100 Greatest Rock Bass Guitarists

StuBass · **Joined:** Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:06 pm **Posts:** 794

Some of those guys you mentioned are relatively high in influence....some perhaps not so much. A few others from other genres...true, some fusion and not solid rock...tough to rank for this list...(Marcus Miller as perhaps the most obvious). I also look at Ready Freddie who is influencing an entire generation of younger bassists on the L.A. scene, plus those who have gotten turned onto him through his Steely Dan live performances (end of Ready Freddie rant). Of those you mentioned, I'd rank Watt, Levin, Hamm, Burton (which includes Claypool), Choy, and Harris ehh, influential (of those I'm real familiar with)...and the rest of the chorus will chime in and throw Flea into that mix...even at the top in the opinion of some.

Will Lee is another one of those guys with strong rock credentials, but also a huge rep in other genres and situations. Skill and creativity to the max though.

Phil Chen is rock personified...right from THE era. His work with Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck especially was as solid as a rock. He is a Jamerson devotee, and mixed Jamersons style with British rock, and while many of the Brits did that to some extent...Chen was a bit more dedicated than most to the integrity of that Jamerson philosophy on bass.
So I'd say that Lee and Chen could hover in the 30's somewhere. MFSB's Ronnie Baker a possible upward move???

Ssoyd · **Joined:** Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:06 pm **Posts:** 373

StuBass wrote:

Will Lee is another one of those guys with strong rock credentials, but also a huge rep in other genres and situations. Skill and creativity to the max though.

Lee is one of those anonymous players who is everywhere. Every time I hear him on Letterman, backing up R&R HOF inductees or anything else it amazes me the way he can play any style of music to perfection. He's right there with Pino.

SanTropez · **Posted:** Tue May 15, 2012 7:53 am

StuBass wrote:

You're one of the very few (if any) Dead fans who refuses to acknowledge the correlation between acid (LSD in particular) and the formation, cultural significance, and musical importance to The Dead and psychedelia in general and gets insulted by that fact. Read any biography of the band and it's quite obvious. It's like a Bob Marley fan being insulted by mentioning that Marley liked to smoke weed.

I've never stated otherwise.

Quote:

As for sharing audio cuts ad nausium for the purpose of compiling this list...there are other threads to celebrate and share all the music samples one wishes to share and enjoy. Our mission here is to finish reconstructing the list of the 100 Greatest Bass Guitarists in Rock. One or two examples of someones performance should justify someones placement, along with history, impact, etc. If you want to start a Phil Lesh thread and post all the Lesh basslines you wish, by all means have at it. Doing that on this thread will accomplish nothing but delaying our mission of completing this list this millenium. This is not a list devoted to any specific player, band, or sub-genre, but a way to consider the top 100 players out of hundreds of potential candidates...particularly once we get out of the top 10. Otherwise, this list will NEVER be completed. Several of us have already spent months working on this list and we appear to be getting hung up on two slots. It's time for our well qualified moderator to get this thing moving along.

Ad nausium? I posted two clips.

StuBass · **Joined:** Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:06 pm **Posts:** 794

Ssoyd wrote:

StuBass wrote:

Will Lee is another one of those guys with strong rock credentials, but also a huge rep in other genres and situations. Skill and creativity to the max though.

Lee is one of those anonymous players who is everywhere. Every time I hear him on Letterman, backing up R&R HOF inductees or anything else it amazes me the way he can play any style of music to perfection. He's right there with Pino.

Pretty much true on all counts IMO. I somehow got on Wills e-mail list though and I'd say the overwhelming majority of his N.Y. area gigs are with Jazz and fusion guys.

Ssoyd · **Joined:** Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:06 pm **Posts:** 373

StuBass wrote:

Pretty much true on all counts IMO. I somehow got on Wills e-mail list though and I'd say the overwhelming majority of his N.Y. area gigs are with Jazz and fusion guys.

I believe that. Rock is obviously no challenge for him. He often plays the Local Syracuse Jazz Fest with a Fusion band.

Ariel · **Joined:** Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:19 am **Posts:** 1392

Going to be out of town for a couple days...hope I see some new posts when I get back! Take care y'all...might be able to get a post or two in while I'm gone via hotel internet, but no guarantees...cheers and sorry for the interruption in service

Negative Creep · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:21 pm **Posts:** 11672

That's alright, you can just make me or Stu the new mod. :razz:

Ariel · **Joined:** Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:19 am **Posts:** 1392

ahaha you wish

StuBass · **Joined:** Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:06 pm **Posts:** 794

Negative Creep wrote:

That's alright, you can just make me or Stu the new mod. :razz:

All that hard work going right down the drain :durr:

StuBass · **Joined:** Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:06 pm **Posts:** 794

Ssoyd wrote:

StuBass wrote:

Pretty much true on all counts IMO. I somehow got on Wills e-mail list though and I'd say the overwhelming majority of his N.Y. area gigs are with Jazz and fusion guys.

