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Ok, we're not the only guys and girls that make up the rhythm section, you need that other guy. You know.....not the singer....no...not that guy, that's the guitarist, silly.......THAT other guy. The bassist. So if you were putting together an ultimate group which bassist (or if you like, a list of 5 bassists that you're thinking of at the moment) would you choose.....and more importantly, list the reason(s) why. It'd be interesting to see how fellow drummers think.
Hmmm...great question. Being a former bass player myself....I'd go with
1. Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Steve Harris from Iron Maiden
3. Rex Brown from Pantera/Down
4. John Cambell from Lamb of God
5. Randy Bradbury from Pennywise
I love all their styles for different reasons. And all guys who influenced me when I played bass regularly.
Hmmm it's hard to narrow down. No particular order:
Bootsy Collins
Mike Watt
Bill Laswell
Sting (from the 70's-80's, not the lute playing sonnet singer/old fart)
Robbie Shakespeare
That's my answer for today, might change tomorrow...
Not a bad choice there at all, Marko. PeachTX....lol, yeah I know, was hard for me to narrow down a choice, you made some wise choices too.
As for me, my head's more in a different direction music-wise at the moment. Hmm.....think I need to have a separate "Drumbledore's list of metal bassists"...lol.
1) Sting. Apart from the fact that he's written quite a number of memorable songs, was in one successful band, The Police, before having successful solo career, being an actor, an enviromental campaigner and a general all-round and brainy guy to boot, Sting has some serious jazz chops (not surprising....Stewart Copeland discovered him playing with a Newcastle jazz band in London, after all). To carry off what he does and sing on top of that, well....any wonder why he's always attracted the likes of drummers like Copeland, Manu Katché, Vinnie Colauita, et al.
2) Aston "Family Man" Barrett. Together with his brother Carlton "Carly" Barrett, these two practically wrote the early bible of reggae rhythm playing behind Bob Marley and The Wailers. The only Jamaican rhythm section to have an even bigger notoriety of influencing reggae and its offshoots such as dub, would be Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare....was in two minds to put Robbie in at No.2, but Aston won me over.
3) Mick Karn. Unfortunately Mick had passed away earlier this year, but during his years with and after Japan, he had done one thing that very few bassists had done with his instrument.....he had found his own voice, that fretless, honking offbeat, somewhat Eastern sound that he made his own. Pop on any other artist's recording he played on, and you'll see that they hired him to be him, not anyone else. Plus he played a bunch of other instruments, conventional such as saxophone and keyboards, and less conventional ones such as oboe and the Chinese dida, a nasally reed instrument.
4) Geddy Lee. Singer and bassist with the legendary Rush, he also multitasks between bass, vocals and keyboards, sometimes playing or playing and singing two different rhythms at once. Having the ability to play odd rhythms and to remember complex arrangements is one of his greatest assets, not to mention his, Alex Lifeson's and Neil Peart's collective sense of humour.
(Besides, if you get the chance to play with Geddy....wouldn't it be great to close your eyes and imagine you're Neil Peart for a day? LOL.)
5) Mark King. Level 42's bassist. Hmm, I think I've got a singing bassist's fetish at the moment, lol.....have to hand it to them. Or in Mark King's case, thumb. Apparently this guy got so into thumb-slapping that he's worn a bit of the side of his thumb, apparently. Mark and Level 42 were pretty much at the forefront of the Brit-Funk movement of the 80's, later spawning groups like Incognito and Jamiroquai etc. A drummer himself when he started on the Isle Of Wight, Mark then picked up the bass with the precision and groove that drumming gave him, becoming like Larry Graham, one of his heroes....only more like the Larry Graham of the UK on steroids. And the drummers who have played with him in the past, Phil Gould, then later Gary Husband, were no slouches behind the kit either. The current guy, Pete Ray Biggin is a groove monster too. You should check him out.
The guys I really enjoy listening to are the ones I would love to play with. I doubt I could hang with any of these guys sadly. My current list of favorites includes:
John Patattucci - probably the best fushion style player ever. Him along with Weckl and Chick Corea is a legendary trio
Vic Wooten - if you haven't seen him play, check out the mass of youtube vids. Incredible.
Bakithi Kumalo - This is the guy that played on Paul Simon's "Graceland" album (I admit I had to look up his name). The African bass feel on that album is pure gold. Amazing player that I wish I knew more about.
Victor Wooten no else comes close
Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse
Ryan Martinie of Mudvayne
That's pretty much all you need.
I have a few that a like, in no particular order:
1. Flea
2. Duff McKagan
3. David Ellefson
4. "Lemmy" Kilmister
5. Robert Trujillo
Les Claypool
Mike Watt
Robert Trujillo
"Dixie" Dave Collins
Brad Houser
i see him with denis chamberQuote:
Originally Posted by tlabrie
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbsZs4xtYVM"]YouTube - Dennis Chambers and Victor Wooten Montreal Drum Fest 2009 part1[/ame]
Sweet! The duo he did with Steve Smith at the Drummer's Collective concert a few years ago is insane and completely improvised. Check out the DVD.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riouel
Flea
Steve Harris
Billy Sheehan
Stu Hamm
Cliff Burton
1 Paul McCartney
2 flea
3 the bass player from Earth,wind and fire (dont know his name)
4 the old sting
5 Nigel Harrison
I like this question. I went a little over but here are my picks for various reasons.
1. Victor Wooten! (Bela Fleck)-Amazing
2. George Porter Jr (The Meters). -Funky
3. Pino Palladino (John Mayer Trio)-Smooth
4. Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix)-Overshadowed by the best guitarist and one of the best drummers ever but he is still amazing.
