chuck Rainey, Willie Weeks and Klaus Voormann.

Need more Like buttons!

 

[Deleted member 268085]

He wasn't an early inspiration, but Willie Weeks work on the live Donny Hathaway album is lots of fun.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Jack Bruce. He made me pay attention to the bass. He was hardly a role model, though. That would have been Tommy Cogbill, who played on a lot of Wilson Pickett hits, also Aretha's "I Never Loved A Man," although it was another 10 years before I even found out who he was.

 

[Maynjo]

Mike Dirnt
Mark Hoppus
Krist Novoselic
Jason Newstead
Mic Todd

 

[slagbass]

Well... the first song I ever tried to play on a bass was "The Chase is Better than the Catch" by Motorhead. Lemmy for me.

 

[michael_t]

I was a singer/acoustic guitar player in my younger years (age 16-32) and a huge fan of James Taylor.

So, when I took up the bass at the age of 52, Lee Sklar and Jimmy Johnson became my role models.

 

[Ronnie681]

Geezer, John Paul Jones, Chuck Rainey.

 

[Maiden Bass]

Steve Harris of course!

 

[xnewyorka]

Geezer Butler, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, in that order.

 

[Flabass]

Gary Thain
John Entwhistle
Mel Schacher

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Chris Squire at first, then Jaco when I got into fingerstyle, now back to Squire. Still love that Ric tone.

 

[catcauphonic]

Butler, Bruce, & Vicious

My style is a combo of all 3

 

[Ezralyte]

Tom Drummond.

Been a fan for years. After following Better Than Ezra through the PNW this summer, decided it was finally time to start learning.

 

[japhy4529]

Tim Gaines from Stryper was my inspiration to even begin playing bass as before I saw him holding one in Hit Parader, I didn't even know what a bass was! I asked my friend who owned a guitar what that larger "guitar" with the four strings that Tim was holding in the picture. He said "that's a bass guitar." That was enough for me. I like things slightly left of center. I've been hooked ever since.

BTW, Tim is a very good bassist and Stryper was one of my favorite bands back then, along with AC/DC, Led Zep, Motley Crue, GNR, etc. Tim, Duff and JPJ were definitely early influences.

 

[Jhengsman]

When I started playing in the band in hindsight I found out that a lot of stuff that I was trying to get the feel of was recorded by Abraham Laboriel. After Ed Friedland's method book there was Jerry Jemmott's book and interview/lesson with Jaco

 

[Billoney]

I'm generally curious to see which bassists inspired everyone when they were first starting out

For me I grew up with Ride the Lightning and Master Of Puppets playing through my Stereo 24/7 and when I first picked up my Mother's Yamaha RBX170 Red and Black Sunburst in September of 2015 I immediately looked up how to play Fade to Black, my favorite Metallica song, and spent the next month learning the song back to front and down to every Fill

Still Casady, McCartney, and Bruce.

 

[onamission]

Mel Schacher, Dee Murray, Geddy Lee, Jerry Seay, Peter Cetera, Andre Previn's various bassists

 

[Bagelish]

Entwistle and Joey Ramone. Both completely different, but learned a lot from both.