Top 5 Bass Players Ever

I’ve always wanted to write a post like this. I have been a student of the Bass Guitar for around 15 years and have always fought the “apparent unimportance” of bass players in contemporary music. Through this post I hope to once and for all assert the position of bassists everywhere in the highest echelons of cool.

1) John Francis Anthony “Jaco” Pastorius III — Jaco made the electric bass cool again. Not since Paul McCartney had a bass player commanded so much attention. I remember listening to Weather Report out of my parent’s tape collection.

2) Michael Peter “Flea” Balzary — He is a bad ass. Funky, tight and accurate. Plus, he is entertaining as hell to watch, a bad ass trumpet player and an accomplished actor. In my opinion, the spiciest of the Chili Peppers.

3) Victor Wooten — The man is a living god. He recently recorded the bible of bass playing with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller in 2008.

4) Geddy Lee — Geddy is the centerpiece of the Rush power trio. He serves up complex bass lines that intertwine with his vocal melodies better than most bassist/singers.

5) Steve Harris — Leader and songwriter for Iron Maiden, no one can play triplets better than Steve Harris. Steve is often under-rated among bass players, but I grew up Maiden so, my bias is obvious.

Runner ups

Sting — Sting is a cool dude that sings AND plays bass. He has a smooth, serpentine style that you can instantly recognize.

Les Claypool — You can’t deny that the dude can play bass. No one has ever sounded like Les Claypool.

Paul McCartney — Paul is the coolest bassist of all time. I am not a “Beatle-thumper”, but you can’t deny that without Paul, none of the other guys ever stood a chance.

Enjoy. Share.
Ivan

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