Bass Players

[led sabbath]

Hey I know we do Top 5 and Top 10 lists on here, not sure if this has been done before or not, but I figure what the heck.

What are your Top 5 bass players of all time?

Mine are:

1. Geezer Bulter-Black Sabbath
2. Geddy Lee-Rush
3. John Entwistle-The Who
4. Chris Squire-Yes
5. Jack Bruce-Cream

[Axe fiend]

My top 5 are:

1 - Geezer
2 - Bob Daisley
3 - John Entwistle
4 - Jerry Scheff
5 - Geddy Lee

[-E5150 StarWanderer-]

1) Geezer Butler - Black Sabbath
2) Phil Lynott - Thin Lizzy
3) Steve Harris - Iron Maiden
4) Jimmy Bain - DIO/Rainbow (very underrated as a bassist and a songwriter alike)
5) Markus Grosskopf - Helloween


Other honorable mentions: Roger Glover, Bob Daisley, Leon Wilkeson (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Lemmy, Geddy Lee, Burke Shelley (Budgie), John Entwistle, Glenn Hughes, D.D. Verni (Overkill)

EDIT: Added some clear choises I forgot on the first time.
EDIT: Made some changes to the list: I moved Jimmy Bain up to th 4th place after listening to Magica and added a new face, Grosskopf to the 5th place.

[Cosmiceddie]

Geddy Lee
Geezer Butler
John Entwistle
Steve Harris
Cliff Burton

[Sahand]

of course it did:

1-Steve Harris
2-Billy Sheehan
3-Stu Hamm
4-John Entwistle
5-John Deacon

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Not as easy to come up with my top 5 as I thought it would, anyhow :

Geezer (obviously)
Geddy Lee
Jean Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers)
Chris Squire
Pete Trewavas (Marillion)

[sn0wb1ind0zzy]

Geezer Butler
Burke Shelley
Steve Harris
Phil Lynott
David Ellefson

[Hell_Awaits]

Geddy Lee
Geezer Butler
Flea
Steve Harris
John Paul Jones

[RLP4ever]

Wow, so cool to see the unforgettably unique John Entwistle (RIP) get so many citations here already.

Now, I obviously have very many favourite bass guitarists in rock/metal, and as generally under-rated as they are, I know I've always rated many bassists very highly. A 'top 5' that pops to mind, right now:

John Entwisle
Billy Sheehan (DLR band, Steve Vai, Talas, and others)
John Paul Jones
Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus, and others)
Chris Richards (Suffocation, and others)

[Franklin]

John Entwistle
Chris Squire
Geddy Lee
John Paul Jones
Geezer Butler

[The Rules Mob]

Good to see the bass players get some recognition. I'm a (long) retired unknown garage band bassist. Now I only break out my "axe" to amuse my kids and drive my wife absolutely bananas. Anyways, my list of guys whose stuff I love to play:

1. Geddy Lee
2. Steve Harris
3. John Taylor
4. John Entwistle
5. Flea

[Hell_Awaits]

Good to see the bass players get some recognition. I'm a (long) retired unknown garage band bassist. Now I only break out my "axe" to amuse my kids and drive my wife absolutely bananas. Anyways, my list of guys whose stuff I love to play:

1. Geddy Lee
2. Steve Harris
3. John Taylor
4. John Entwistle
5. Flea

John Taylor is a great bass player, his playing on the song "Rio" sounds amazing.

[Pink Led Rush]

1. Geddy Lee
2. Geezer Butler
3. Steve Harris
4. Roger Waters
5. John Paul Jones

[DISCMAN1969]

1. Geezer
2. Steve Harris
3. John Paul Jones
4. Michael Anthony
5. Cliff Williams..... no one else will say him, so I will give him some credit

[IommiRules]

1. Geezer Butler
2. Flea
3. John Entwhistle- maybe the only REAL musician The Who actually had
4. Geddy Lee
5. Steve Harris



Could have thrown in Les Claypool, Rudy Sarzo, Cliff Burton, Glen Hughes, or a number of others for my #5. But Harris wins on the strength of "The Trooper" alone. If you play bass, I double dog dare you to try and play that song accurately and straight through.

[Cosmiceddie]

But Harris wins on the strength of "The Trooper" alone. If you play bass, I double dog dare you to try and play that song accurately and straight through.

I daresay 'The Trooper' is easy to play compared to 'Phantom Of The Opera'.

[IommiRules]

Fair enough, I never had a chance to play Phantom. I'll have to give it a listen.

