Great Rock Bassists your Top 10.Rock not Jazz. But Hey what about Reggae

I love Graham Maby from Joe Jackson's old band. Great bassist for rock. Jack Bruce is King for me though. 

@riley804 I asked who is your top 10 that was my list.

@riley804 I am asking who is your top 10. I want to know. 

As a Bass Player I am intrigued. 

Not a ranking, listed in alphabetical order:

- Rick Danko (The Hawks, The Band, Dylan). He and his musical brother drummer Levon Helm showed everyone how to build a great Rock 'n' Roll, uh Band. Their playing on the "brown" album is as good as it gets. Music From Big Pink is "pretty good" too ;-) .

- Willie Dixon (Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry. The man who sued Led Zeppelin for shamelessly stealing from him, and won).

- Duck Dunn (Booker T & The MG’s).

- John Entwistle. The sound he created when I saw The Who at The Carousel Ballroom in 1968 (performing the "A Quick One" suite) was the most massive bass tone I’ve ever heard!

- David Hood (The Swampers, the house band on all the incredible Muscle Shoals recordings). He and his drummer partner Roger Hawkins set the standard for all Rock ’n’ Roll rhythm sections.

- James Jamerson (The Funk Brothers, the Motown house band), the player who Paul McCartney says opened his eyes to the instrument’s possibilities. The master of the use of the musical technique known as inversion (listen to how he uses it in "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted". It raises the hair on my head!). Perhaps a genius.

- Paul McCartney (especially on Rubber Soul onward).

- Jerry Scheff (T Bone Burnett, Elvis, L.A. studios). I heard him live (in The Roxy Theater, with Rodney Crowell), and was left speechless. A great, great musician.

- Leland Sklar (L.A. and Nashville Studios). Perhaps the most recorded bassist of all time.

- Joey Spampinato (NRBQ, Keith Richards). He makes his Danelectro/Silvertone electric (plugged into an Ampeg SVT) sound like an upright. Also a great songwriter.

@bdp24 Nice list clearly old school and I love it!

Fun topic!

Why are there posts being removed for this thread? 

@bdp24 could have made it real fun and said to 25......

Phil Lesh.

+1 Jack Bruce

What-- no Jack Casady, Geddy Lee, Sting or John Paul Jones ?  ?  ? 

You said "Rock, not Jazz" but...

Jack Bruce was classically trained and most often described himself as a Jazz player. 

I've heard recordings of Jaco playing Jazz and Fusion but never Rock. . . would be curious to know what you are referring to...

I saw/heard Jack Bruce live twice, and his tone was, by far, the worst I’ve ever heard. And then there’s his playing; far too busy for my taste (my musician friends refer to his style of playing as "lead bass" ;-), but to each his own.

Now Jack Casady, that's a different story. He almost made it into my Top 10, and would definitely be in my Top 25.

My top 10.

For raw skill, I couldn't make that list without Geddy Lee.

Jack Casady for sure.

In no particular order:

Geddy Lee

Sting (police years, ghost in the machine)

Victor Wooten

Jack Bruce

Aston Barrett

Flea

Phil Lesh

Robert Smith

... And I can’t think of any others off-the-cuff

@l1975r  I respect your list to a sort. 

@jerryg123  - Walking on the Moon has probably one of the best bass lines in a rock song. So I would have to disagree with you on Sting.

Paul McCartney, Flea, Carl Radle and Cliff Hugo come to mind.

Heard Flea and Hugo many times live as I've been an LA resident since 1977,

Radle just once live.

Wasn't a Jack Bruce fan (saw Cream) until his later years.

Got to give Roger Waters a mention as some of his bass lines are imbedded in my brain - to the end.

McCarthy is probably my favorite with his subtle/brainy stuff.

DeKay

Tony Levin.

@roxy54 ​​​​@deludedaudiophile : Opinions are like/ That's why I asked for YOU TOP10. Not to challenge my list.

You can ask all you want, but you got as much time and thought as I was willing to put into it.  You can find a 100, top10, top25, top100 bass guitar lists on the web. I think you will do just fine without one more.

Wow, JPJ doesn’t even get a mention. He was the GLUE of Zepp.

Sting… 

Geddy…

really? Nothing? Too many to list. To each his (or her) own.

jerryg123,

What's your problem Bozo? I don't have to list ten all at once. I'm thinking as I go along. And I didn't try to challenge your list.

