Favorite bass player/s?

Tracy Wormworth doesn't get as much recognition as she deserves imho. The basslines for 'Christmas Wrapping' and 'I Know What Boys Like' are amazing for instance.

She's got this lovely percolating feel but it's not too showy, like Norman Watt Roy or a funkier Pete Thomas, total joy to listen to.

Whoops, *Bruce* Thomas

lol, shit, I made the same mistake upthread

Shout out to James Hornsey of the Clientele.

Tracy Wormworth is not on “Boys Like” though; although she’s pictured on the album she doesn’t play on it. My stock answer to this question in Graham Maby from Joe Jackson’s band.

^this! That guy is great! Friend of mine played with him as a trio with Marshall Crenshaw for quite a bit. But yeah Bruce Thomas and Tracy Wormworth but great as well.

OP3:
Tina Weymouth
Jack Casady
Pete Farndon

Weymouth? Really? She’s so stiff they had to hire a second bass player...

Reminds me I shoulda listed Kim Deal tho

Bollocks, Tina Weymouth is great.

Steve Hanley
George Porter Jr
Eric Avery
David Hood
Jerry Scheff

My stock answer to this question in Graham Maby from Joe Jackson’s band.

Did he play on the first couple of albums? If so, he is crazy good! My band is covering 'One More Time' and the bass lines on that are very difficult. They swing, but they're also very intricate.

Glad to see Graham Maby mentioned. That British punk/new wave era threw up a lot of good players; Maby, Colin Moulding, Bruce Thomas, Bruce Foxton, and Paul Simonon are all pretty cool.

Reading about how rudimentary Simonon’s skills were when they started has been pretty eye-opening, sounds like Jones wrote the majority of those basslines

Maby is a master. But some are the best Clash bass lines, especially on Sandinista and Combat Rock, are not Simonon, they're by the Blockheads bassist (who is awesome).

That too

Thats him on two of the best - Magnificent Seven and Rock the Casbah

I’m the Man came up on my social distancing running outside mix - so, yeah, Graham Maby.

Maby is a master. But some are the best Clash bass lines, especially on Sandinista and Combat Rock, are not Simonon, they're by the Blockheads bassist (who is awesome).

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, March 17, 2020 8:18

the players i always think of as faves are dynamic or melodic, and many of the ones listed by everyone here, esp thomas and maby, also entwhistle.

i started the revive at saunders not because it's what i like, but it was that even in a passing listen to that youtube, there was NO missing it, it was so immediately identifiable completely on its own. as one pretty ignorant of bass and musicianship, i feel like i can sometimes say "this sounds like how x would play it," but i don't think i ever have gone "whoa, that MUST be the same guy."

I came across this guy when I was researching fanned fret bass guitars, can't say I know or care from the band/music, but I like fiddly metal players and enjoy his tone and feel, it was kinda interesting to watch the way a lot of the part was very on-grid and others there was more swinging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5qFCT6EZY

Ron Carter
Danny Thompson

Leigh Gorman of Bow Wow Wow is amazing & you don't see his name come up much

I keep imagining a Traveling Wilburys of bass players and how fucking awful/wonderful a song like "Handle With Care" would sound, all-bass.

Thinking --

Kim "Nelson" Gordon
Kim "Charlie" Deal
Mike "Lucky" Watt
Nick "Otis" Oliveri
and
Geddy "Lefty" Lee

Marino Pliakas, who plays fearsome electric bass w/Peter Brötzmann

xpost There was one! Freebass, with Peter Hook, Andy Rourke and Mani. I'm never going to listen to it.

Danny Thompson is one of those incredible players who is on everything, from Fairport and Nick Drake to Talk Talk and The The.

Talking of Fairport Convention, Dave Pegg is pretty good!

I think Will Sergeant of the Bunnymen is a massively overrated guitarist, but Les Pattinson is a massively underrated bassist. I mentioned in some other thread that Flea had a lot of praise for Pattinson in his memoir, and claims he rips him off all the time. (This in a memoir that doesn't even mention Mike Watt, iirc.)

Leslie Langston, Throwing Muses bass player from their inception up through "Hunkpapa." The grooves she and David Narcizo created were otherworldly.

Οὖτις at 6:54 17 Mar 20

Weymouth? Really? She’s so stiff they had to hire a second bass player...

so fucking incredibly tired of men diminishing her skills and contribution to the band

Οὖτις at 7:10 17 Mar 20

Reading about how rudimentary Simonon’s skills were when they started has been pretty eye-opening, sounds like Jones wrote the majority of those basslines

it's hilarious there are pictures of early shows where they painted the noted like C B G etc on his fretboard with Wite Out

also Rick Danko

Weymouth's fine, Tom Tom Club is obviously awesome, I just don't think about the bass parts of most Talking Heads songs, it's not what sticks out to me

Something to be said for innate talent - by all accounts Danko had no idea what he was doing when the Band/Hawks formed, either. Levon made him and Robertson (another neophyte) woodshed like crazy.

I'm not a huge fan of Weymouth, tbh. Or I should say, she's perfect for the band, which is all I ask, just not a favorite bassist of mine. But then, for a favorite band of mine, no one in the Talking Heads is one of my favorite *anything*, ironically. More than the sum of their parts, etc.

I can't stand Tom Tom.

I've come up with my own way of thinking about bass parts that may have nothing to do with reality, but here it is: whereas most bassists accompany the listener on a trip from point a to point b, Tina stays parked on point a and builds really interesting structures.

But then, for a favorite band of mine, no one in the Talking Heads is one of my favorite *anything*, ironically. More than the sum of their parts, etc.

lol yeah *none* of them stand out as great to me, except maybe Byrne as a lyricist.

I just don't think about the bass parts of most Talking Heads songs, it's not what sticks out to me

I beg to differ, her basslines rarely do what you expect them to do - I'm talking about their early material btw, don't have much interest beyond that.

Chris Frantz, on the other hand...

I can't believe only one person in the thread has mentioned Mingus! Obviously his role as a band leader was more prominent than as a bass player, but he was pretty great instrumentalist too. Just listen to "Original Faubus Fables" or "Haitian Fight Song", for example.

Besides him, I guess my top 5 would consist of Meshell Ndegeocello, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Bernard Edwards (of Chic), Janice Johnson (of A Taste of Honey), and Buster Williams.

Mingus is all-time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzGj_-5FGT8

While we're at it, I can't believe Tuomas is the first person in the thread to mention Bernard Edwards.

hell yeah Bernard Edwards and of course Larry Graham

I really like Barnaby Stradling's playing on the 00s Eliza Carthy records

I can't believe only one person in the thread has mentioned Mingus!

i mean, shit, i always feel like anytime we do "best [instrument] players" ever, there's like 50-100 midcentury jazz players that are better than any of the rock ppl

Yeah ums but - "favorite" is not the same as "best."

The best instrumentalists are usually not my favorites

My favorite instrumentalists are not virtuosi

Taste is a mystery and de gustibus etc.

Yeah, I hadn't really been considering jazz bassists, because there are sooooooo many.

But fusion ... there's Percy Jones, I love his work in Brand X and Eno. Oh, and Nathan East is a beast.

But yeah, of course Edwards, and Bootsy, and Graham, and Verdine White.

Nathan East is one of my personal heroes and I bought three Yamaha basses mainly because of him

I'm a big fan of Doug McCombs, *not* for Tortoise (snooze) but for his work in Eleventh Dream Day.

James Hornsey of The Clientele is pretty special - subtle, melodic, pushes the songs forward rhythmically in a very unique way

James fucking Jamerson

wow I never thought about who invented the 5 string