You can't play bass.... underrated bass players

strumjoughlamps · January 2023

What say you?

Nick Beggs for me, hugely underrated IMO, maybe something to do with the era/genre he's most known for...

munckee · January 2023

Kim Deal for me. She freely admits to being a very basic level bass player so she consciously didn’t over play and the result were seriously cool bass lines which drove the pixies sound.

stickyfiddle · January 2023

Adam Clayton. Keeps it simple a lot of the time because that's all the songs need.

Danny1969 · January 2023

stickyfiddle said:

Adam Clayton. Keeps it simple a lot of the time because that's all the songs need.

Absolutely .... he is the driving force of that band. The sonic imprint of a band IS the bass and drums. People think all you have to do is play as tight as possible to the drummer and that's enough but it's actually the way the bass and drums play together in the own way with those small deviations that create something special. Something you can't create just by quantising the bass to the drums .... it's a human thing and Adam if fantastic at it.

stickyfiddle · January 2023

Danny1969 said:

stickyfiddle said:

Adam Clayton. Keeps it simple a lot of the time because that's all the songs need.

Absolutely .... he is the driving force of that band. The sonic imprint of a band IS the bass and drums. People think all you have to do is play as tight as possible to the drummer and that's enough but it's actually the way the bass and drums play together in the own way with those small deviations that create something special. Something you can't create just by quantising the bass to the drums .... it's a human thing and Adam if fantastic at it.

Completely agree. And frankly Edge is the also much more locked in with those two than in most bands. It's why so many people covering them sound awful.

fretmeister · January 2023

strumjoughlamps said:

What say you?

Nick Beggs for me, hugely underrated IMO, maybe something to do with the era/genre he's most known for...

He's not underrated by bass players!

ICBM · January 2023

Adam Clayton. He’s not only essential to U2 and his bass parts are the perfect example of playing for the song, he’s actively put down by bass snobs. He has great timing, feel and tone.

John Taylor used to be as well, but is now more recognised as the brilliant bassist he is. Bernard Edwards rated him highly, what more do you need?

Nick Beggs too, but I think a bit more recognised as good. Fun fact - I used to own his MXR chorus pedal, quite likely used on Too Shy

. A friend has it now…

Switch625 · January 2023

John Taylor? Because Duran Duran were portrayed as pretty boys rather than musicians. Maybe the same goes for Martin Kemp.

prowla · January 2023

Chris Squire - only prog fans and bass players know him.

distressed · January 2023

Peter Hook

stickyfiddle · January 2023

prowla said:

Chris Squire - only prog fans and bass players know him.

Consistently in the top-5s of "best bassist" lists though. Also prog is rubbish :P

(and surely the only bassists non-musos know are McCartney and Flea)

axisus · January 2023

strumjoughlamps said:

What say you?

Nick Beggs for me, hugely underrated IMO, maybe something to do with the era/genre he's most known for...

Underrated?????? I think not!

Nick is massively rated. He won Classic rock society's best bassist for (at least!) 4 years in a row. Has played on many acclaimed albums with many acclaimed artists. Is one of the Prog icons of bass playing. Take a look at this Farcebook video (if it works). Nick being a nutcase as usual!

https://www.facebook.com/nickbeggsofficial/videos/560891637763808

DonnyMac · January 2023

Horace Panter

Funkfingers · January 2023

Danny Thompson (and the inimitable "Victoria").

CaseOfAce · January 2023

DonnyMac said:

Horace Panter

I was just about to mention him.
Saw a recent Specials concert on TV (following Terry Hall's death) and my jaw dropped. I had no idea UK ska was so demanding bass wise (I'll add the guy out of Madness as well).

scrumhalf · January 2023

I was listening to some ZZ Top on the way in to work this morning and it struck that Dusty Hill had a thunderous bottom end (fnarr).

Cols · January 2023

Geezer Butler. An absolutely ferocious playing style, with a sense of timing and harmony which was essential to the sound of Black Sabbath.

Open_G · January 2023

Under-rated is a difficult term, but almost unrated- I'd mention Pat Badger of Extreme. Keeping up with Nuno in terms of all those unison riffs is no easy feat but there are a few great basslines amongst all the riffs.

Cupid's Dead comes to mind, also tragic comic- Which is a wonderfully simple major triad riff over 4 chords but works brilliantly

RocknRollDave · January 2023

John Deacon

Kebabkid · January 2023

DonnyMac said:

Horace Panter

and can I add Mark Bedford of Madness.

Guy Pratt of Pink Floyd

DrCornelius · January 2023

Love a bit of Billy Talbot from Crazy Horse , loose , laid back and lovely tone

digitalkettle · January 2023

Kebabkid said:
...
Guy Pratt of Pink Floyd

breakstuff said on 'the perfect pop song' thread:
MrTee said:
Whatever it is, it's probably on Madonna's 'immaculate collection '
Yep, that would be Like a Prayer.

Vintage65 · January 2023

distressed said:

Peter Hook

I don't how good he is technically, but he was a huge innovator.

merlin · January 2023

If you like relentless quavers, (not the crispy snack made first by Smith's and now by Walkers, but the 8th note variety) then I recommend Dee Dee Ramone, who could easily play his way out of a plastic bag.

Lodious · January 2023

Eric A from Janes Addiction. Played some really memorable bass parts and never overplayed.

Redlester · January 2023

Jimmy Bain.

EricTheWeary · January 2023

I’m a big fan of Horace. He was the only consistent figure in every line up of The Specials, his occasional blogs on Facebook are well worth a read and he likes our James Oliver. Horace was in General Public who were pretty successful in the USA in the 80s although never really took off here. A General Public album sleeve makes an appearance in Weird Science. He did some gigs with Hollie Cook whom I’m a bit of a fan boy for including her appearance on Later, never been able to find that on YouTube.

Redlester said:

Jimmy Bain.

Watching the Dio documentary and reading between the lines Jimmy was a big part of Ronnie’s career and co-wrote a lot with him as well as delivering all those basslines. He seems to be a semi forgotten figure but appears on the credits to some mahoosive rock tracks.

Redlester · January 2023

Steve Hanley

Gassage · January 2023

JJ Burnel
Norman Watt-Roy

Two of the greatest.

roberty · January 2023

stickyfiddle said:

prowla said:

Chris Squire - only prog fans and bass players know him.

Consistently in the top-5s of "best bassist" lists though. Also prog is rubbish :P

(and surely the only bassists non-musos know are McCartney and Flea)

Charles Mingus

roberty · January 2023

Does anyone talk about Andy Rourke? He was pretty nimble

I saw Blur do a warm-up for their Glastonbury comeback at Rough Trade East and I was really impressed with Alex James. He was basically improvising the whole time, and not once did he look down at his hands. Very busy but always appropriate

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

You can't play bass.... underrated bass players

Comments