After writing a musical listicle with this format about piano players previously, I can't believe I waited over 4 years to repeat this gimmick for more content.
It's a solid premise to get you thinking about bass players I love and also ones that are dear to your heart.
Every once in a while, I play bass on a recording and I really love it.
There are all kinds of ways to play - all of mine involve taking a deep breath and trying not to over-play.
I suppose my common rule for bassists is that they should be adding value without drawing too much unwanted attention to themselves.
Yes, 25 should have been enough but I created some special categories to sneak some more in here.
And it's a great excuse to pick some career highlights and songs to sample.
Who did I leave out?
I normally say that and don't mean it, but in this case I really do. Who are your favorites?
25 Favorite Bass Players
1) Paul McCartney
What do we need to say about his bass playing?
It's amazing that he's so many music fans favorite bassist and yet it still underrated.
I bet you 20 guys on this list of 25 consider Paul to be their hero. Highlights: Come Together, Taxman, Something, Hello Goodbye, Hey Bulldog, Silly Love Songs, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Goodnight Tonight, Magneto and Titanium Man, Goodnight Tonight
2) Tony Levin
He's got hundreds of credits to be considered the best session guy of all time.
But he's also pioneered things for the bass in general - huge advocate of the "Chapman stick" thin-looking bass, and also little sticks on fingers for a slap bass sound.
Levin's playing has been the cornerstone of all Peter Gabriel albums for decades.
And he's seriously not bad in Paul Simon's interesting/cool movie about the movie industry, One-Trick Pony, where he plays a bass player. Highlights: Big Time, Late In The Evening, Don’t Give Up, Watching The Wheels, (I Love It When You) Call Me Names, Jockey Full of Bourbon, Somewhere Down the Crazy River, Sledgehammer, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, I Have The Touch, Nobody Told Me
3) Larry Graham
Playing for years with Sly & Family Stone gets you near the top of this list immediately.
As if that's enough, he fronted Graham Central Station, which had some hits.
Refamiliarizing myself with his playing was my favorite thing about writing this article. Highlights: "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", "Dance to the Music", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Everyday People", "Stand!", "You Can Make It If You Try"
4) Graham Maby
Aka Joe Jackson's bass player.
So fucking good.
Could do hyperkinetic stuff, groove, faux-reggae, legit jazz.
He gave Joe Jackson tremendous range, and the fast early bass lines let Joe Jackson get lumped into punk energy in the 1970s even though he could play circles around any punk bassist.
Not for nothing, but also did great session work with They Might Be Giants and Natalie Merchant. Highlights: Sunday Papers, Friday, Beat Crazy, Steppin’ Out, You Can’t Get What You Want
5) Mike Gordon
Almost everybody on this list has either a rep as a song constructor, or as a virtuoso.
Mike as much as anybody does both.
I could say he was the fun, self-effacing quiet dorky member of Phish, but they all kinda are.
Don't let the dad neighbor vibe fool you, he's a monster on bass.
Apologies to Phil Lesh or Trevor in Goose, but a no-brainer for best jamband bass player. Highlights: You Enjoy Myself, Ghost, Down with Disease, Character Zero, Stash
6) John Entwistle
Entwistle absolutely changed what bass could even try to do in a rock band.
He was a virtuoso that was never just showing off.
On Who records and live shows he could make electric bass a classical instrument or a lead instrument, not just support.
He was so good, it makes you forget that The Who was essentially a musical trio.
"Boris The Spider" is pretty unique but "The Real Me" is an ass-kicking clinic. Highlights: The Real Me, My Generation, Boris The Spider, Is It In My Head, Overture / Do You Think It's Alright?
7) Bruce Thomas
Similarly to Graham Maby above, he was a key to Elvis Costello's classic material.
Elvis didn't always stick with his regular backup band of The Attractions, and lets conveniently forget that there was a lot of animosity between him and Costello - with Thomas writing a takedown of a fictionalized book, inspiring Costello's diss track "How To Be Dumb".
