The bass guitar is probably the most underrated instrument in the annals of rock and roll. It’s not showy like the electric guitar or organ, and it doesn’t stand out in the same way as the drums. Imagine a house with a shaky foundation, and you get the idea of what happens to a rock song that doesn’t have the bass delivering what’s necessary. The six bass players on this list stand out from the hundreds of wonderful great rock bass players through history in ways both subtle and obvious, but the one thing they have in common is that the foundations they’ve provided are sturdier than what’s holding up the tallest skyscrapers.
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1. Paul McCartney
McCartney only started playing bass with The Beatles because nobody else in the band wanted to do it. Playing southpaw and usually using a Hofner bass shaped like a violin, Macca followed the lead of James Jamerson, whose bottom end could be heard on so many Motown hits, in making his bass part another source of melody. As if he and John Lennon weren’t tuneful enough with their songwriting efforts, these basslines pushed Beatles songs over the edge to a level of catchiness that no music has ever matched since. It’s no surprise that the tunefulness continued throughout his work with Wings and into his solo career.
2. Jack Bruce
The idea of a power trio was only in its nascent form when Bruce hooked up with drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton to form Cream. This format requires that the bass be a little bit more upfront in the mix, which would mean trouble if the bassist couldn’t get the job done. Bruce accepted that challenge and ran with it, often playing a bold part that would be the song’s musical hook, which allowed Clapton and Baker to indulge in whatever flights of fancy they wanted. Cream was a bit too explosive, both musically and personally, to last too long, but the work that Bruce did influenced countless players who came after him.
3. John Entwistle
The Who’s classic four-piece lineup was full of big personalities, which made it somewhat easy to overlook Entwistle. At least until you heard them play. This was a quartet that played what they deemed “maximum R&B,” and the maximum might as well have referred to the volume with which they played. Yet Entwistle was able to combine a throbbing bottom end with the ability to take off on melodic runs when need be. His bass was an impeccable part of every era of the band, from their earliest high-energy singles, through the period of concept albums like Tommy, all the way to the late ‘70s and early ‘80s when they settled into a more streamlined approach.
4. Rick Danko
Focus on Rick Danko during The Last Waltz, the movie made of The Band’s legendary final concert, and you’ll see what appears to be a man possessed by the groove he’s helping create, his head bobbing and his body shaking in herky-jerky time. When you listen to their studio music, you might find your own body parts doing the same, as Danko’s loose-limbed work, in conjunction with Levon Helm’s drumming, gave the quintet a rhythmic bed that was playful and unpredictable in all the best ways. Listen to the dip he provides in “Up on Cripple Creek” for just one example. Danko joined the other members of The Band in being absolute aces as individuals who nonetheless subdued their egos for the sake of the songs.
5. Tina Weymouth
Weymouth learned to play bass on the fly when she, her eventual husband (and rhythm section partner) Chris Frantz, and David Byrne formed Talking Heads (soon to be joined by Jerry Harrison). Yet she quickly developed a style that made them the most danceable rock band of their time. When Talking Heads began working with producer Brian Eno, Weymouth’s individual parts were an essential part of the way the songs on classic albums like Remain in Light were constructed from the ground up before eventually reaching glorious heights.
6. Geddy Lee
The compositions of Rush were so inventive and potentially unwieldy that it wouldn’t have taken much for them to go wildly off track. Yet through all the time signatures and sudden thematic shifts, Lee was the guy who kept things rolling inexorably forward. Rush never let the fact that they only had three members stop them from going for the gusto on every single track. Lee could be the driving force in that quest or the bedrock, and could dive down into the depths or soar with surprising runs. Along with Alex Lifeson on guitar and Neil Peart on drums, he helped to take prog rock into a new era that embraced technology without sacrificing the chemistry of a tight trio.
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