Great Bassist's.

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Jim Schumacher of Brocas Helm.

Never heard of him, you say? Well then...

Spoiler: Stay awhile and listen

Captcha - good job. Ya damn skippy.

 

[launchpadmcqwak]

by talent i will go with either John Entwistle (the who), Les claypool or Alex Webster (cannibal corpse)
but in style i will go with Cliff Burton from metallica who is in my opinion the greaatest of all time. being a bass player you really appreciate how talented these bastards are.

 

[217not237]

Alright, I'm a total Pink Floyd fanboy. Roger Waters. Of course, there's Paul McCartney, too, and Geddy Lee, and Cliff Burton, and Flea, and all those other obvious choices.

 

[Klumpfot]

I'mma recommend two younger fellas: Erlend Caspersen (currently in Spawn of Possession) and Nick Schendzielos (currently in Cephalic Carnage, and yes, I did have to look up how to spell his name). They both have Youtube channels where they upload videos of themselves making me feel inadequate: Bajskung for Erlend (Poopking in Norwegian (and before you judge him for that, Devin Townsend's channel is Poopy Nuggeteer)) and BassForDays for Nick. I'd check both of them out!

And a generic list of bassists whom I admire and/or have inspired me: Jason Newsted (got me playing bass in my teen years), Nefarious from Macabre, Bill Laswell from Praxis, Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse (also a superhumanly nice person), Eric Langlois from Cryptopsy, Sean Malone from Cynic, Jonas Hellborg from 4,000 different projects, Dick Lövgren from Meshuggah, Charles Mingus from his own band and Tony Choy from Atheist.

Also, I'm a bassist. You're all entirely free to call me great.

 

[Skizle]

Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ue-Chan of Maxmimum the Hormone just solely on the fact that I am a sucker for funk and slap bass

heres a bass cover of Ue-Chan's work (chose the cover just so you can hear it better)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1szaoDFiSU&list=PL2B6EA02AC51C810D&index=15&feature=plpp_video

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BKPEPn9CPw&feature=relmfu

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I'm going to throw in some love for John Myung of Dream Theatre and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

The lack of John Paul Jones in this thread is greatly disturbing, you dissapoint me escapist. For those who don't know him he's the bassist for Led Zeppelin, absolutely amazing musician.

And yes Geddy Lee of course you can't say enough about this man, its not the fact that he plays Bass, keyboard, pedals, and sings, but he does them all amazingly.

 

[thesilentman]

I'm going to throw in some love for John Myung of Dream Theatre and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

Goddamnit, ninja'd. Dream Theater is the band I keep coming back to for many reasons, and John Myung's bass is one of them. Led Zeppelin also shares this award of good bass in songs.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

Matt Freeman of Rancid.
Not quite a technical as most of your masters, but he plays it like he MEANS it.

I'm not a big Rancid fan, but daaaaaaamn:


And sticking with punk: Rob Wright of NoMeansNo?

 

[JdaS]

Mike Watt of the Minutemen/fIREHOSE/Dos/the Stooges/solo stuff. Not super flashy, but inventive, fun, and often the most interesting part of his band (which says a ton when with the Minutemen).

Spoiler: Mike at his best

YES! YES, YES, YES! You sir, are correct. I see your Mike Watt and raise you a Joe Lally from Fugazi. That dude is amazing.

Spoiler: Joe Lally in some Fugazi goodness

I fucking love Fugazi...

EDIT:

And sticking with punk: Rob Wright of NoMeansNo?

A big, hearty yes to this as well.

 

[Alternative]

On shear technical skill i would have to say Ivan Munguia from the technical-death metal band Brain Drill.

Spoiler: Warning contains death metal

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Matt Freeman of Rancid.
Not quite a technical as most of your masters, but he plays it like he MEANS it.

Matt gets my vote for his work in Rancid and Operation Ivy too (now I feel old).

I'm gonna throw in Newstead (formerly of Metallica) as well. Not perhaps the most technically gifted bassist out there (much like Feeman) but his solo on the Cunning Stunts tour has always stuck with me as a very haunting piece.

 

[viranimus]

Geezer Butler without a doubt

One I doubt anyone would even think of listing, Joey DeMaio of Manowar. The band isnt all that great, but the dudes skill in examples like Achilles agony and ecstasy 8 parts is insane.

 

[Bazaalmon]

Nobody has mention Tom Jenkinson (A.K.A. Squarepusher)? Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers has said that he is the best electric bass player on the planet!
He can also do crazy things with a synth or five...
I think He and Les Claypool are tied for the best.

 

[Contradiction]

I know people have mentioned Wooten but for anyone reading who hadn't heard him



The dual layer parts where he plays the bass line and rhythm absolutely blow my mind.

 

[Wayneguard]

What the fuck guys... Steve Harris?? The man almost solely responsible for Iron Maiden's songwriting?

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

Where da Marcus Miller at. Seriously people.


I mean goddamn.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I'm going to throw in some love for John Myung of Dream Theatre and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

What he said. Also, Cliff Burton was more about compositional talent, in my mind anyway, than he was about actual technical chops. All of Metallica's greatest songs were created by Cliff. There are some exceptions on ...And Justice, but otherwise they've been mediocre at best since.

I'm also a big fan of Stu Hamm

 

[Rawberry101]

In my humble opinion (and I have seriously contemplated this before), the best bassists in rock music are:

5. Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones: he held the rhythm section down in what was probably the most rhythmical white band evar.
4. Cliff Burton of Metallica: he's already been said a few times, Anesthesia speaks for itself, although I'd put Orion with his best work.
3. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin: His bass lines were sometimes lost amongst his more active bandmates, but they show both proficiency and restraint, a rare combination in music.
2. Steve Harris of Iron Maiden: Iron Maiden is one of those special bands that thrives on its bass sound, even when most people focus on the guitars.
1. John Entwistle of The Who: If John Paul Jones was sometimes overlooked, John Entwistle was practically ignored as a musician in of the flash of the Townsend, Daltrey, and Moon. He was really a superior musician and was an amazing bassist.
I never thought my list of best bassists would come in handy. But lo and behold!

Edit: Entwistle's nickname was 'thunderfingers', must have been popular with the ladies.