Best Bass Player of All Time

[David Houck]

John F.; after you posted Wyman, I ran a search.  Since I knew Richards and Mick Taylor played a lot of the Stones' bass lines in the studio, I wanted to check to see if Wyman even played on Miss You.  While I did find that Jagger and Preston co-wrote the song before a gig, I didn't find a reference to anyone but Wyman playing the bass line on the recording.  Personally, I never liked the song; it felt to much like disco to me, and I was not a fan of disco.
 
 
[edit]  Ok, I've run another search.  Here's a quote from Wyman that I found here:
 
The idea for those (bass) lines came from Billy Preston, actually. We'd cut a rough demo a year or so earlier after a recording session. I'd already gone home, and Billy picked up my old bass when they started running through that song. He started doing that bit because it seemed to be the style of his left hand. So when we finally came to do the tune, the boys said, Why don't you work around Billy's idea? So I listened to it once and heard that basic run and took it from there. It took some changing and polishing, but the basic idea was Billy's.
 
(Message edited by davehouck on December 09, 2007)

[811952]

Dave, that info came from either an interview with Wyman in Guitar Player or with Billy Preston in Keyboard back in the late '70's.  I'm thinking it was the Wyman interview, where Bill pretty much told a story of a guy who couldn't play bass but was the bass player in perhaps the most successful rock band of all-time.  He also said that Charlie Watts dropped beats rather often.  
 
Disco was but one National Tragedy of our lifetime.  
 
John

[lbpesq]

Best of all time?  Impossible to answer.  There are many greats, many of whom have already been mentioned above.  One who hasn't, and who I was lucky enought to see in the mid 70's:  Ray Brown.
 
Bill, tgo

[aquaman]

Hang on.  Am I correct in understanding that Bill Wyman didn't play on all of the recorded Stones tracks because he wasn't good enough? If true, was it because of band politics?  Hard to believe that Wyman wasn't a full-fledged contributing member of the Stones as a BASS PLAYER!

[keith_h]

Well after Ronnie Woods joined it was reported he played a number of the bass lines on their recordings. I'm guessing there was more than one reason for this.  
 
Keith

[white_cloud]

Les Claypool is very good...but Primus suck!

[darkstar01]

Primus definitely doesn't suck. I kind of thought this board was past the point of saying any band with some kind of creativity 'sucks'. guess not.

[spose]

FYI-
Claypool started the Primus Sucks thing...sort of the anti-rock star thing I guess. If you're in the know, it's a band/fan thing.
I think white cloud is showing he is a true fan

[spose]

oh yeah..
Gorge Porter Jr...MULE! HELL YEAH!!
 
one of my favorite living bands.
 
woody was no slouch as well.

[811952]

Dave,
 
If somebody has the old GP interview, I specifically remember that he said he did not play it in the studio.  I was apalled, though it did completely reinforce my disdain for the Rolling Stones.  My memory isn't what it once was, and that was, what, almost 30 years ago, but I'm fairly certain that's what he said about it at the time..  
 
I'll see if I can find the article online somewhere, if for no other reason than to verify whether my mind is going south as fast as I'm afraid it might be!  
 
What were we talking about?  
 
John
 
edited to add: that it looks like Wyman was the cover story in the December 1978 issue.  There, I'm old.  
 
(Message edited by 811952 on December 09, 2007)

[811952]

Mike Rutherford did some excellent stuff with Genesis, although I wouldn't consider him a groove player.
 
Chris Squire builds bass lines that are truly integral to the composition.  His note choices engage me like none other.
 
Geddy Lee's more recent stuff is neat to me because he's just playing way more than anyone else could ever get away with in a rock band.  I love the dissonant chords in the lower range of the instrument!
 
Lee Sklar has always been a favorite, for reasons that are probably obvious to everybody here.  Just a good, solid yet creative player with a huge and very listenable body of work.  My friend J.T. tells me that he's also just as nice a guy as you'd hope he would be.
 
Peter Cetera.  His line on Dialogue pt. I is nothing short of perfection.  God, I wish I could build tension like that!
 
Mel Schacher (sp?) of Grand Funk had marvelous tone and solid lines that drove the songs..
 
Tyran Porter was another reason I always wanted a Thunderbird bass, after seeing/hearing the Doobs on The Midnight Special..  (Chris Squire playing one sealed the deal for me)
 
Greg Lake, McCartney, JPJ, JE, David Hood, John Wetton, Flax..  Where to end?
 
John

[bassman68]

Whilst i would never entertain the thought of 'a best bass player' per se, I can think of several bass players who inspired me.
The strange thing for me,Learning my trade in the early 80's were the number of players who, altho i did not realise at the time, were indebted to other greats...
I remember the first time i heard Pino Palladino on fretless bass,Then i heard Jaco a few years later..
I thought Mark King was a 'slap god', then i heard Stanley Clarke.
Then in the space of just a couple of years i saught out as many of the older greats as i could see live in the uk..Entwistle, Jack Bruce, Macartney, Wyman.
Then there are the more modern players that have come through..Flea, Stu Hamm, Les Claypool & guys like Marcus Miller who have perfected the 'session side man' tag who go about their business almost anonimously to the great record buying public occasionally making a solo appearence at obscure Jazz festivals.
All these guys have moved & inspired me personally, it just seems a shame very few new names get a chance of public recognition in this bland computer pop world we live in at the moment.
 
Steve

[white_cloud]

Thankyou spose for catching the irony in my Primus sucks statement!
 
Les actually takes that statment as a compliment...so there!
 
For the record I love Primus and Les Claypool!

[bigbadbill]

Different horses for different courses. Lots of guys I admire at one thing would stink at something else.
 
Couldn't agree more. I'm sure Jaco would suck in Motorhead just as bad as Lemmy in Weather Report. Put either of them in Abba and I'm taking my ball home.  
 
For the record, a list of bassists I love in their respective context:
 
Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke, Lemmy, John Entwistle, Leigh Leroy Gorman, Mark King, Stuart Zender, John McVie, Jean Jacques Burnel, Geddy Lee, Mike Rutherford, Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, Jah Wobble, Phil Lynott, Gary Thain, John Paul Jones, James Jamerson, Jon Camp, Rutger Gunnarson, Paul McCartney....and probably countless others, but I think those are the main ones.  
 
I also have to completely agree with this statement: Chris Squire builds bass lines that are truly integral to the composition. His note choices engage me like none other.

[ttwatts]

I would have to say Louis Johnson.
 
There is just something about his style that takes me to Bass heaven.
 
TT