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Monday, July 10, 2006

Top ten bass players

Probably the least glamorous of the three instruments normally used in metal, but it can be a very interesting tool in the right hands. The main job of a bass player is lay down the rhythm along with the drummer. Then there also players that go beyond that either due to using different tones, offbeat parts, speed or a combination of all of those. Some bass players can't even do the minimum and Bobby Dall comes to mind for this category. Some players do the job, but are quite average and Nikki Sixx and Ian Hill come to mind for this category. Some players do the job very well, but they don't stand a lot and I think Roger Glover and Jimmy Bain fall in this category. Then you get someone like Billy Sheehan who can wail on solos at times yet in a band setting like with David Lee Roth and Mr. Big he didn't stand out that often to me. So the guys that made my list were solid players first, but had some quality that made them stand out. Here they are as I count down my top ten bass players.

10-Duff McKagan-(G-n-R, Velvet Revolver)
A good solid player with some different sounds who gets overlooked to some extent.
9-D.D. Verni (Overkill)-I love that the tone of his bass lines. A real backbone to his band's sound.
8-Dave Ellefson(Megadeth)-Some of his bass lines sound easy until you try and play them.
7-Cliff Burton (Metallica)-Great tone to his parts and he was pretty fast as well.
6-Jason Newsted (Flotsam and Jetsam,Metallica, Voivod)-This is the one choice I will probably get some flack for. I didn't pick him for his work with Metallica or Voivod, but rather for his playing on Flotsam and Jetsam's debut Doomsday for the deceiver. Just some amazing playing there and he wrote a good chunk of the album.
5-Burke Shelley (Budgie)- Solid player who was also the lead singer. They played some offbeat stuff as well and he was always right in the thick of it.
4-John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)-Maybe the most versatile player on this list. He could play some really interesting parts.
3-Geddy Lee (Rush)- Rush went through many different sounds and his playing always sounded good no matter what the style. He also kept up with Neil Peart which is a huge accomplishment in and of itself.
2-Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)- He brought the heavy to heavy metal bass playing. He could play some complicated parts as well as any other player going.
1-Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)-Just an extraordinary player who possesses speed and a great mind for sounds. He has his influences, but he revolutionized metal bass playing and yet 25 years later he is still at the top.

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:43 PM

    All of those guys are, or were, good, but I'd replace McKagan with Frank Bello from Anthrax.

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  2. Anonymous5:17 AM

    I can atest for Newsted's playing in voivod, especially on the new album that is coming out. He is all over it.

    I have to agree with Bruce. Frank Bello is an often overlooked bass player with a lot of ability.

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  3. Weird, the first name I thought of too was Frank Bello. I don't really disagree with any of the list, though.

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  4. This is a good list, but I'd have to say that John Entwistle from The Who was awesome. Did you ever hear "The Real Me"? WASP did a cover of it back in the 80's.

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  5. cool post. so hard of a thing to narrow people down, but what about Michael Anthony? The thing I liked about him most was that he seemed to be just a regular guy, not worried about image and all the crap that went with it, but played great. I have Runnin' With the Devil thumping in my chest on a regualr basis. :)

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  6. He may not be heavy metal but Flea can flat out play.

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  7. Anonymous7:44 AM

    Fuzz is right about Flea. The guy just goes balls out every time I see him. And shame on me for forgetting about Ox(Entwistle). He was one of the greatest ever.

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  8. Anonymous9:38 AM

    Great list, Here's mine:

    Roger Glover, Deep Purple,
    John Paul Jones, LZ
    Geddy Lee, Rush
    Suzi Quatro - do you remember her?
    Nikki Sixx, Motley Crue
    Adam Clayton, U2
    Rick Danko, The Band

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  9. Bruce-I like Frank Bello, but enough for my top ten.

    Fred-I always felt Newsted was held back in Metallica.

    Strutter-I am surprised that you didn't mention Gene Simmons. Even though he is just an okay bass player he was one of the few bass players who got the limelight so he inspired quite a few young people to play bass.

    Mike-I consider the Who more of a rock band than a hard rock band.

