Giants of Bass

[dnburgess]

I just got an interesting book called, Giants of Bass by Stuart Clayton (ISBN 1-94492-075-5). The author looks at 20 bassist who have, in his view, made a difference to the way people either regard the instrument or play it.
 
For each player there is a one page bio, recommended listening, gear breakdown, advice on emulating the sound, performance notes on the style, and a piece of music (bass clef + bass tab) in the style of the artist. The book comes with 2 cds containing somewhat cheesy recordings of the songs, with and without the bass track.
 
I was fascinated by the amount of detail in the gear breakdown and made a table of bass makers and players from the data in the book.
 
No surprises that Fender was the most played maker with 15 out of 20.
 
Next was Alembic with 6 out of 20!!!
 
The only other makers with more than 2 players were Warwick (5) and Musicman (3).
 
The Alembic result was particularly impressive, considering that of the top four makers it is the only one that doesn't do endorsements.
 
As a matter of interest the mean number of makers played by each player was 2.5
 
And who were the Alembicians on the list?  
 
Cliff Burton ('tallica), SC, JE, Flea, MK, JPJ
 
The overall selection was fairly diverse, including Tim Commerford (Rage), Dirk Lance (Incubus) and Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai) as well as all the usual suspects.
 
David B.  
 

[bracheen]

Only three Musicman?  For some reason that surprises me.  Were all of the Alembics basses or did preamps figure into the total?  It sounds like an interesting book from a gear perspective.  I'd be curious to see the various amp/cabinet/effects combinations of these guys.
Thanks.
 
Sam

[dnburgess]

Sam, the above stat.s are basses only. The author has tried to list the instruments most closely associated with the artists through recording or live performance. The background information suggests he's done a fair bit of research.
 
I'll post the rig information shortly.
 
BTW, the Musicman players in the book are Flea, Tim Commerford and Pino Palladino.
 
David B.

[dnburgess]

As expected, amplification is far more diverse, with no manufacturer having an equivalent position to Fender in basses. 31 manufacturers are listed.  
 
The leader was Ampeg (5 players) - no surprise, followed closely by Trace Elliot (4), then Acoustic, Ashdown, Mesa (3 each). Alembic had 2 users along with Eden, Fender, Gallien Krueger, Hartke, Marshall, Sunn and SWR.
 
David B.

[rami]

Doesn't Flea play Modulus Basses these days?  As well, I've only seen Tim Commerford with Fender Jazz Basses.
 
Rami

[malthumb]

I'm surprised either Larry Graham or Louis Johnson weren't in the list.  Larry is pretty much credited with starting slap bass and Louis has been credited with taking it to a new level.
 
Louis would've added one to both the Alembic and the Music Man count.
 
Peace,
 
James

[dnburgess]

Rami, the book covers the artists' entire careers - so Flea is down for Alembic, Modulus, Musicman and Wal. Commerford has entries for Musicman (first RATM album) and Fender.
 
James, Larry Graham is in for Fender and Moon.
 
For the sake of completeness here is the full player list:
 
Jack Bruce, Cliff Burton, Stanley Clarke, Bootsy Collins, Tim Commerford, Duck Dunn,   John Entwistle, Flea, Larry Graham, Stu Hamm, James Jamerson, John Paul Jones, Mark King,Durk Lance, Paul McCartney, Pino Palladino, Jaco Pastorius, Billy Sheehan, Sting, Stuart Zender
 
David B.

[lbpesq]

Maybe I'm just a deadhead guitar player, but shouldn't Phil Lesh be on that list?  (By the way, I saw his new band last Saturday at the Warfield in S.F. - lots o fun!)
 
Bill, tgo

[bracheen]

If 100 different people wrote a book like this there would be 100 different lists. Of course Jack Bruce would be on all of them.  It sounds like a fun book to look through.
 
Sam

[palembic]

Jack Bruce would be in MY book!!! He highly influenced my playing.  
Beware ...I NEVER be THAT good.  
Although ...let me show off a bit and tell a story that happened just 2 weeks ago.  
On the DRIVE rehearsal one of the guitarplayers didn't show up ...sick.  
So the other guitarplayer, the drummer, our lovely ladysinger and me were trying some other sounds and versions of songs we already play. The drummer recorded -very primitively- the songs and I was really into Tweak Peaks. A given moment I had a sound I really liked so had the guitarplayer and we started for a Crossroads version, Tearing us apart, Undercover agent for the Blues ...and some other things. When braking up after rehearsal the drummer rewinded the tape and ...we all were stunned by the HUGE sound of what we did. The guitarplayer and I said just ONE word exactly at the same time: Cream.  
Friends ...for just one (1) hour I WAS Jack Bruce. Well ...at least I sounded like him. It is !*&%)! AMAZING what one can do with a SF-2 ...yeah ...AND with that Series sound too of course.  
 
I know-i know Completely off topic ...I will never be a GIANT OF BASS ...but ...that moment ...I was an eeny-teeny-weeny giant ...just a bit.  
 
Paul the bad one  
 
(Message edited by palembic on December 27, 2004)

[rami]

I always loved Jack Bruce.  He and JPJ were my biggest early influences...  Then I discovered Jaco. I first associated the Fender Jazz Bass with JPJ long before I started listening to Jaco.
It really is a timeless Bass that I just can't say anything bad about.
 
Rami

[dannobasso]

I am told that Flea records with Alembics. Since Alembic does not do endorsements, he went where the support was.  
I'm shopping amp endorsements in 05. Any suggestions?
Danno

[palembic]

Glockenklang???
However ...I dunno if there your style. I mean NO OFFENCE but you seem a dark player and Glockenklang is so ...well ...'jolly ...like EBS.
Though I find Glockenklang very complete in line and very neutral in sound.
I dunno if they do endorsements.
EBS does ...definitely.
 
Paul the bad one

[bracheen]

Jack Bruce, for good or bad, was the number one reason that I took up the bass. From the time I first heard Cream about 1968 he has been the benchmark for bass playing in my mind.

[dgcarbu]

malthumb,
 
This one is for Louis Thunderthumbs Johnson.  Note the Omega bottom.