I believe that. Rock is obviously no challenge for him. He often plays the Local Syracuse Jazz Fest with a Fusion band.

Just got an e-mail from Will announcing some shows with his Beatles tribute band, The Fab Faux in the New York area. I think they're also hitting the road for some shows.

Negative Creep · **Joined:** Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:21 pm **Posts:** 11672

Absolutely one of the best damn motherfucking songs ever written. Mere words cannot explain my love for this piece of music. It just instantly puts a smile on my face.
Killer acoustic bass too.

Ariel · **Joined:** Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:19 am **Posts:** 1392

Back. Presumably will do some postin tomorrow

StuBass · **Joined:** Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:06 pm **Posts:** 794

I just got an update on Babbitt and the news isn't good. His doctors say he may be in his final days. I hope they're wrong. Hang in there buddy.

Ariel · **Joined:** Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:19 am **Posts:** 1392

Oh my God. God bless him.

Ariel · **Joined:** Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:19 am **Posts:** 1392

Negative Creep wrote:

I really don't think Lesh takes Casady in creativity. Imo, its not even close.
Lesh has an awesome jazzy improv style that fits great with the Dead's music, but he doesn't really step out of his comfort zone too often.
That live Casady solo I posted is monstrous, far more daring and imaginative than anything I've heard from Phil.
Casady is clearly more skilled as well, and I really think he should be above Lesh, even though they should obviously be listed right next to each other.

Saying 'it's not even close' makes me question whether you're biased, no offense. But hey, I'll listen to 'Spare Chaynge' soon, and can you repost that 'monstrous' solo so I don't have to go searching thru the thread?

I'm not sure Casady is at all more skilled.

Negative Creep wrote:

Well I do know that Queen flirted with just about every stylistic element you could think of:

Metal (Gimme The Prize, Dead On Time, Let Me Entertain You, etc.)
R&B (Cool Cat, One Year Of Love)
Jazz (My Melancholy Blues)
Pop (Delilah)
Vaudeville (Lazing On A Suday Afternoon)
Middle Eastern melodies (Mustapha)
Long epics (The Prophet's Song, Bo Rhap)
Short anthems (We Will Rock You/WatC)

Plus other weird things that I can't even categorize like "March Of The Black Queen" and "Seaside Rendezvous".

Now, I'm not sure how much Deacon changed his style around to fit all of those, but it's definitely worth looking into.
Queen were absolutely fearless when it comes to experimenting with different styles and sounds. They might even surpass the Beatles in this area, imo...

Deaky does seem rather versatile to me, for a rock bassist.

You think Queen > Zep in terms of experimentation/versatility?

As I've mentioned the Deacon spot is semi tentative. I don't own any Queen albums yet, just have heard the hits a good deal. When I get to know Deaky better, I may re-assess his spot (I'll have to buy Queen soon...next time I go record shopping maybe...which is like a couple months out I'd presume)

D.J. wrote:

Great post Ariel, thanks.

D.J. wrote:

Nice info about Burton, I'm not also a big fan of distorted bass but I can't deny Burton's greatness in the rock bass world, I was just sceptical with his so high ranking in an ALL TIME greatest rock bass players list; top 20 for such a short career seems a bit exaggerated to me, I think a spot in the 30-40 field would be more fair and comfortable to him.

PS. There's no Burton in the bassist of the millenium list...I mean this list:
http://www.johnentwistle.com/images/bass2kscans.html

Whoa, I suck haha.

Read up on a fellow named Scott LaFaro. I reckon Cliff is the LaFaro of metal.

On another note: dear readers, please take a look at that bassists of the millennium list I just quoted. Anyone on there we should consider for this list? Noel? Novoselic? Sting? Who's Mani? Who's Nicky Wire? Who's Paul McGuigan? Is Kim Gordon any good? Who's Danny Thompson? Is Mike Mills top 100-worthy? Jet Harris is one we should have thought of earlier, he has to be considered a lock for this list, right? Who's Alex James?

100 Greatest Rock Bass Guitarists

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