Being a bass player myself, I love listening to some great bassists rip it or groove in whatever style. Here are some of my favourites and why: 1. Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) - Great technique, amazing sense of groove, and an amazing stage prescence....he can play trumpet too! 2. John Myung (Dream Theater) - This guy has the best technique of any bassist I've seen. He plays some of the most complex music written for bass and I've never seen/heard him make a mistake in any of the dozens of live performances I've watched/listened to. 3. Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings/Karmakanic) - An amazing jazz-influenced bassist. He uses the fretless bass heavily, coming up with some of the best grooves I've heard. His electric bass tone is great as well, a very fat Rickenbacker-like tone similar to Yes's Chris Squire. 4. Tony Levin (King Crimson/LTE/Etc, etc) A coveted session musician, the man has mastered the #1 most important use of the bass: note placement. Many of his licks aren't too significant at first glance, but if you take a look at it the notes are masterfully placed. A legend. 5. Kristoffer Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation) - With his six string fretted/fretless attack, he has a relentless driving style of play that can turn to melodic and grooving in the blink of an eye, essential to the band's sound. 6. Justin Chancellor (Tool) - The driving force behind Tool's music, the songs are very bass driven and he is up to the task, with some truly amazing riffs like "Schism", "Aenima", "46&2", "The Grudge", and the beautiful bass harmonics of "Disposition". 7. Juan Alderette (ex-Racer X/The Mars Volta) - A very versatile bassist for the crazy prog band The Mars Volta, he has proven himself a great improviser and able to jam with the best of them. His bass work in Frances the Mute is great and his live solos/use of effects is inspiring. 8. Michael Lepond (Symphony X) - An amazing talent who has groove, but most importantly has the chops to keep up with guitar virtuoso Michael Romeo, no small feat for a bassist. He also has a great bass tapping technique which he uses in fast unison runs with Romeo like in "Fallen" and "King of Terrors". 9. Martin Mendez (Opeth) - He does a great job of anchoring the bottom end, with great technique and a beautful tone and sense of groove. 10. Dave LaRue (Dixie Dregs/Jordan Rudess/John Petrucci) - Amazing bassist with the jamming prog band the Dixie Dregs, also laying down his incredibley tasteful licks for Jordan Rudess's solo albums and playing live at G3 this year for John Petrucci.
Justin Chancellor (Tool) Juan Alderette (The Mars Volta) Justin van der Volgen (!!!) Fuck you, that's all I got.
[*]Les Claypool (Primus, Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains) - It's a damn shame neither one of you mentioned Les. He needs no introduction. [*]Tim Commerford (Ex-Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) [*]Steve DiGiorgio (ex-Iced Earth, ex-Testament, Quo Vadis) [*]John Myung (Dream Theater) [*]Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) [*]John MacDonough (Megadeth, ex-Iced Earth) [*]Dave Ellefson (ex-MegaDeth, Soulfly) [*]Todd Evans (Gwar) That's all I got.
1-Chris Steele(alexisonfire)Man, this guy beats the shit out of his bass. 2-Robert Trujillo(Ozzy, Metallica)Can't say enough. 3-Les Claypool That's all, for now at least.
1.Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) 2.Phoenix (LP) 3.Mike Dirnt (Green Day) 4.Paolo Gregletto (Trivium) 5.Duff (Velvet Revolver,ex Guns N' Roses)
Flea Les Claypool Rob Trujillo Matt Freeman (Rancid) Phoenix (His LP stuff is boring but if you've ever heard some of his old Snax basslines, he's actually really good) I could list more, but they're either dead or don't play rock.
In no order: Ben Kenney (Incubus) Fieldy (Korn) Flea (RHCP) Mike Dirnt (Greenday) Ryan (Mudvayne) Sam Rivers (Limpbizkit) Tim Commerford (Ex-Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) I can only think of seven....