Some of that early Costello work features some of the most iconic rock bass lines of all time. Highlights: Pump It Up, Watching The Detectives, Radio Radio, Clubland, Green Shirt, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
8) Bootsy Collins
How's this for a resume: The bass player for James Brown, Parliament and Funkadelic. By the time Parliament-Funkadelic turned the stage into the ultimate musical freak party, it was hard to tell where the bass playing stopped and Bootsy as character began.
I can tell you this: If you're reading this, then you're exactly the person who should watch Mike Judge's unfuckingbelievable animated series of true crazy music stories from funk and outlaw country legends.
Highlights: Sex Machine, One Nation Under A Groove, Super Bad, Flash Light
9) Sting
Forget everything about him as a singer, frontman, celebrity and Tantric sex enthusiast.
He was an incredible rock bassist just with The Police before his underrated first 4 or 5 solo albums.
Sting shows how songwriting should work when it starts with the bass.
Listening to this stuff again, it's even better than I remember.
He’s the Dirk Diggler of bass, to paraphrase Rollergirl: "He can do it slow and he can do it hard." Highlights: Synchronicity II, Walking On The Moon, Demolition Man, Driven To Tears, Message In A Bottle, Desert Rose, Englishman In New York, Jeremiah Blues
10) John Paul Jones
The rock playing was a staple of Led Zeppelin.
Like The Who, they had a frontman who didn't play an instrument so it was another trio masquerading as a foursome; bass players pull so much weight in a trio.
And Jones even more than most, becoming a composition/arranging/keyboard force as the band got more sophisticated.
You could even make a case that Jones was most responsible for the maturation of their sound.
That said, let's not glide past the energy and awesomeness of classic Zeppelin.
Highlights: Ramble On, Trampled Under Foot, The Lemon Song, Immigrant Song, The Ocean, Misty Mountain Hop, Achilles' Last Stand
11) Victor Wooten
A slap bass genius who made the bass step out front of any band he was in.
Overall, that may have been bad for music because he inspired so much slap bass - his imitators slapped away without Wooten's feel and musicality.
That group of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones is a monster with Fleck, Wooten and Jeff Coppin on sax; what a sound. I'm having a really hard time picking your sample between "Big Country" and "Stomping Grounds" two of my favorites by anyone in this article. Highlights: Big Country, Stomping Grounds, Sinister Minister, U Can’t Hold No Groove
12) Tina Weymouth
I could go on and on about her as a female bassist but fuck that.
She's just a great and versatile player who created some of the greatest bass lines of all time.
Full stop.
Take your pick here of things to admire: Iconic stuff in early edgy art rock, the cornerstone of their sound as African rhythms started coming through, or one of the geniuses of her band, Tom Tom Club, "Genius Of Love." Highlights: Crosseyed and Painless, Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime, Life During Wartime, Genius of Love, Heaven, Road to Nowhere, I Zimbra
13) Geddy Lee
Did anybody fit inside of guitar and drums better or more importantly than Lee did with Rush?
As we've already said, there's more space for bass in a trio, but also so much more responsibility for standout bass.
For Geddy Lee, add in that he's singing lead and never phoning it in with a simple bass line, and his case on any list like this is unassailable.
Highlights: YYZ, Tom Sawyer, The Spirit of Radio, New World Man, Freewill
14) Robert Sledge
Maybe the guy with the most responsibilities musically and the biggest range of energies of anybody on this list.
Ben Folds Five was a trio (ha ha) and unlike the other trio bass players on this list, it was piano based, so Sledge was basically playing bass and guitar at the same time.
He had such a soft creative touch on ballads, but he gave a piano band a punk energy while just, there's no other way to put this, rocking.
Highlights: Michael Praytor Five Years Later, Army, One Angry Dwarf..., Draw A Crowd, Sports & Wine
15) John Deacon
You probably didn't learn much about him in the fantasia that was the Queen movie with Rami Malek, I didn't either.
