Who Was Your First...

[five7]

Percy Jones Brand X

 

[baileyboy]

Geddy just blew my mind ... every song !

Yup, same here. "Moving Pictures" made me want to take up bass.

 

[Kmonk]

Paul McCartney and James Jamerson.

A few years later it was Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, John Paul Jones, John Deacon, Tom Hamilton and Boz Burrell.

 

[SmokinJoe992]

Billy Sheehan. DLR Eat 'em and Smile.

Billy Sheehan. DLR Eat 'em and Smile.

Billy Sheehan, specifically 'Shy Boy'

 

[Hotblack]

Toss up between Joe Lally

or Melvin Gibbs

 

[tfer]

Billy Sheehan, specifically 'Shy Boy'

Elephant Gun caused hand cramps for MONTHS!

 

[Farseer]

JPJ turned me on the bass. Allen Woody got me into playing bass.

 

[klokker]

Greg Lake..........."From the beginning" (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer).

 

[greggster59]

This guy.. hands down.. Raymond Berry Oakley. The original bassist for the Allman Brothers Band.

View attachment 1149656

. . .

Ditto

 

[2cooltoolz]

I thought you'd never ask.

Okay, just for future reference:

 

[Brother Goose]

Bootsy

 

[Mark_70]

Mark King (Level 42). I must've been 15 or so.

Playing like that AND singing at the same time !?
(insert icon of exploding head)

Regards
Mark

 

[PDGood]

Although I'd heard many bassists before.
I was at Fort Polk in 1969 waiting to go to Viet Nam, and saw a concert on the base by Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders, their 17 year old bassist was Jaco, he was already playing more bass than I'd ever thought anyone could play, and at 17 his genius was obvious.

Interesting. I am a huge fan of Jaco and one day I got to meet Wayne Cochran and knew that Jaco had played for him. I asked Wayne what that experience was like. He said Jaco was the best bass player and worst musician he'd ever worked with. I was shocked!! Wayne continued to say that Jaco could do amazing things but they'd be in the middle of a really sad song where the lyrics were telling an important story and Jaco would be jamming out oblivious to this.
Not every player fits in every format. I still think Jaco is one of the greatest innovators and greatest players ever. But I totally get what Wayne said and see how Jaco was not the best player for that particular band. They were eight piece when I saw them with very tight arrangements. Just not a good marriage of player and band.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Squire, Entwistle, Bruce and Stanley Clarke. The first bass line that was unusual at the time and perked up my ears was in Slow Ride by Foghat. I couldn't figure out how he was getting that cool sound out of his bass. I know now

 

[Big Hoss]

Top 2 influential bass players?
#1. Geddy Lee.
#2. That one is tougher, but I would probably say Robert Trujillo. I was a huge Suicidal Tendencies fan in years past...

 

[MoeTown1986]

I came into my teenage years in the mid-late 90's. Mine was probably Tim Commerford from Rage Against the Machine. I also really dug Sam Rivers from Limp Bizkit. They were HUGE at the time.

 

[Klaxxi]

Paul D'Armour believe it or not. The song "Flood" by Tool was what initially made me want to pick up bass. The whole Undertow album has great basslines. Justin Chancellor is my favorite bassist, but I think Paul does get looked over a lot when he was a pretty talented guy in his own right.

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

Paul M. But later Verdine White (earth, wind and fire) . And there's some really nice playing by Richard Davis on Astral Weeks - a style I'd not heard before and it knocked me out.

 

[Sixgunn]

I first "noticed" bass in grade school. Dee Murray, specifically the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album which is altogether brilliant, btw. The flamboyance was so fascinating at that age so Alice Cooper naturally intrigued me too although Dennis Dunaway never really came into focus for me. Naturally, I became a HUGE KISS fan and idolized Gene Simmons but as I matured more musically (I started bass at 14) I immersed myself in Led Zeppelin and to this day, JPJ is the cornerstone of my playing. I forayed down the progressive road of course: Squire, Lee, et al. and also fusion stuff. Really loved Jeff Berlin and of course Stu Hamm. Harris would probably rate as my second biggest influence. As far as Entwistle goes, I didn't pay a lot of attention to him back then but I've really developed a taste for his style which I realized that I borrow from, liberally

 

[PDGood]

Lee Dorman and Tim Bogert at about the same time.