Paul McCartney:
Influence 9/10
Innovation 13/15
Creativity 13/15
Versatility 11/15
Tech skill 11/15

Geddy Lee:

Influence 7/10
Innovation 12/15
Creativity 13/15
Versatility 12/15
Tech skill 13/15

It looks like a tie...opinions about the scores?

Possibly McCartney should be a little higher in innovation because compared to his peers in Rock he was, IMO, more than one point more innovative than Lee compared to his peers.

Ok! so Macca is winning this; what do u think about an eventual Jamerson score by these criterias?

John Entwistle:

Influence 9/10
Innovation 15/15
Creativity 15/15
Versatility 13/15
Tech skill 12/15

I don't know enough about a lot of these guys to redo the list. I could do it, or me and tbcass, or me and tbcass and beaverteeth, with the help of you guys sending songs to us/making song listening recommendations to illuminate some of the guys' versatility, etc. The more people participate the better, by far. That way people can argue for their favorite guys if the list editors/makers don't know enough about those guys and they're threatened with being lowered. And so forth.

Speaking of which...nice to see you 'round here tbcass! I was hoping you'd show up

Geddy is certainly overrated, insofar as a lot of people assume he's the be all end all of rock bass. That's what happens when your band is the most well known 'virtuoso' rock band. Geddy's great but he has nothing on Entwistle, Levin, Macca, Flea, Claypool, etc etc when it comes to talent/creativity. He's still the man though.



Lee is a 12 in creativity, and not higher than 10 in innovation as far as I know. What exactly did Lee innovate, other than creating a new bass tone and POSSIBLY being the first 'prog metal' bassist?

Macca is a 14 in creativity. And like a 12-13 in versatility. 10 in tech.

Your scores are pretty much on the mark for Macca. Don't know quite enough about Lee to judge, beyond what I've written (though I suspect 12 might be a bit high in versatility). I think Macca takes it.



Entwistle...
Influence 10/10
Innovation 14/15 or 15/15
Creativity 13/15
Versatility 10/15 or 11/15? (unsure)
Tech skill 12/15

Your scores were pretty good.

Jamerson...
Influence 10/10
Innovation 15/15
Creativity 14/15
Versatility 13/15
Tech skill 10/15

Why do you think Entwistle's creativity is 13/15 and not 15/15? Are people like Squire or Macca really more creative than him?
Anyway I gave him 9/10 on influence cause I think Jamerson is just a little more influential but it's very close...
So by your scoring we have actually something looking like this:

Jamerson:62
Entwistle:61
McCartney:58
Lee:54 (I'm not sure about his versatility)
JPJ:53

Let's try with Bruce and Squire:

Jack Bruce:
Influence 9/10
Innovation 13/15
Creativity 14/15
Versatility 12/15
Tech skill 11/15

Chris Squire:
Influence 7/10
Innovation 11/15
Creativity 14/15
Versatility 11/15
Tech skill 12/15

What about Graham?

Why are you guys ranking stuff out of 15? It seems a little much. I understand the need for things like tie-breakers but goddamn.

Woah there pal, that was a bit harsh.

Yeah Squire and Macca take Entwistle. Entwistle's near-genius or genius, nonetheless. 13 is where we get into genius territory when it comes to the creativity criterion.

Ent and Jamerson both deserve 10/10 on influence. They're the only two who do.

Yeah that looks about right. I stress again though, I don't know quite enough about this stuff to trust my own scores fully. I need other people to fill in the blanks with bassists I don't know as much material by, for instance (Lee, etc. I really don't know enough of The Who's career quite yet to know what the Ox's versatility score would be. I will say even if Ox took Jamerson in scores Jamerson still is a #1 lock, scores aren't everything.).



You tend to come up with pretty good scores :-) Are you a bassist?

Mine:
Bruce:
Influence 9/10
Innovation 13/15
Creativity 12/15
Versatility 14/15
Tech 11/15

...59.

Squire:
Influence 8/10
Innovation 13/15
Creativity 15/15
Versatility 13/15
Tech 12/15

...61.

Didn't I already do Graham?

Graham:
Influence 9/10
Innovation 15/15
Creativity 12/15
Versatility 13/15
Tech 13/15

...62.

Incidentally this is why strictly following scores leads to crappy lists. If we were to strictly follow the scores Graham would jump Entwistle which would be retarded or Ent might jump Jamerson (not good IMO). Etc etc. The scores are a guideline as Bassfreak used to say

Well..yes, I like to play bass but it's just an hobby and by the way it's my favourite instrument
By my scoring I see Bruce taking Squire, I don't see Squire so high about versatility and innovation and I think Bruce is damn creative, he deserves more on creativity;I'm also not sure about Graham versatility...maybe a 12 would fit better for him imo.
Anyway which criterias would you consider for this list instead of scores?

Versatility is probably Entwistle's weakest point. He played one style of music with one band with occasional excursions on his own playing very similar material. McCartney and Jamerson played a much wider range of material.

Jamerson would definitely be #1 in influence while McCartney could very well be #2.

I think versatility is not just the variety of musical genres but also the role of the bass into the band sound if i recall correctly.

That's from the old forum:
Versatility: Versatility refers to not only versatility of musical genres, but also versatility in musical roles. Just like a guitarist is more highly regarded if he or she can perform well as a rhythm or lead player, it's the same with bassists. Bassists are the glue that holds the band together, and if the bassist can't fit in wherever the band, as a unit, needs them, they are not being very much of an asset to the band. Also included in this is instrumental versatility. This means playing a stringed instrument, besides bass guitar, in the role of a bass.

I'm not sure what all that means. Versatility in musical roles? Maybe the ability to play solos? Bassist can't fit in wherever the band needs them? That would be a basic function of any bassist. For instance to play melodic harmony where needed or lay down a simple groove where needed. All great bassists should be able to do that. That leaves, as far as I'm concerned, the ability to play well a wide variety of types of music within a genre as well as more than one genre as the most important indication of versatility.