Queen could be a grandiose sounding band, yet his playing never drew unwarranted attention to itself.
Yeah, there were game-changing basslines like "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Under Pressure" - he shaped and rode the wave in wild rides like "Bicycle Song" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" - and could do the quiet more basic dirty work on things like "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Highlights: Killer Queen, Another One Bites the Dust, Under Pressure, Bicycle Song, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Millionaire Waltz, Crazy Little Thing Called Love
16) Verdine White
"Impeccable" is the first word that comes to mind about White's playing with Earth, Wind & Fire.
And "funky" is the second.
Yeah, "Boogie Wonderland" is a classic funk bass showcase, but what about the melodic stuff in quiet-storm classics like "Can't Hide Love" or "That's the Way of the World"?
Both on record and in live shows he brought showman energy - and somehow still looked great while dressed as a spaceman or ancient Egyptian.
Highlights: Fantasy, That's The Way Of The World, September, Boogie Wonderland, Can't Hide Love, Shining Star
17) Les Claypool
Here's the weird part: I'm not even that much of a Primus fan, although I've got a soft spot for "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" which happens to be a tour de force for Claypool.
His technical playing while beating up his instrument and making joyful noise is undeniable.
Personally, his supergroup Oysterhead with Trey from Phish and Stewart Copeland from The Police is where he shined.
Their forgotten album has some of his best work: The nutty "Shadow of a Man", brisk "Owner of the World" and the jagged groove of "Oz Is Ever Floating." Highlights: Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, My Name Is Mud, Wynona's Big Brown Beaver, Oz Is Ever Floating, Shadow of a Man, Owner of the World
18) Mike Mills
You don’t think of him in a Bootsy Collins list or even a Graham Maby list but he was doing so much more than you would assume in R.E.M’s sound, and a big part of the songwriting.
Another trio once you subtract Michael Stipe's role; Peter Buck's guitar was usually so jangly; it was up to Mills to supply the variety.
And I love his/their involvement with Warren Zevon (obviously for anybody who knows me). Highlights: Radio Free Europe, Lotus, Driver 8, Stand, Wendell Gee, Me In Honey, Boom Boom Mancini
19) George Porter, Jr.
Whether it's The Funky Meters or the funky Meters, Porter's groove was the greatest.
Not just a party band, these guys are way more important outside of New Orleans than they ever get credit for.
I've been going to JazzFest for years, and seeing his band multiple years at the Fest (or at the Rock N' Bowl or other odd Crescent City venues) with George as a frontman is a treat.
Another guy who doesn't get credit for being versatile as a side player: Sure, "Right Place, Wrong Time" with Dr. John is more New Orleans royalty, but what about David Byrne, Robbie Robertson and Tori fucking Amos? Highlights: Fire On The Bayou, Hey Pocky Way, People Say, Right Place Wrong Time, Sailing Shoes (Robert Palmer), Go Back To Your Woods (Robbie Robertson), Hanging Upside Down (David Byrne), God (Tori Amos)
20) Rick Danko
Here's a quote from Rick in a 1976 Guitar Player interview that totally articulates why I love his playing: "I don't play bass, I just fill space."
The Band, to me, is the most amazing group I've heard on studio and live albums where the band is so cohesive that it's really difficult to tell who's playing what.
It can sound like he's playing with heavy, dead strings sometimes, then he'll pop with something like "Stage Fright."
That band really had five composers in real time; they'll never be anything like them again. Highlights: Stage Fright, Up On Cripple Creek, The Shape I'm In, King Harvest (Has Surely Come), Ophelia, Unfaithful Servant, Life Is A Carnival, Never Say Goodbye (Bob Dylan)
21) J. V. Collier
Indulge me if you haven't heard of him.
He's the bassist in Bruce Hornsby's longtime band The Noisemakers.
That band, and this guy, can play.