[RLP4ever]

3. John Entwhistle- maybe the only REAL musician The Who actually had

That's an extraordinarily odd thing to say, mate Iommi. Are you being dead serious in saying this? As a big fan of The Who, and owner of their entire discography I have to argue how I feel ALL of the Who members were extremely gifted, REAL musicians, in their own right. To imply that Townshend's guitar playing, Moon's drumming and Daltrey's singing were somehow anything less than very musically accomplished and 'real', just doesn't ring true to me.

Anyway, Steve Harris seems to be a recurrent choice among so many people here. Anybody here regards Paul McCartney as a top player and among his personal favourites?

[-E5150 StarWanderer-]

I'm surprised (but not that saddened) to see that Cliff Burton has been included in the lists of only few members. I hope I'm not upsetting anyone, but Burton is somewhat overrated in my books. I think that sometimes he missed the core of playing BASS guitar. His solos were pretty much bad guitar solos, only played with a bass: those not too clean bends and hammer on's, incorporating techniques normally associated with playing guitar such as string skipping coupled with an extremely high distortion just sound very amateurish to me. Don't get me wrong, he delivered the basic good inside songs, but to me his playing wasn't anything too spectacular or creative.

[The Rules Mob]

Anybody here regards Paul McCartney as a top player and among his personal favourites?

I certainly do RLP, but he makes my top 10, not 5. McCartney's playing is not as technically challenging as some of the others, but McCartney was amazing at creating a great bass line to play underneath the guitars and keyboards. He's actually the anti-Harris, in that Harris plays very complex bass lines, but in most cases they essentially mirror the chords or notes played by Murray/Smith and/or Gers. If you're trying to pick up a Beatles or McCartney song by ear, you have to really listen to the song, because the bass (if he's the one playing it, of course) usually isn't tracking the guitar.

@Hell_Awaits: I of course agree Taylor has a lot of great bass lines, of which Rio is certainly a prime example. Girls on Film is another very, very difficult song to play on the bass.

@IommiRules: The Trooper is difficult on the index and middle fingers of whatever hand you don't work the fretboard with, true. The real test of a player's dexterity is to play La Villa Strangiato all the way through. My old bass teacher remarked to me, when I asked him to teach me to play LVS, "What the f*ck's with these guys? Can't they just write three chord songs about girls once in a while?"

[Wicked Cricket]

Funny I came into this forum today to add Paul McCartney's name to the lists..and RLP & Rules Mob beat me to the punch... but yes, just to reiterate, to over look Paul McCartney would be a big mistake, he's got to be mentioned when it comes to all time great base players, he is a very good all around musician, and volunteered to play bass when Stu Sutcliff was let go and then later died, but McCartney brought a lot of his musical genious to the bass guitar. I'd recommend Abbey Road for sure, the base playing on that is superb, heck, Come Together alone is a masterpiece, as well as countless others, including Paperback Writer, Day Tripper, you can go on and on, he was/is a revolutionary and visionary on the bass guitar.

[Pink Led Rush]

Paul McCartney's also got a great voice and can play guitar pretty darn well as well. Check out Maybe I'm Amazed for example, he played every instrument on that album.

[H&H]

1. Geezer Butler
2. Steve Harris
3. John Entwistle
4. John Deacon
5. Geddy Lee
6. Glenn Hughes

[kamikazetom]

Here is my top 5

1. Jaco Pastorius
2. Tony Levin
3. Geddy Lee
4. John Paul Jones
5. John Entwhistle

[IommiRules]

@ RLP...

Maybe my statement was a bit harsh.

Daltrey is an amazing vocalist! But, IMO, Townsend and the late Keith Moon are terribly overrated. If it hadn't been for their outrageous stage persona's, I don't think they would enter many peoples list of best on their instruments. Entwhistle was a "small g" god on the bass. Incredible. He was far more precious to their music then he ever got credit for. Probably what I should have said. Peace.

[RLP4ever]

If you're trying to pick up a Beatles or McCartney song by ear, you have to really listen to the song, because the bass (if he's the one playing it, of course) usually isn't tracking the guitar.

That's so totally true, TRM. And frankly, as much as I mostly never really cared about McCartney's songs with the Beatles (his singing, included ), I admit how I nevertheless always felt that Paul was a particularly impressive and impeccable bass player, throughout all that I have ever heard by him.

Wicked Cricket it spot-on to cite Abbey Road as an exemplar of a certain kind of arresting allure of Paul McCartney's bass playing. That album was replete with some beautiful, bombshell bass, right through.

It's also cool to see the inimitable John Entwistle (RIP) get so many nods from people here, who are otherwise maybe not big Who fans like I am. Funny, though, how many are spelling his name with an 'h' to make it whistle, when it isn't so.

Maybe my statement was a bit harsh.