Rules are meant to be broken .... Honorable mention, Les Claypool

WOW!!! Not one mention of John Paul Jones (led Zeppelin) Not necessarily surprising because he was flanked by Bonham, Page & Plant who were the superstars. I came to the understanding that JPJ must be the most under rated bass player of all times AFTER seeing "How The West was Won" (which I recommend) Seeing him play mandolin and bass pedals at the same time won me over.

Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) was another great bassist. During the Deguello tour, i watched him play the bass line and modified rhythm on the bottom strings at the same time.

Of course John Entwistle has to be included. I had the great privilege of playing with a good bass player who could play "Can You See The Real Me" was quite a workout.

IMO, you don’t get to the pro level without being good. And at some point it comes down to style and who’s you like. To you, they may be the best. But they are all good IMO

@jerryg123 ,

Why are you so hostile?

Is this thread so important to your life that you feel it necessary to rudely chastise anyone who doesn't obey your rigid orders as to how they should be responding?

You are an interesting character ( much like your former usernames).

Your posts run the gamut from polite and informative to childish and insulting. I notice the time of their writing has much to do with this. The later in the day they are written, the more insulting they become, and your grammar takes on a much less refined, childlike quality, as if a different person is writing them. This is also a trait of your former usernames. Yes, interesting indeed.

Guys Jerry had a stroke last night.

He is in the hospital. This was and will be his last post.

thoughts and prayers audio brother. God's speed for recovery.  

Can anyone believe anything that this guy types? Seriously.....?

So does that mean @earlflynn or  ​​​@skypunk are coming back?

Guys Jerry had a stroke last night.

He is in the hospital. This was and will be his last post.

Must have been after this post:

jerryg123

1,882 posts

04-17-2022 at 10:20pm 

So I reached out to Mark and he said you are a full of shite!!!

Maybe earlpunk or skyflynn.

Being clever, not his strong suit.

What a coincidence.

Recently posted on the qualiton thread that he was earlflynn’s ’cousin’, immediately gets called out for being eralflynn/skypunk, then suddenly tragedy strikes and he will no longer be posting.

@ozzy62 ,

No, I think it was this one:

@roxy54 ​​​​@deludedaudiophile : Opinions are like/ That’s why I asked for YOU TOP10. Not to challenge my list.

You bungheads can only name one bass player’s

USUX

My 2 favorite rock bassists are:

John Entwistle

Jack Casady

No shortage of other wonderful bass players, though.... 

Reggae? Robbie Shakespeare, of course!! 

Lemmy from Motorhead! Rickenbacker rules!

guess I’m the gullible one here....wishing a man get better who probably didn’t have a stroke. I looked at both "sybil" IDs mentioned and see the house in the background of their audio systems are the same place. As I knew neither "sybil" IDs I think it is best to not post anymore. Who knows who is who is who is who here. I guess I’ll go back to the one bud I can trust. You’ll see him in my new ID photo. Sit back and listen to the weed grow.

Also identified as Coleman996 on USAM, where his Audio Hungary amp is recently listed as "OFF".

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649775134-audio-hungary-qualiton-x200-class-a-ab-pp-integrated-amplifier-with-mmmc-preamp-purchased-june-2021-/

@thecarpathian + 1

@twoleftears ,

Yes, and as Coleman996, he wrote in a thread on their forum an insult to this forum and all its members.

Jerry had a stroke? I don't believe it.

Neither does anyone else.

In no particular order:

Louis Johnson (my personal favorite) 

James Jamerson 

Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, Flea, (I despise their music but their skill is undeniable)  

Stanley Clarke will get the Celine Dion treatment here - the music is simply too awful to warrant praise for the artist’s technical proficiency 

Bootsy Collins

Larry Graham

Francis Rocco Prestia

Bernard Edwards

Thundercat

I wonder if Jerry made a miraculous recovery, or succumbed to his illness?

Either way, it seemed of great import to a family member(probably another cousin) to come on here to let everyone know there will be no more posts from earl...I mean skypu...I mean jerry.

Really, who thinks of that?

"Gosh, forget about all the upcoming difficulties and preparations we need to make for this life changing event, the important thing is to go on that audiophile forum and announce he won’t be posting anymore." As jerryg123.

Apparently it doesn't matter if he makes a full recovery. By golly, he will not be posting again.