Yes, he could play like Victor Wooten when he needs or wants to, but also can be smooth, drive the groove, or be mellow.
Hornsby shows are my favorite and it's like seeing a jamband that also might play legitimate bluegrass or modern classical music in the middle of it.
Do yourself a favor and check him, and them, out.
The jamming and diversions are like football "audibles" at the line of scrimmage; think of Hornsby as the quarterback and Collier his star wide receiver who know what each other are thinking. Highlights: White Wheeled Limousine, Spider Fingers, King Of The Hill, The Great Divide, Lost In The Snow, In The Low Country
22) Peter Cetera
He eventually became a soft rock singer in our minds.
But don't sleep on how this band cooked as the early years.
First of all if you want iconic, remember "25 Or 6 To 4" which sounds like Led Zeppelin with a killer horn section.
Listen to early Chicago and you'll hear a bass-player’s bass player. Highlights: Beginnings, Make Me Smile, Feeling Stronger Every Day, Free, Wishing You Were Here, 25 Or 6 To 4
23) Aston "Family Man" Barrett
Was playing bass and co-producing for Bob Marley & The Wailers.
We forget that reggae as a genre is pretty recent, and his playing sorta created and cemented the way that reggae is supposed to sound.
Not only on his Marley and Peter Tosh work, but in his mentoring of Sly & Robbie which picked up the mantle ever since. Highlights: Stir It Up, Legalize It, Stop That Train
24) Nathan Watts
I could have cheated for more room by moving Watts down to the studio category, but I'm sorry, if you made the bassline for "I Wish", you're on the list.
More than just a Stevie Wonder guy - but he was on huge Lionel Richie and Pointer Sister records on top of Sergio Mendes and Paul McCartney albums. Highlights: I Wish, Do I Do, Shake Your Body To The Ground (The Jacksons), Say Say Say (Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson), Jump (The Pointer Sisters), Master Blaster
25) Roger Waters
I'm not gonna pretend he was a virtuoso like some guys on this list.
But he constructed incredible songs using a variety of bass techniques.
And if we're celebrating tone and leaving space in songs, Pink Floyd totally breathes.
(Sorry for the pun.)
Also, if we're tallying iconic basslines, Waters can go toe-to-toe with anybody. Highlights: Money, One Of These Days, Have A Cigar, Pigs, Young Lust, Another Brick In The Wall, Echoes
Honorable Mention: John McVie, Jack Bruce, Colin Greenwood, Chris Squire.
Session Guys
Louis Johnson
Highlights: Strawberry Letter 23 (The Brothers Johnson), Tell Me Something Good (Rufus), Will It Go Round In Circles (Billy Preston)
Carol Kaye
Highlights: Wouldn’t It Be Nice (The Beach Boys), The Beat Goes On (Sonny & Cher), Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell)
Leland Sklar
Highlights: It’s Raining Men (The Weather Girls), Doctor My Eyes (Jackson Browne), Sara Smile (Hall & Oates)
Bernard Edwards
Highlights: We Are Family (Sister Sledge), Le Freak (Chic), Upside Down (Diana Ross)
Donald "Duck" Dunn
Highlights: Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers), I Can’t Turn You Loose (Blues Brothers), Soul Man (Sam & Dave)
Chuck Rainey
Highlights: Kid Charlemagne (Steely Dan), Your Bright Baby Blues (Jackson Browne), Rock Steady (Aretha Franklin)
James Jamerson
Highlights: My Girl (The Temptations), Dancing In The Street (Martha & The Vandellas), I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)
Pino Palladino
Highlights: Every Time You Go Away (Paul Young), Lovesong (Adele), Why Don’t You Try (Kelly Clarkson)
Thundercat
Highlights: What’s The Use (Mac Miller), These Walls (Kendrick Lamar), King Of The Hill
Robbie Shakespeare
Highlights: Jokerman (Bob Dylan), Pull Up To The Bumper (Grace Jones), (Bunny Wailer
