Your 3 most influential bass players?

[greenklang]

1. Klaus Flouride showed me that punk/hardcore bass playing can be melodic, innovative and quite challenging too.
2. Geddy Lee was another early influence that brought the bass to the foreground with the other instuments. He has a unique sound, playing style and a sense of melody and rhythm.
3. Jaco Pastorius no less than blew my mind. Not at first, but after learning some jazz basics I realized Donna Lee wasn't just a bunch of random notes played at blistering speed but there's a lot going on and there's a logic and explanations to things.

 

[coryr1000]

1 - John Entwistle
2 - Tom Petersson
3 - Geddy Lee

 

[Aussie Player]

Jack Bruce
Andy Fraser
The Biggest Mac
John Paul Jones
John Entwistle
Geezer Butler.
There was 6 so no point pretending it was 3.
But here's the kicker, I never knew what gear they played until I was playing a few years and noted the Gibson EB3 I played into a Marshall seemed to be popular with my top 2. No wonder those tones were easy to get.

 

[greenklang]

1. Klaus Flouride
2. Geddy Lee
3. Jaco Pastorius

All being Jazz bass guys is no coincidence.

 

[Sternodox]

Jack Casady
Bootsy Collins
Jah Wobble

 

[loukash]

In order of appearance on my radar while I actually still was a guitarist in the early and mid-1980s

Chris Squire
Jean-Jacques Burnel
Bootsy Collins

As for eventually picking up the bass myself, the most influential player certainly was my longtime flat- and band-mate J.K. (not sure if he wants any online publicity) in the late 1980s.

 

[Yamarolorg]

Bunny Brunel
Jaco
Alphonso Johnson

 

[Markmann]

Percy Jones
John Wetton
Jeff Berlin

 

[badinage]

Tom Fleckenstein
Casey Starnes
Danny Campbell

 

[Nuage420]

John Paul Jones, Fieldy, Les Claypool

 

[Bigcz]

Steve Fossen, Ross Valory and John Entwhistle and HM for Geddy Lee who is a monster with smooth chops. All were relevant influencing musical cousins

 

[DJ Bebop]

Just three?

All said and done and no cheating:

Ray Brown
Jack Casady
Alphonso Johnson.

There are others I could have slotted in there because they were influencers too and maybe cooler but these guys changed me at each step of my discovery of them and opened my mind to what came after.

 

[Ritter667]

The ones who have influenced me most personally, or the ones I think have been most influential on bass playing and music overall?

Personally it would be something like this:
- Lou Barlow
- Justin Chancellor
- Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (NHØP)

Overall, possibly:
- Paul McCartney
- Jaco
- Victor Wooten

 

[j3ffr0]

James Jamerson
John Entwistle
John Paul Jones

This was easy for me as there is a pretty big gap after number three.

 

[almost human]

Dee Dee Ramone
Eric Avery
Nick Chaplin

 

[pepj]

Currently...
Anthony Jackson. Consistantly influential and trawling through his catalogue is education.

Bobby Vega
Alex Al

I like these 3 guys because they are pushing styles forward ...even though the product I'm listening to for Jackson might be 30 yrs old.
Thats how far in front he was/is.

 

[Krisfield]

JJ Burnel
Dean Garcia
Sting

 

[Nedmundo]

John Entwistle
Paul McCartney
Phil Lesh

I spent countless hours listening to The Who and The Beatles in my musically formative years, so Entwistle and McCartney influenced my view of bass even before I started playing. I'm not a Deadhead, but I've been in a Dead cover band for a couple of years, so even though I rarely reproduce his parts note-for-note, Phil has become a massive influence.

Honorable mention to JMJ, whose playing inspired me to simplify my somewhat busy Entwistle-influenced parts in original material.

 

[tindrum]

Bernard Edwards
John Taylor
Mick Karn

 

[shirojiro]

John Entwistle
Jaco
Pino