Bassplayers who were a Key influence on your playing.

[Blazer]

Well then I figure it to be fun to talk about the players that got us playing and how we discovered playing bass because of them.

I said it before, Brian Setzer of the Stray cats was my influence on picking up the guitar, my inspiration to start playing BASS however came from a source which was closer to my own home. Henny Vrienten of the Dutch Ska formation "Doe Maar" (Which means "Go ahead") was my first introduction of the low end spectrum of the business, I was a kid, seven or eight years old when Doe Maar became the biggest things since the Beatles in the Netherlands. And one member stood out from the others: the Bassplayer, he had bleached blonde hair like my other idol, Brian Setzer and played what looked to me a king-size guitar from which this growling low-end came. My father told me that Vrienten played a Bass and it all made sense. I would start miming to Doe Maar records with cardboard cut out guitars on which I tried to get the shape and color of Vrienten's Fender P-bass right. It wasn't until I got my first bass in my teens that I found out just how good Vrienten is as a bassplayer, he plays these tough lines, locked in tight with the drummer (And I mean tight as a pair of shoes three sizes too small) while singing. It still impresses me to this day.

Doe Maar - "Doe maar net alsof" (Just pretend)

Last month I had the chance to meet him after a show and he was just the nicest guy, very humble and open, I talked to him about his basses how my first bass was a Blue and white squier because it looked like his Blue and white P-bass and I admitted not being as good a bassplayer as he was, he laughed and told me that there would be other things in which I would be better in doing than he was. He also asked if I knew somebody who could sell him an eighties Aria bass because his old one (which he played in the clip I posted) was stolen and he missed that sound he got from it. I told him that I knew of TWO shops which still had those basses around but I don't know if he actually did something with that info I gave him.

Another key influence on me as a Bassplayer is Paul McCartney, who's album "Broadstreet" came out around the same time when I discovered Doe Maar and "No more lonely nights" was a hit back then. My Parents being old Beatles fans told me "If you like that, listen to THIS" and let me listen to their Beatles LP records, it was a revelation, Like Vrienten, here was a guy who played that giant low end emiting instrument and sing at the same time. In addition, Macca also used to play his Rickenbacker 4001S a lot in those days and to this day thanks to seeing Macca with his Ricky, I still consider the Rickenbacker 4001 the pinnacle of beauty when it comes to the look of a bass. I owned a couple of copies but I sold them all on, knowing that only the real thing would do and so far I haven't been able to get one. But I keep my hopes up, someday my ship will come in, I KNOW it will.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Jack Bruce~I finally got to meet him too, in '99...4 years before I started playin' bass.
Yes, as some of you know I'm a drummer who picked up bass real late--the year I turned 50.
This month makes 6 years of playing.
I told Jack that Cream was my first concert in '68 & he said "Where?"
I answered."L.A."
& he said "That was a good show!"
There are lots of great bassplayers like you say, Blazer~ When they sing great lead vocals too they become twice as lovable!! 

Other major influences are Felix Pappalardi, Billy Cox, Glenn Cornick of early Tull....
....& Boz Burrell & Tony Franklin for their AWESOME fretless work!!
...& Phil Kennemore of Y&T, Tony Levin & JPJ!!!
Nikki Sixx for having the cooolest 80s style & vibe.

These are the greats who've inspired me the most.
I don't sound nearly as good as any of them.

[Freuds_Cat]

not by pure choice, but probably by strange movements of the planets or some sort of distal osmosis I would have to say Roger Glover has influenced my style of playing more than any other bass player.

I do love his playing but if I had a choice it would be Andy Fraser, Allen Woody or Mel Schacher.

Mind you I'm not complaining 

[nofi]

good drummers inspire me. bass players for some reason i tend to ignore.

[rahock]

There are many that I admired and respected like Monk Montgomery, Ron Carter, Stanley Clark, Scott Laffarrow, Barrry Oakley, Jack Bruce, Jaco and a number of others. But they had a very limited influence on my style of playing . I like to listen to them but I never really did much to imitate them.

The guy who influenced me much more in style and technique is Larry Taylor of Canned Heat and John Mayall fame. Part of that is dictated by the type of music that I chose to play and the other part is that the SOB is really fuggin' good. When it comes to  a combination of rockin', bluesy, jazzy stuff that is all about the groove, (which is what I like best), he does it  the way I think it should be done

Even with Larry Taylor, I'm not so sure that my quest was so much to play like him, but  more to hear like him . I'm not certain that makes sense to anyone else ,but that's how I see it
Rick

[nofi]

yikes, i should mention this guy. the late great charles calmese. he played with james cotton, muddy waters, johnny winters and on steve miller's fly like an eagle lp as well as numerous lesser known projects. i 'borrowed' almost every lick he played and was invaluable to me in constructing walking bass lines and being able to improvise in general. thank you, sir.