    Ben-If it was just a rock list then I would add Chris Squier from Yes as well.

    Onmywatch-I go back and forth on Michael Anthony. I think he got the job done, but he was just okay.

    Fuzzbox-Flea could play those funky parts as well as anyone. Les Claypool of Primus could play some weird funky bass parts.

    Bar-Of course I know Suzi Quatro, she played Leather Tuscedaro on Happy Days. I have one of her cd's as well.

    Steve-John Deacon had to play during some odd and frequent pace changes and not everyone could do that. I like Lemmy more as a singer than as a bass player.

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  10. Another great bass player who is not in hard rock is Stanley Clarke. He is mainly a jazz fusion bass player. If you ever get a chance to hear his School Days album then check it out. Mainly the title track for his solo. This was 30 years ago and he really did things with the electric bass that hadn't been done much at that point at least on record.

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  11. Anonymous1:14 PM

    Mark, I consider Stanley Clarke to be an impressario among bass players. The way he plays is so amazing; I've never seen anyone, before or since, like him.

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  12. Webpirate-Welcome! It is heavy metal and hard rock bass players. I mentioned Claypool in my comment to Fuzz on up in the comments. Claypool tore it up on the first few Primus albums, but for me his playing got a little old after that. To me it's not about shredding because Billy Sheehan can tear it up too. It's also about being a strong writer and keeping it interesting. I also said Nikki Sixx is average. I think John Paul Jones played some really cool stuff, but he stayed in the background some times as well. I also really considered at what point in time a player was playing which is largely why I don't have anyone that recent on the list. Guys like Geezer Butler, John Paul Jones and Burke Shelley had their influences, but they were inventing a lot as well because hard rock was still fairly new. Then again you ask ten people to make lists of their favorite players and it's doubtful that even two will be the same.

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  13. Webpirate, Claypool is a great player, but not always my thing. I am more into tones than flash. Same thing with Flea and Billy Sheehan. They can play fast and they are all over the place, but it's not something I can listen to or want to listen to over and over. I love Sabbath and I don't think you have to listen hard to hear Geezer's parts and know their importance. I like Ozzy, but he and Iommi get the huge bulk of credit while Geezer and Bill Ward go unsung at times yet they were hugely important. I think their legacy lives on in the number of people they influenced. Steve Harris, Jason Newsted and Cliff Burton all claim Geezer as an influence. I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned things british, but four of my five favorite bass players are British and no Americans in the top five. No surprise as most of my favorite bands are british.

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  14. Anonymous1:05 PM

    Yer there all pretty good but i think there is only one god of bass, and thats micheal balzari (flea) of the red hot chili peppers. He is just so quick and everything he does is perfect. The guy cannot be beaten.

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  15. Anonymous9:43 AM

    And where the fuck is Flea??????

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  16. Anonymous9:45 AM

    Flea first , and duff second , thath is better

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  17. Pulled my old stuff out to confirm. You are so right on brother. I like Cliff a little higher though.

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  18. You guys need to take a look at John Campbell of Lamb of God. To do what he has to do which is mimick the guitars is amazing, plus he adds his own stuff in their when possible. As a bass player you try sitting their playing 210+ on most every song and your arms would fall off.

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  19. Anonymous8:05 PM

    I think you are missing Cliff Burton. Although he is gone, he was one of the best bassits ever, at least you could have mentioned him

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  20. Anonymous4:28 AM

    This is a cute list with bunch of silly people who suck at bass on it. :)

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  21. I wrote this list years ago, but never responded to comments. I'll address the more recent ones.

    to the Flea lovers-obviously I like hard rock and metal so most of my favorites are from those genres.

    Shon-Not a big fan of Lamb of God. I find them to be rather generic.

    anonymous (the one who didn't read the whole list)-Cliff Burton is on there at number seven.

    anonymous (the one who doesn't have a clue)-You are certainly welcome to add your own list in the comments, sunshine.

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  22. Anonymous9:47 PM

    No Paul Gray :( not that I really expected to see him

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  23. anonymous-No, you shouldn't have expected him because I like real metal not lame noise like Slipknot.

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