Who are the Greatest Bass Guitarists of All Time? John Entwistle, Geezer Butler, ...?

[razerx]

I saw a band called Dixie Dregs opening for Blue Oyster Cult and the bassist was nothing short of pyrotechnic. The guitarist for the Dixie Dregs was Steve Morse who later join Deep Purple.

 

[BDA_ABAT]

Big fan of Entwhistle, Chris Squire, Flea, Les Claypool, Jaco, Stanley Jordan, Geddy Lee. Have to admit I'm surprised that no one has so far mentioned John Myung from Dream Theater! The man can flat out PLAY. Reportedly one of the few musicians to not only warm up before concerts, but also to religiously include a warm down after shows.

BTW: Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree is a very capable player... not the fastest or most technical player around, but his grooves are just solid.... perfeclty mated to his partners in the band.

Bruce

 

[JadeEast]

Robbie Shakespear / Sly and Robbie

Eddie Gomez : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXLcS7yOjhg

Christian McBride

Scott LaFaro

Bootsy Collins

 

[Otto]

Donald Duck Dunn from Booker T & The MGs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uv-18oG9AE

 

[randerson3024]

Jaco Pastorius - sadly no longer with us
Tony Levin

 

[Peccary]

Did anyone mention Stanley Clark?

 

[John D.]

PHIL LESH - GRATEFUL DEAD

JD

 

[Inks]

Bassists like tony levin, geddy lee, chris squire and victor wooten are amazing.
It's sad that most of the ones mentioned come from more known bands, i would not put flea up there with the ones mentioned and bassists like billy sheenan are technically proficient, but lack creativity and accommodating input imo.

 

[TheAnomaly]

peter hook needs to be mentioned because of his undeniable input to Joy Division, New Order, etc.

 

[Ocean Machine]

I don't know about greatest, but I really enjoy Mike Inez - especially on Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies.
He also wrote the No More Tears riff when he was with Ozzy.

 

[tony jones]

Billy Sheehan, Jaco Pastorius.

 

[antiman]

i have played bass for over 20 years all because of john taylor of duran duran. i always considered him to be one of my faves, but a pro drummer friend of mine says he didn't play some of his coolest bass lines... he claims it was either pino palladino or bernard edwards... can anyone comment on this?
antiman

 

[amphead]

Bootsy Collins - Funky!
Les Claypool - Dynamic!
Jimi Hendrix - Groovy!
Yes, Jimi Hendrix taught most of the licks to his bass players and then they would emulate what he showed them to do!

 

[audiosceptic]

You can't deny James Jamerson's bass playing on all those Motown hits.

 

[green84061]

Flea, he might not be the best bass player of all time but he is by far the coolest.