Bass Player Influences

[cosmicprune]

I'd be interested in which bassists influenced all of you Alembicians at the various stages in your playing career. In other words, who inspired you to pick up the instrument? Who did you discover later on to take you to a new level, etc.?
 
For my part, I started playing bass in 1982 when I was 15 after deciding lead guitar wasn't for me. I was a metalhead, so my first inspiration was Steve Harris and later on I found Geddy Lee. This meant I was a finger-style player rather than a plectrum flicker. My first band was a covers outfit that did Rolling Stones and Who numbers, so that introduced me to my first Alembic player, not that I knew it then! I'd found Stanley Clarke by the time I went away to college and I met a guy there called Dave Koenig, who got me onto Mark King. I pretty much sucked at slapping back then though and it was the mid 80s, so I picked up a plectrum and belatedly got into some Duran Duran style grooves (is it OK to admit this?). In my second year at college, I blew my grant cheque on a fretless bass and I figured the only way to go for a while was to listen to Jaco Pastorius.
 
The biggest piece of the puzzle was in 1989 when I first heard Flea on the Mother's Milk album. That brought it all together for me and reconciled all my different influences. I'm always looking for new inspiration though, and that's why I've started this thread ...
 
(Message edited by cosmicprune on November 30, 2005)

[marcky]

I started playing bass when I was 15. My first big inspiration was Mark King. But even before that I was always focussed on the basslines I heard in every song. At the same time I discovered Stanley Clarke. These where the two for a long time. I was a heavy slapper when I started it was the only way I could play. Later I got more into Jaco and bassists like Marcus Miller, Alain Caron, Gary Willis and so on. But non bassplayers are just as inspiring. Bands like Gentle Giant, Sade, Mothers Finest, Zawinul, the Meters and more all influenced me.
I always thought John Taylor(duran duran) is a great bassplayer. Also the bassplayer on the early Wham! records is great!! I think it's ok to admit this.
My love for Alembic started in the early days and never passed.
 
Marc
 
(forgive me for my english spelling)

[cosmicprune]

Wham, yeah - Club Tropicana has a great bassline. It's all coming back to me... Lexicon of Love by ABC is another favourite from that era.

[serialnumber12]

1972,i was 11 & began thumping and my influences were jermaine jackson,peter catera , Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, then any bassline from soul & classic rock music from back then,& any bass player that can just play the bass,,,,,,,,i take something from everyboody i get my ears on!.
 
(Message edited by serialnumber12 on November 30, 2005)

[bracheen]

The player who influenced me to start was Jack Bruce.  As I progressed my biggest influence was Jack Bruce.  Currently I listen to a lot of Jack Bruce.
 
I got hooked on Alembic in the early 80s when I tried out a Series 1 in the store having never heard of Alembic before.  It was wonderful.  I had to put it back and get something I could afford.  Fortunately life has been good and I've had my Epic for a couple of years now and love it.
 
Sam

[zn_bassman]

I started playing at 13, gave up, and started again at 17 (I'm 36 now). My main influence is John Entwistle. Others that peek out here and there in my playing are Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Billy Sheehan, and Stanley Clarke.  
 
I also very much appreciate lots of other players, including Jaco, Jeff Berlin, Stu Hamm, Victor Wooten, James Jamerson, Larry Graham, and all the other big names (plus some lesser-knowns as well). I'm probably guilty of stealing licks from them on occasion, but I do my best to Entwistlize almost everything I play - usually based on his Alembic and Buzzard eras.
 
I started with a Vantage bass that looks like a Gibson, borrowed a Musicman fretless for a couple of months, then moved up to a 5-string Washburn, which I traded in for my Epic in 1994. This year, I got my first bass since then - a Rogue. I came to Alembics through Entwistle, and reaffirmed through Stanley and John Paul Jones.

[karl]

oops - double post - sorry!
 
(Message edited by karl on November 30, 2005)

[karl]

Similar starting point as a lot of you guys above - as a kid, I was really into Level 42. Wanting to learn to play some of Mark King's stuff, I bought a book called 'Basslines' by Joe Hubbard, which, along with a few Level 42 tunes, also included transcriptions of basslines by Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius. So I thought I'd better find out who these people were. That was the beginning of the slippery slope. I've loved these guys' music ever since. Other guys who've influenced my playing in some way since then include George Porter (The Meters), Paul Jackson (Headhunters), Bootsy, Armand Sabal-Lecco, Doug Rauch (Santana), Benny Rietveld, Gerald Veasley, Foley, Tony Hall (the Neville Brothers), Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) and Prince. There must be more I've absorbed along the way - I'm like a musical sponge!

[cosmicprune]

That's mad, I've got the exact same book.

[karl]

Yeah, it's a great book - pretty tough going at first if you're just starting out as I was, and a few errors here and there (I'm sure there's a whole bar missing from Teen Town!), but it's a great selection of tunes and proved to be a fantastic gateway to jazz-funk and fusion, which had been pretty impenetrable to me before then.

[dadabass2001]

Hi cosmic...
Many of the same influences here, with the bizarre exception that I never heard Level 42 or Mark (hey.. I'm from Iowa). I actually started back in the sixties in high school, so I have to mention Jack Casady and Phil Lesh from SF (my intro to Alembic), James Jamerson from Motown, Joe Osborn from LA / Capitol, and Lee Sklar from the early James Taylor recordings. Later add Jimmy Johnson and Michael Manring.
Mike

[adriaan]

Too good an opportunity to mention Herman Deinum - now retired? Internationally perhaps best known as a member of Cuby and the Blizzards in the 1960s.
 
In later years he played a P bass most of the time, through a Marshall guitar stack, with a pick. Not hardrock or anything, no: still blues and soul. Quite a virtuoso from time to time. Once you start mimicking his style, with lots and lots of tasteful legato, it can be pretty difficult to get it out of your playing.
 
(Message edited by Adriaan on November 30, 2005)

[marcky]

Herman still plays with Harry Muskee
 
(Message edited by marcky on November 30, 2005)

[gare]

I picked up the guitar in 1964, switched to bass in '67 or so. (can't remember what age that was too long ago)
Mr.McCartney was the culprit that got me started on bass. Shortly after, I discovered James Jamerson and Jack bruce. Then Pete Cetra when the CTA album came out. By 1970 I was into Chris Squire and John Entwhisle. By the mid 70's it was Jaco.
My latest fav player is Bill Kopecky, which I 1st discovered about 2 years.
 
Gary

[David Houck]

Adriaan, I don't know if he's retired.  But this site may address that question.  Unfortunately, I have poor language skills, so I don't know what it says.