Comments on: Tim’s Favorite Bassists (A GROHL-FREE COLUMN)

By: BruhBruh

BruhBruh — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:17:00 +0000

This.

By: dudebrah

dudebrah — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:16:00 +0000

John Paul Jones, and yeah Geddy Lee BRUH.

By: Robert Neason

Robert Neason — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 04:20:00 +0000

No john paul jones makes this list meaningless. You are no Joe queenen, but keep trying dear child.

By: fatoomsh

fatoomsh — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 21:12:00 +0000

A list of bassists without John Paul Jones is just pretending to be a list

By: JVB

JVB — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:48:05 +0000

Um, Berry Oakley.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 13:36:58 +0000

Are you kidding me? As a bassist, this list is kinda silly. Aside from McCartney, the rest of these guys are left in the shadows by a formidable list of others.

What about James Jamerson? His body of work even blows McCartney out of the water. Or Marcus Miller? Or Will Lee? What about Carol Kaye, Jerry Jemmott, Chuck Rainey….all of whom are great players right now? Or Brian Wilson? His bass playing arguably shaped 20th century music almost as much as McCartney.

And there are many others. David Hood falls into a similar category as Jamerson and Carol Kaye.

The other four? Huh?? Maybe the writer needs to get out more….or expand his listening habits…..like this inane comment: “his truly revolutionary insistence on reducing bass-playing to tonic-note riding and nothing but tonic note riding makes him the Picasso of bassists (and it was most definitely a choice, not a limitation).”

Yea. And if I hammer on one note on the piano, I’m now on the level of Van Cliburn or Rachmaninoff….particularly if I choose to….geez….

And WTF is the bizarre Picasso allusion? The author should be punished by sitting in front of the Picasso statue in Daley Plaza in Chicago for two weeks, 24/7. Maybe then he may recognize the difference between Picasso’s breadth of field and a one note bass line. If the pigeons decorate him with excrement that might be a fitting reward.

Hell, there are a rafter of Chicago blues bassist greats who didn’t play only one damned note…..has the writer even heard the great bass line on Buddy Guy’s classic “Stone Crazy,” which Rolling Stone names one of the top one hundred guitar tunes in history? The bassist, the great Jack Myers, plays one of the most amazing blues bass lines on vinyl. WAY beyond one note.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 20:28:33 +0000

How can you leave Danny Bonaduce off the list? Have you seen how he could get the most amazing sounds out of the bass without properly moving his finger. A wizard.

By: Tim Sommer

Tim Sommer — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 20:25:13 +0000

Mr. Rude Trevor Vargas, I suppose I wanted to make the point that amongst McCartney’s zillion other highly praised skills — I mean, after all, he may be the most famous musician alive — we can’t overlook jis bass playing, and if he was to be examined purely as a bassist, his achievements would be monumental.

By: Rude Trevor Vargas

Rude Trevor Vargas — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 18:41:00 +0000

If no Entwistle, then why would you put Macca on the list? Are you saying people are unaware of him?

By: Ritchie Vanian

Ritchie Vanian — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 18:39:08 +0000

matt freeman- rancid

By: Phil Ajjarapu

Phil Ajjarapu — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 18:24:53 +0000

strong list, glad you didn’t shy away from McCartney. I’d add Phil Lynott, and Sting as bassists who can divide their brain enough to sing at the same time which is tough for this one reason: if you’re playing bass, it can be intensely harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic all at once. Other rhythm instruments, even a finger picked guitar, are kind of like a perpetual motion machine. Once you start, the right hand, it keeps going and the left hand changes chord shapes. I think this is also why there are less pianist/lead singers. Also in the less is more category, i’d place Tina Weymouth. In the more is more category, James Jamerson might also fall into the Pet Sounds category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAT3aVj-A_E for reference

although he’s got that same McCartney magic of doing unconventional things that disappear inside of the song. This might be the function of playing on amazing songs, that you don’t notice the amazing bass playing, or the function of playing in a tight ensemble.