Bass player influences

I thought it would be fun to see which bass players influenced each of us to pick it up!!! For me:

1. Geddy Lee. My first influence.
2. Paul McCartney (easy, yet complex but oh, so melodic). My bass guru.
3. Chris Squire. Enough said.
4. Mike Mesaros (The Smithereens). Again, melodic.
5. Greg Lake. ELP are still one of my favorites.

There are sooooo many more but off the top of my head, those are the top 5. Whatcha got??

1. Billy Sheehan. If it weren't for his playing with Steve Vai, I would've never stuck with the bass. He's not so much of an influence of mine now, but more of a point of interest.

2.Phil Lesh. When I first listened to the Grateful Dead, I was immediately in love not only because of the beauty of the aural picture that they painted, but Phil's playing was so intense and so different from what I'd heard before then.

3. Rick Danko. Maybe not the greatest or flashiest bass player ever, but I think he did some pretty cool stuff while singing, no less.

4. Stefan Lessard. I will be a Dave Matthews Band fan until I die, and the reasoning here is similar to that of Phil Lesh.

5. Donald Duck Dunn. After watching The Blues Brothers for the first time, I fell in love with his playing. Maybe not as simple as Jamerson, but his style really made me think about how less can really be more.


There are others, but these are the major ones. And I know, I know, Geddy's not up there, but honestly, I never really have been a big Rush fan. Don't get me wrong, they're great musicians, but I just never really got into prog rock that much. I guess it's just one of those kind of things that you had to live through to understand.

Some of my influences. In no particular order...

Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
Walter Becker (Steely Dan)
Rodger Glover (Deep Purple)
John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
Chris Novoselic (Nirvana)
Mike Inez (Alice in Chains)
Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy)
John Entwistle (The Who)
Jack Bruce (Cream)
Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix)
Ross Valory (Journey)
Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Jaco Pastorious (Jaco Pastorious)

My favorites

Larry Graham
Abraham Laboriel
Les Claypool
Mark Egan
Oteil Burbridge
Richard Bona
Marcus Miller
John Myung
Stuart Zender

Since I don't really play bass I don't have true influences. But these are the bassists who I really enjoy listening to.

Derek Smalls
Leon Wilkerson
Paul McCartney
Gene Simmons

- Phil Lesh
- Jack Casady
- Danny Thompson
- Dave Pegg
- Chris Squire
- Jack Bruce
- Others

I'd also like to say hello to everyone, I just registered.

Welcome Jerry, glad to see you made it over!!!!

I can't believe no one has mentioned Dee Murray! His playing on those old Elton John records was very melodic and unique. Give the entire Goodbye Yellow Brick Road or Captain Fantastic albums a spin and you'll hear one cool bass line after another.

Other favs of mine:

Tom Peterson
John Wetton
John Deacon
Anthony Jackson
Ross Valory
Roy Wood
Brian Beller
Tom Fowler
Arthur Barrow
Peter Cetera
Gene Simmons
Stanley Clarke
Bruce Hall

Yeah, I know...pretty odd list. Such is my record/CD collection.

I'm a punk-rock kid, so don't be surprised :
1. Matt Freeman, Rancid
2. Jay Bentley, Bad Religion (look at his personal Myspace page, you'll notice something very interesting on his basses)
3. Mike Dirnt, Green Day
4. Fat Mike, NOFX

First and formost is Chris Squire.

John Entwistle
Abraham Laboriel
Geddy Lee
Michael Manring
Norm Stockton
John Lodge
John MacVie Fleetwood Mac
Stanley Clark

Great stuff!!! So many great bassist mentioned. I can't believe I forgot to add Entwistle!!!

ddbass, you're right....Dee Murray is an incredible bass player and should not be left off any list. Early EJ is GREAT music.

Tony, is Abraham Laboriel's son Paul McCartney's drummer??? I'm pretty sure it's the same name.

Here are Jay Bentley's basses :
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/jaybentley/leper020.jpg

What does look strange to you ?

I see pickups but no electronics

Also looks like he's a bleeder

You're right : no pot, no switch, just pickup wired to the output jack .... soooooooo punk rock !

What up ! Here's my all time favorite bass players that made me realize that you can approach a bass in a ferocious manner. Attack it with heavy thunder. The first three are pretty much interchangeable.

1) Mighty John Entwistel
2) Mighty Jon Paul Jones
3) Mighty Paul McCartney
4) Geezer Butler the Man
5) Les Claypool (What can't you do with a bass?)
6) John Myung
7) Cliff Burton
Geddy Lee
9) James Jammerson
10)Rex Brown (pretty hard to get melodic with Heavy Metal but this guy manages to throw in some gnarly runs in there under Dime's solos.)

Those are my top ten. Learn it.

Scottpro1969 wrote:

Great stuff!!! So many great bassist mentioned. I can't believe I forgot to add Entwistle!!!

ddbass, you're right....Dee Murray is an incredible bass player and should not be left off any list. Early EJ is GREAT music.

Tony, is Abraham Laboriel's son Paul McCartney's drummer??? I'm pretty sure it's the same name.

Scott, I honestly don't know.

I have Abe's email address here somewhere, I should drop him a line and ask.

Great thread!

You don't have to bother Tony. I just did some research. His son IS Abe Jr. and is Macca's drummer. He has quite a resume too. How cool is that??

off of the top of my head......

Steve Harris(Iron Maiden)
Pete Perez(Riot, Spastic Ink)
John Alderete(Racer X, ........
Neil Murray(mostly with Whitesnake)
Gary Thain(not around all the long, but amazing bass playing with Uriah Heep)
Joey Vera(Armored Saint, among others)

Many others I likes, but didn't influence me as much.............

For me:

Cliff Burton
Flea
Les Claypool
Jason Newsted