5. Stefan Lessard (DMB)- Jam
6. Nathan East (Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Fourplay)-Solid
Robert Trujillo. He's funky and he can also play heavier stuff (he's currently in Metallica)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3FGSIzQLr4"]YouTube - Infectious Grooves - Lock It in the Pocket (high quality)[/ame]
Les Claypool (technical ability)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4OhIU-PmB8"]YouTube - Primus - Tommy The Cat[/ame]
D!ck Lovgren (polyrhythms, and his crazy tone that's kinda synonymous with Meshuggah lol)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A_tSyJBsRQ"]YouTube - MESHUGGAH - New Millenium Cyanide Christ[/ame]
Martin Mendez (his basslines in Opeth are smooth, also his tone rocks)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQuamQc9OjY"]YouTube - Opeth - Ending Credits live Shepherd`s Bush Empire 2003 HD[/ame]
John Campbell (Groovy and heavy)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krmcfOryzZY"]YouTube - Lamb of God - Laid to Rest (Bass Track)[/ame]
1. Pino Paladino (Groovemaster, just like Steve)
2. Flea (ENERGY)
3. Geddy Lee (He surprised me when I saw Rush last Summer.)
Flea's energy...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N1XbKHNH7Y"]YouTube - Red Hot Chili Peppers Tell Me Baby Official Music Video[/ame]
Pino's grooving...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgFFNXahcg"]YouTube - Pino Paladino playing bass.[/ame]
Nice choices! And yes, I've played that Graceland album to death.....amazing bassist!Quote:
Originally Posted by ShaneRoney
I'm surprised nobody mentioned
Justin Chancellor (Tool, Ex-Peach)
That is all for me. Grooves, chords, good use of effects, timing, ability to play odd time signatures. It's all there and I'm down.
Depends on what style I was playing that night, but I like (no particular order):
Victor Wooten
Flea
Doug Wimbish
Stefan Lessard
Geddy Lee
...maybe even Billy Gould (Faith No More)
John Entwistle - One of the first people who made me want to play.
Pino Paladino - Seems to always know what to play in any situation.
David Friesen - Had to pick at least one jazzer, and I love his music.
Paul McCartney - How could you lose with his pop sensibilities?
Rockette Morton - I make no apologies for being a Beefheart freak!
John Paul Jones
Nikki Sixx
xweasel - killer list, I think I want to change my list to yours now!Quote:
Originally Posted by xweasel
Plus one more: Dug Pinnick from King's X! This dude is an unbelievably solid, positive, consistent, just plain great player. He's like 62 now and I don't think the guy will stop until they dump dirt over his casket. If you've never seen these guys live you owe it to yourself to do so, they have got to be the most underrated band on the planet.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a282ar709NE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a282ar709NE[/ame]
Oh yeah, and last but not least...Quote:
Originally Posted by bennice
Tony Levin
Here's another top 5 of mine:
1) Colin Moulding from XTC. Kinda think of a slightly more out-there Paul McCartney, because apart from just being so solid with his time (you could put any drummer that XTC had in their various line-ups together with him and it still worked well)....Colin also wrote quite a number of XTC tunes, and sang them as well. Just all-in-all a damn fine musician.
2) Les Claypool from Primus. Quirky, funky, and never tries to be a pop artist. And likes to write tunes about fishing. Delivered in that unique voice of his. If I had Les as my bassist, not only would it be fun musically....dammit, I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face either. I'd say he'd be a pretty smart guy too.
3) Tony Levin from King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, sessions, etc. Aha. Pretty much the guy who introduced the 10 and 12 string Stick bass to popular music (and with other more eclectic artists). To give you an idea of what it looks like, here's a couple of pictures:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2.../JohnMyung.jpghttp://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/...0012052771.jpg
Tony pretty much gave a bit of an edge to Peter Gabriel's music by playing Stick, conventional electric bass, as well as stand up double bass. Tony's musical background was actually in classical music, which is what would make him such a fantastic musician to work with. This is a guy who was also Luciano Pavarotti's musical director for quite a number of years.....yep, he is that good a reader, which is why he can work damn fast in a studio. I won't even try to list the amount of drummers he has worked with, way too many to list!
4) Trey Gunn from King Crimson, solo artist. Another great proponent of the Stick bass and related instruments such as the Warr Guitar, Trey was the guy who followed Tony Levin into King Crimson, one of those progressive outfits where odd meters, counterpoint rhythms and alternate tunings are pretty much their thing. Mind you, Trey isn't just a casual sideman, you'd have to have been an exceptional music student of Robert Fripp's in order to have him pluck you out of a class of Crafty Guitarists and have you work on a number of projects and collaborations. Trey has done a number of solo albums too which are fairly left-of-centre, almost Middle Eastern sounding, but that's the thing, he has taken what other Stick bassists like Tony Levin had done before him and furthered it.
5) Patrick O'Hearn from Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, etc. A bit overlooked nowadays, but his work together with drummers like Terry Bozzio in their Zappa days and after both left to form Missing Persons is definitely something to listen to. Patrick's great with both fretted and fretless electric bass, the story about how Zappa got him into band was that Bozzio introduced his friend to Zappa in the studio, O 'Hearn had an acoustic stand up bass with him, Zappa turns to him and said "Do you play that there big dog?" O'Hearn played him some walking bass lines with bend notes.....next thing you know, him, Bozzio and Zappa are rolling tape and recording. Then years later he was going more in the New Wave and Pop direction with Missing Persons, playing much more conventionally. Nowadays he's been doing the odd New Age album or two, so yet again, he turned to a different way of playing. So yeah, definitely a versatile player.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peach_tx
Kudos for mentioning Dug Pinnick, you are right, King's X are just so under-rated! They still have Jerry Gaskill playing drums with them, right?