Best bass guitarist

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Nikolai Fraiture of the Strokes has the best basslines I've heard in a long time. I'd put him just above McCartney and just below Jamerson for holding down a pop song and busting out amazing, unexpected bits. Mike Watt has always been tops for me, but you can't really compare him to those guys because he just owns the songs he plays on. He's always in a trio taking up a sizable portion of the overall sound. Same goes for another one of my faves, Brian Ritche of the Violent Femmes.

― BrianB, Monday, 13 October 2003 19:17 (twenty years ago) link

I once saw this Japanese guy called Kato Hideki playing with Ikue Mori in Death Ambient. He managed to play a 45 minute set of unearthly, indescribable noise without actually plucking the strings at any point, so he gets my vote for the most original bassist I've ever seen.
No-one's mentioned Henry "King Thumb" Thomas from Rockschool yet.

― udu wudu (udu wudu), Monday, 13 October 2003 19:36 (twenty years ago) link

Victor fucking Wooten!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 13 October 2003 19:43 (twenty years ago) link

As has been said, Rick motherfucking Danko.

Also, who's the dude who plays fretless on The Blue Mask? That's some sick shit.

Based on seeing Elvis Costello's band The Imposters, Davey Faragher is pretty damn good. I'm not familiar with his Cracker work.

― southern lights (southern lights), Monday, 13 October 2003 21:17 (twenty years ago) link

Mike Watt. Steve Digiorgio. Erick Sermon in hip hop.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Monday, 13 October 2003 22:24 (twenty years ago) link

In the genre I love most: Steve DiGiorgio, Lemmy Kilmister, Steve Harris.

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 13 October 2003 23:18 (twenty years ago) link

A mention for Mark Sandeman of Morphine.

And a second for Zak Sally.

― Ben Dot (1977), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 01:26 (twenty years ago) link

i have to stump for Bill Laswell here, since we are talking bass playing rather than group leading/album producing etc. the first Last Exit record ought to be testament enough.

Ellie from Erase Errata is pretty awesome as well.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 01:33 (twenty years ago) link

Whatt??? Nobody mentioned Kendra Smith? She of the fat basslines of Opal? Of the VU basslines of Dream Syndicate? Plus made Peter Hook's basslines better during the only non-embarrassing Joy Division cover EVER released (that being: Heart and Soul) ... what? Is it because she lives on a farm with no electricity? She is the indie Carole Kaye!

― st tremaine cool kid of death, Tuesday, 14 October 2003 07:34 (twenty years ago) link

Jaco Pastorius is my personal favourite, but more because of his compositions, although he was obviously a bass guitar genius.

I like Stanley Clarke's playing more than Jaco's, actually, but Clarke's solo recordings are mostly shite. I love his Return to Forever work, however.

Third favourite of mine is Jamaaladeen Tacuma, who used to work with Ornette Coleman. He's quite original both as a bassist and as a band leader/composer (though he obviously learned a lot from Coleman).

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 10:07 (twenty years ago) link

Gaye Advert.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 10:14 (twenty years ago) link

Hugh Hopper, John Cale and the guy in The Godz

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 10:17 (twenty years ago) link

You know who is the bassist laying down a lot of my favorite low-end lines these days? Pino Palladino. Pretty much any groove on any of this wave of "neo-soul" artist's records (as well as a great deal of hip-hop too) that you bob your head to that aren't 'featuring Raphael Saadiq', it was probably Pino playing bass on it.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 11:28 (twenty years ago) link

there is not enough lemmy luv on this thread. lemmy is great

dada - surely not as in "contact high with the...."?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 11:31 (twenty years ago) link

You got it Pash. I don't know what it is about the bass playing on that record but I love it - maybe the fact that the guy obviously hasn't a clue what a bass guitar is, let alone the ability to play it

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 13:30 (twenty years ago) link

man, i used to own that rekkid - on esp-disc no less!! I remember going to this hippie party in thee 1980's, where all these stoners were sat in the living room w/acoustic guitars and flutes bumbling away - i should have taped it, the whole aesthetic/vibe was quite similar as you can probably imagine. I traded it for a copy of the lemon kittens album eventually. It's a great artifact (the song titles especially) but i didn't really get into it i must admit.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 14:14 (twenty years ago) link

good call on Pino, nza

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 15:17 (twenty years ago) link

Supposedly they've got a Soulquarians (Pino Palladino, ?uestlove, James Poysner) record in the works. I, personally, am stoked.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 October 2003 15:45 (twenty years ago) link

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