Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

In no real order...

Chris Squire
Les Claypool
John Entwistle
Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam)
Mike Gordon (Phish)
Jaco Pastorius
Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads)
Geddy Lee
John Paul Jones

Forgot Stanley Clarke. That rounds out a great group of ten for me!

Well, if it's ten, then here are four more:

Geddy Lee
Michael Manring
Stanley Clarke
Jimmy Haslip

In no particular order and without much thought:

Ron Carter
Paul McCartney
James Jamerson
Duck Dunn
Ray Brown
Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson
John Paul Jones
Jack Bruce
Tim Bogart
Paul Chambers
Willy Dixon

There are two main elements of playing, 1. speed and tricks, and 2. soul, the first anyone can get if they practise hard and long enough and that is what sells and impresses most people, the second some never get. By soul I mean the feeling from way down deep inside your self; your innermost place where music really comes from, if you got it you know what I mean, it's not something that can be chased after really, it kind of happens with time, it's what happens to you while you're trying to learn other things. It's incidental to musical training. Real blues players of which there are many imposters nowadays have it in spades.

"that is what sells"

Not true. At least, not in popular music. Look at any hugely popular band today, and you will see very little "speed and tricks". However, you will also see very little "soul".

Also, tricks and speed are very different things. And I think bass playing can't be simplified down to whether you play fast or whether you play with soul. And again, what is a trick? Does playing with speed and these so-called tricks mean you have no soul in you, and vice-versa?

It's just not that simple.

If I may add something, I played with a fellow who used to play drums in the Gene Krupa band. I consider that pretty good bona fides. We started seeing how few notes you could play and still keep the "groove". A great analogy is lingerie vs naked. A little mystery is good. Let the imagination fill in the rest. It's the same with playing, IMHO. Not too little, but not too much. It's all in the groove. Some got it, some ain't.

BB King can say more on a guitar in three notes, than most guitarists can say in a hundred.

>>Squire, Entwistle and JPJ are 3 of my absolute faves.,,

Don't forget, unlike most Entwistle was also a very capable backup singer, one who could also sing lead. He was a dynamic figure in one of the world's most dynamic bands. The Who really had three strong pop vocalists....ah the days when just playing wasn't enough to get by...

One of the few also mentioned here who was outstanding at both playing and vocalizing was Dee Murray... for several years he supported Elton John with no more than a drummer for help.

Squire is also a good singer.

I love bands where you have multiple singers who also play instruments . . . Yes, The Who, The Beatles, The Flower Kings, Coheed & Cambria, Spock's Beard . . . and let's not forget Queen.

Carol Kaye
Chris Squire
John Wetton
Jon Camp
Roger Glover
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
John Entwistle
James Jamerson
Jaco Pastorius
Bernard Edwards (Chic)

John Wetton is a great bassist/singer as is Peter Cetera. When I saw Entwistle with his own band he didn't sing much at all, his drummer sang most of the stuff including The Who covers they did except for Boris the Spider and on that song I think The OX only did the real low Boris the Spider part. He didn't really sing much at all, but then again who has to when you can play like that?
Jaco Pastorius was also phenomenal, he was probably the most easy, natural bass player going besides Jamerson, both those guys made it sound easy and played very complex stuff, so did JPJ come to think of it.

Thank God someone mentioned Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. Charles Mingus , Chas Chandler, Dee Dee Ramone , Bootsy Collins and Jah Wobble need many mentions. But it is forever Paul McCartney 1st and Chris Squire 2nd . Jaco and the other flash guys mean nothing. John Entwistle was lucky to join the right band otherwise no one would have ever heard of him. That video clip was dull at best

Dee Dee Ramone over Jaco? Over Entwistle?

Oh, I'd take Dee Dee over Jaco ANY day. Jaco's music is unlistenable IMO. But, Entwistle was absolutely great.

Entwistle was a big part of the Who sound ... the Who was essentially a power trio ... Entwistle pioneered the round wound sound with the distortion, treble bite, growlly mids and full bottom ... that sound carried the band through live performances while the drummer and guitarist were going berzerk ... and he gave us one of rock and rolls great bass performances in "Can you see the real me?" and I love the tone of Who live at Leeds ... a p-bass through a marshall stack is a great sound ...