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Your 3 most influential bass players?
- Thread starter The Great Genius
- Start date
I can relate to this.
Easily, the biggest influence on my bass playing over the past 20 years is the acoustic guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.
So, so many; but top 3... Mel Schacher (I'm your Captain blew my mind as a kid); John Paul Jones and Steve Harris. But digging into those guys' influences was really how the music journey started for me.
Tim Foreman makes my top three, along with Chris Squire (Yes) and Dave Hope (Kansas).
Influential? Hmm...
First of all, I'm not even gonna attempt to limit it to 3, so here's 4:
Of the influences I'm conscious of, it'd probably be Tony Levin, Stanley Clarke, Mel Schacher, and Chris Squire.
But I suspect I have a lot of unconscious influence -- just based on how much of their music I was listening to way back when I first picked up the bass -- from Bill Wyman, John Paul Jones, James Jamerson, and Paul McCartney.
[edit: And it might be worth noting that whatever influences I derived from any of those guys happened >40 years ago.]
First of all, I'm not even gonna attempt to limit it to 3, so here's 4:
Of the influences I'm conscious of, it'd probably be Tony Levin, Stanley Clarke, Mel Schacher, and Chris Squire.
But I suspect I have a lot of unconscious influence -- just based on how much of their music I was listening to way back when I first picked up the bass -- from Bill Wyman, John Paul Jones, James Jamerson, and Paul McCartney.
[edit: And it might be worth noting that whatever influences I derived from any of those guys happened >40 years ago.]
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OK this is pretty cool. Picking 3 is going to be difficult.
Jaco feels like an obvious one.
Probably #1 came as a bit of a surprise for me when I realized it. When I was a kid driving around in the car my dad always had the who tapes playing. Mostly who's next and quadrophenia. As I got older I never really listened to them much, and it wasn't until somewhat recently that I looked up some of Entwistle's bass lines and realized the profound effect his playing had (seemingly subconsciously) on my playing and overall approach to the bass.
As a third influence I feel like every bass player could say Jamerson, but for good reason. I used to study wooten for a while but I feel like the shine has kind of worn off there. I don't care about pushing the bass to the limits like I used to. Undeniable talent but not a lot there I really want to adapt to my playing.
Ill say Rocco for my 3rd one.
Jaco feels like an obvious one.
Probably #1 came as a bit of a surprise for me when I realized it. When I was a kid driving around in the car my dad always had the who tapes playing. Mostly who's next and quadrophenia. As I got older I never really listened to them much, and it wasn't until somewhat recently that I looked up some of Entwistle's bass lines and realized the profound effect his playing had (seemingly subconsciously) on my playing and overall approach to the bass.
As a third influence I feel like every bass player could say Jamerson, but for good reason. I used to study wooten for a while but I feel like the shine has kind of worn off there. I don't care about pushing the bass to the limits like I used to. Undeniable talent but not a lot there I really want to adapt to my playing.
Ill say Rocco for my 3rd one.
Walking thread.
Verdine White, the reason I wanted to play a bass (the 70s).
Tommy Shannon, the reason I learned to play the bass (90s).
Dave, Dave's world of fun stuff, the reason I know how to fix my Bass.
Verdine White, the reason I wanted to play a bass (the 70s).
Tommy Shannon, the reason I learned to play the bass (90s).
Dave, Dave's world of fun stuff, the reason I know how to fix my Bass.
When I switched from guitar to bass in the late '70s, there were four players I set out to copy:
1). McCartney -- of course
2) John Deacon -- always rock solid, always displays exactly as much technique as the song calls for.
3) Bruce Thomas -- bass lines as catchy independent melodies
4) Jon Camp -- not afraid to be up front, took the place of lead guitar in Renaissance.
I wanted to limit it to four players, but Entwistle was a very close runner-up.
1). McCartney -- of course
2) John Deacon -- always rock solid, always displays exactly as much technique as the song calls for.
3) Bruce Thomas -- bass lines as catchy independent melodies
4) Jon Camp -- not afraid to be up front, took the place of lead guitar in Renaissance.
I wanted to limit it to four players, but Entwistle was a very close runner-up.
For most of my formative years I would go with McCartney, John Paul and Geezer. I’ve come to enjoy and appreciate many others over the years including Mike Watt, Claypool, Jamerson and others.
1) Sid Vicious.
OK, he wasn't a player but I was a really young fella and the UK was in an uproar about this thing 'Punk'
It was through the press coverage of Sid that I became aware there was an instrument called bass guitar 
2) Algy Ward. Start of 'Love Song' had me thinking "I fancy doing that"
Course I should point out when I first heard it, I thought Captain Sensible was still playing bass in The Damned.
3) Paul Simonon. London Calling. WOW, what an album.
OK, he wasn't a player but I was a really young fella and the UK was in an uproar about this thing 'Punk'
It was through the press coverage of Sid that I became aware there was an instrument called bass guitar 2) Algy Ward. Start of 'Love Song' had me thinking "I fancy doing that"
Course I should point out when I first heard it, I thought Captain Sensible was still playing bass in The Damned.3) Paul Simonon. London Calling. WOW, what an album.