Daltrey is an amazing vocalist! But, IMO, Townsend and the late Keith Moon are terribly overrated. If it hadn't been for their outrageous stage persona's, I don't think they would enter many peoples list of best on their instruments. Entwhistle was a "small g" god on the bass. Incredible. He was far more precious to their music then he ever got credit for. Probably what I should have said. Peace.

Ha, you were definitely harsh.

If you think that Townshend and Moon were 'over-rated', then it's pointless to try to argue against that, because that's the way you feel about them. Fair enough, really. Though, I have to say that Townshend's towering reputation aside, I always thought that Keith Moon (RIP) was, if anything, actually generally under-rated, when all the love and worship were going the way of his peers and contemporary legends like Bill Ward, John Bonham, in particular. I have to second your saying that Roger Daltrey was an all-round amazing lead vocalist. His vocal harmonies, for one, was something I always found stirringly superb.

As for Entwistle, I can't speak too highly of the man's incomparable, invincible playing, and yes, you're right about his immense, if generally under-rated, importance to The Who. John was an incredible innovator and a phenomenal musician, and frankly, he often played the bass guitar as if it were the lead guitar---so powerful, crucial and unforgettable did it sound on so many of those out and out classic Who songs. I don't know about you guys, but I still think (and this may sound like a sweeping generalisation to many) that the bass guitar always had a more visible, or is it audible , presence, overall, in Rock, than in a lot of Metal.

[Ellbery]

Geezer Butler
Glenn Hughes
Phil Lynott
Steve Harris
Neil Murray

[Wicked Cricket]

That's so totally true, TRM. And frankly, as much as I mostly never really cared about McCartney's songs with the Beatles (his singing, included ), I admit how I nevertheless always felt that Paul was a particularly impressive and impeccable bass player, throughout all that I have ever heard by him.

Wicked Cricket it spot-on to cite Abbey Road as an exemplar of a certain kind of arresting allure of Paul McCartney's bass playing. That album was replete with some beautiful, bombshell bass, right through.

It's also cool to see the inimitable John Entwistle (RIP) get so many nods from people here, who are otherwise maybe not big Who fans like I am. Funny, though, how many are spelling his name with an 'h' to make it whistle, when it isn't so.



Ha, you were definitely harsh.

If you think that Townshend and Moon were 'over-rated', then it's pointless to try to argue against that, because that's the way you feel about them. Fair enough, really. Though, I have to say that Townshend's towering reputation aside, I always thought that Keith Moon (RIP) was, if anything, actually generally under-rated, when all the love and worship were going the way of his peers and contemporary legends like Bill Ward, John Bonham, in particular. I have to second your saying that Roger Daltrey was an all-round amazing lead vocalist. His vocal harmonies, for one, was something I always found stirringly superb.

As for Entwistle, I can't speak too highly of the man's incomparable, invincible playing, and yes, you're right about his immense, if generally under-rated, importance to The Who. John was an incredible innovator and a phenomenal musician, and frankly, he often played the bass guitar as if it were the lead guitar---so powerful, crucial and unforgettable did it sound on so many of those out and out classic Who songs. I don't know about you guys, but I still think (and this may sound like a sweeping generalisation to many) that the bass guitar always had a more visible, or is it audible , presence, overall, in Rock, than in a lot of Metal.

Keith Moon was a monster drummer, manic genious, his work on Quadrophenia alone puts him among the immortals, the Who after he passed on were never the same. Of course Enthwistle's bass is like a fuge organ, it's huge, the sounds he got out of it are legendary, but it's Pete Townsend who's lyrical, visionary genious and underrated quitar playing (Pete forged the way for heavy metal with his bone crushing power chord style, felt not only on his electric roecordings, but acoustic ones as well) the opening melodic guitar soloing in Eminence Front is pure jazz/rock nirvana . Just listen to The Who Live At Leeds "Young Man Blues" if that ain't metal, I'll eat my vinal copy . You can argue that Enthwistle was the best "muscian" in the who, but that shouldn't diminish the fact that Moon and Townsend were/are giants in their own right.

[RLP4ever]

Well, Wicked, you do realise that I, for one, sure ain't downplaying the dynamic guitar-drumming duo of Pete Townshend and Keith Moon. lol..... Cool to see a fellow Who fan like you pitch in and state your ample appreciation for the awesomeness of The Who's foursome. As I had already stated in my thread on The Who several weeks ago, I definitely think just as highly of The Who's four legends as I do that of Sabbath and Zeppelin. So yea, Entwistle's indelible genius apart, Townshend and Moon and Daltrey, in my book, were every bit the magnificent musicians they are still rightly regarded as.

