Favorite bass player/s?

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

Sara Lee
Tina Weymouth
Meshell Ndegeocello

John McVie, man.

Jah Wobble
Geezer Butler
Bundy Brown
Boris Gardiner

Is it safe to say that Bernard Edwards is responsible for creating the most influential and memorable bassline of all time?

In any case, him, obv.

maybe

No.

Mike Oldfield on those early Kevin Ayers records.
McCartney up until the early eighties.
Herbie Flowers
Dave Richmond for his work on Melody Nelson.

I can't think of a more famous/immediately recognizable bassline myself but granted I'm not trying too hard

xps

Most-sampled or most-imitated is probably not the same as most famous / immediately recognizable.

Like, I think loads of people would recognize the bass parts of "Money" or "The Joker" pretty quickly - which is not to say those are good. Just recognizable. Ditto "Day Tripper" and "Come Together."

Or Under Pressure, or Billie Jean ... But sure, Good Times (if that's the one you mean) is pretty recognizable if only because of "Rapper's Delight."

...and "Another One Bites The Dust"!

i gave a customary dad-car-lecture to my 15 y/o on that bassline with forced listens across iterations, and the conclusion was unanimous: it’s awesome.

We should have a list of least awesome baselines. Like "Runnin' with the Devil."

I actually just walked into the kitchen to find my kid, and I told him about this argument over what the most memorable baseline is and his immediate response was “it’s got to be _another one bites the dust_.”

😰 *looks over to Usage Panel*

Hell, the bassline to Barney Miller is about as recognisable as Good Times.

As much as I like his music I can't agree with Mike Oldfield as a 'good' bass player while he was in The Whole World, technically yeah but he overplays all the time, like a guitarist who is slumming it, mind you he wrote some wicked bass parts for his solo stuff.

We should have a list of least awesome baselines. Like "Runnin' with the Devil."

― Josh in Chicago

roger waters to thread

Greg Norton too, I know Dü are sacred cows but he was a bad bass player.

A few years ago in work, chatting with my team about music and someone mentioned The Who. A guy in my team, not a big music fan and not really part of the conversation says "My uncle is in The Who". "Yeah sure" was the general response, we asked him his uncle's name: "Pino". I hadn't heard of him and had to Google him.

Pino is fantastic

it's funny, Norton is really great now, he had this mathy jazz group with a NY jazz guy and his new power pop thing is really tight

He stopped jumping around as much I think :)

i remember seeing the Replacements reunion and Tommy and Paul were so pro and I realized oh yeah these guys have like 30 years more practice

some favorites i haven’t seen mentioned:

johnny dyani
cecil mcbee
willie dixon
andrew bodnar
jimmy blanton
chuck rainey

pino did some great work with d'angelo too

CHRIS SQUIRE

yes!

Tony Levin

i was thinking of levin as the only often fretless guy i was aware of, then looked and heard about chapman stick and decided i should stay in my lane which is like pit row.