[Wicked Cricket]

Well, Wicked, you do realise that I, for one, sure ain't downplaying the dynamic guitar-drumming duo of Pete Townshend and Keith Moon. lol..... Cool to see a fellow Who fan like you pitch in and state your ample appreciation for the awesomeness of The Who's foursome. As I had already stated in my thread on The Who several weeks ago, I definitely think just as highly of The Who's four legends as I do that of Sabbath and Zeppelin. So yea, Entwistle's indelible genius apart, Townshend and Moon and Daltrey, in my book, were every bit the magnificent musicians they are still rightly regarded as.

What you said brother!

[DeepCrimsonSabbath]

Not going to rank these guys in any order (kind of like asking which of my children are better). Here they are

Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell, GZR)
Les Claypool (Primus, etc)
Victor Wooten (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones)
Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, etc.)
Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)

If my life were depending on picking a #1, I'd go Wooten. If you haven't heard or seen this guy play, check him out.

[Hell_Awaits]

in that Harris plays very complex bass lines, but in most cases they essentially mirror the chords or notes played by Murray/Smith and/or Gers. If you're trying to pick up a Beatles or McCartney song by ear, you have to really listen to the song, because the bass (if he's the one playing it, of course) usually isn't tracking the guitar.

I think it should be noted that Harris has sole writing credits on many Iron Maiden songs so it could be the guitar mirroring the bass in some instances.

[Cosmiceddie]

I think it should be noted that Harris has sole writing credits on many Iron Maiden songs so it could be the the guitar mirroring the bass in some instances.

Mind that Steve Harris is not only a stunning bass player but an amazing songwriter at that. There aren't many bass players who are blessed with that gift, are there?

[Ellbery]

Mind that Steve Harris is not only a stunning bass player but an amazing songwriter at that. There aren't many bass players who are blessed with that gift, are there?

Aren't there???
Geezer Butler
Glenn Hughes
Bob Daisley
Geddy Lee
That's straight off the top of my head!! They've written some of the most Classicest (made up word!) songs ever!!!

[8bit Fighter]

Easy, Les Claypool. I listen to some Primus albums a friend of mine lent to me, and I was annoyed after the first two minutes on one track. His music doesn't do it for me that much. And the NIB cover he did, why...just why? Sabbath's will forever be better unless someone else came along and played it.

Five years go by and my ears, how we say, "evolved". I'm starting to come around to liking Les' playing and writing, but the NIB cover still remains one of my least favorite renditions.

GZR, Geddy Lee, Michael Anthony, Cliff Burton, Rex Brown (Pantera), Steve Harris...name a few.

[The Rules Mob]

Aren't there???
Geezer Butler
Glenn Hughes
Bob Daisley
Geddy Lee

And, of course, you have to include McCartney, in my view one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

@Hell_Awaits: I think that's absoluely true, but that's more a criticism of either Murray/Smith/Gers or Harris isn't it? Meaning either the guitarists aren't capable of coming up with something different from what Harris plays for them (unlikely, since there are plenty of songs not written by Harris that don't follow the formula, like Revelations or 2 Minutes to Midnight), or Harris (who pretty much controls Maiden) won't let them.

[Wall 666]

1) Geezer Butler - Brilliant style, excellent sound and a great songwriter both in terms of music and lyrics.

2) John Deacon - Very (unfairly) under-rated. He had a strong sound and interesting style and he was a great writer.

The remainder in no order:

Peter Steele - Excellent player with an instantly recgognisable style.

Lemmy - I'm no musician but to me, Lemmy plays bass like rhythm guitar. A very recognisable in-your-face style which I enjoy.

Glenn Hughes - Excellent player who can cover a range of styles.

Honourable mentions to:
Bob Daisley
Neil Murray
Phil Lynott
Steve Digiorgio
Jimmy Bain
Sharlee D'Angelo

[MH1986]

Here is a list of my favorite bassists rather than a whose best of all time kind of list.

Geezer Butler
John Entwistle
John Deacon
Nikki Sixx (underrated bassist, great songwriter)
Jimmy Bain
Paul McCartney
Roger Glover
Glenn Hughes

[H&H]

2) John Deacon - Very (unfairly) under-rated. He had a strong sound and interesting style and he was a great writer.

Here is a list of my favorite bassists rather than a whose best of all time kind of list.

John Deacon

Good to see I'm not alone with my assessment of John Deacon. I feel he also is very and unfairly underrated. He was an amazing player, and it's a shame he retired.

[MH1986]

Good to see I'm not alone with my assessment of John Deacon. I feel he also is very and unfairly underrated. He was an amazing player, and it's a shame he retired.

Oh yeah, John Deacon doesn't get anywhere near the amount of credit he deserves. Truly a shame he retired. It would be fantastic if he reunited with Brian May and Roger Taylor and made some more music.