[rahock]

Nofi, Calmese is the same kind of guy as a Larry Taylor. Creates a good groove and all the parts just seem to fit just right. Nine out of ten times you know the next note before he plays it. It's not that they are so simple and easy to predict , but they tend to be more about building the perfect walking groove for the song at hand.   I can learn so much more of the  usable things from players like that. Kinda like Charlie the Tuna. Ya' know, the tuna with good taste .

Rick

[lowend1]

In no particular order:
John Entwistle
Dennis Dunaway
Mars Cowling
Gary Thain
Bob Daisley
Cliff Williams
Geezer Butler
plenty more, but these are the guys I learned the most from.

[TBird1958]

 When I finally started paying attention to music the bands I liked alot (and their bassists) so...............

Dennis Dunaway
Jimmy Lea
Roger Glover
Overend Watts
Gary Thain
Geddy Lee 

I loved U.K. glam SO much in my early teens, and really liked KISS as a band alot too About the time I graduated H.S. in '76 I'd been a huge fan of RUSH for awhile thus when I had enough money saved up for my first "real" bass it was a 4001 Rickenbacker that I bought from Mike Lull - when he worked at a Bellevue, Wa music store.


 

[Barklessdog]

Jack Bruce
Stanley Clarke
John Wetton
John Entwistle
Ralphe Armstrong
Randy Jackson (when he was a fusion bass player)

[Blazer]

I loved U.K. glam SO much in my early teens, and really liked KISS as a band alot too About the time I graduated H.S. in '76 I'd been a huge fan of RUSH for awhile thus when I had enough money saved up for my first "real" bass it was a 4001 Rickenbacker that I bought from Mike Lull - when he worked at a Bellevue, Wa music store.

So you guys really DO go back a long time don't you Mark?

It's always good to keep in touch with people who helped you get started on your musical journey.

[JTE]

I started on guitar due to Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, as my first attraction.  Then Cream, Clapton, ABB, Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna, Ten Years After, and Hendrix.  At the same time I dug into the real blues these muscians learned from so I was real into Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, The King Family (Albert, BB, and Freddie).   My favorite bassists at that time were Jack Bruce, Jack Cassady, and Berry Oakley.  So, when I started playing bass, those were my guide posts.  And early on (around 1973) I discovered Bonnie Raitt and her incomprable bassist Freebo.

Funny thing is that I was playing in a country band at the time so I was playing stuff like "Good Hearted Woman", "Mama Tried", a bunch of Creedence stuff, and who knows what else.   When they told me I played too many notes, I couldn't understand, coming from litenting to Cassady and Bruce!

But then I got into a band with a GOOD drummer, and things started changing.  We did a lot of Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstad stuff (this was around 1977) so I was drawn to Emory Gordy, Leland Sklar, Bob Glaub, Tim Drummond, Kenny Edwards, etc.

I saw Fleetwood Mac right after Buckingham/Nicks joined the band (I think goat woman still had black hair then) and was mesmerized by how cool John McVie was.  

Then I got serious about playing and a local prodigy buddy of mine (Curt played with the local university Jazz band while he was still a junior in high-school 'cause he was the only one in town who could read the parts, swing, and still play the Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea charts convincingly- he got bored with Yes after "Fragile" because he found Squire's parts "a bit to predictable")  gave me some great advice.  He dropped by a gig and we talked for a while.  He gave me a couple of pointers about my connection with the drummer, but he also handed me a nakpin on which he'd written "Heavy Weather by Weather Report" and "Jaco Pastorious".  My life changed the next day...

The guy who owned the drum shop next door to the guitar store I managed loaned me "Gradually Going Tornado" and "Feels Good To Me" by Bill Bruford with Jeff Berlin on bass.   At the same time I was getting more and more drawn to Stax, Motown, Aretha et. al.   And over the years I've been a voracious reader of Guitar Player, Bass Player, Rolling Stone (before it became Time Magazine for Old Hippies), Guitar World, and the only really good music magazine ever, Musician.   Reading a Tommy Shannon interview (though I think of SRV as the blues equivalen of Kenny G), I was reminded of Wilie Weeks so I hunted up a copy of the live Donnie Hathaway album.   And I saw Bela Fleck with New Grass Revival on TV, so a few years later when Austin City Limits was going to have "Bele Fleck & The Flecktones" on, I made a point of watching it- and didn't expect what I heard!  


So, my influneces?   Jack Bruce, Carl Radle, Nathan East, Willie Weeks, Freebo, Jack Casady, Berry Oakley, James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborne, Duck Dunn, Emory Gordy, Leland Sklar, Jaco, Tim Drummond, Chris Hillman, Jerry Jemmott, Chuck Rainey, Bee Spears, Family Man, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson, Tommy Cogbill, Leo Lyons, Timothy B. Schmidt, Jeff Berlin, Pino Pallidino, Victor Wooten, David Hood, Peter Cetera, Jim Fielder, and Kenny Edwards.

The ones I consciously think about and think "what would [instert name here] do here?" are still Jack Bruce, Jaco, Duck, Leland, Freebo, Nathan, Emory, Pino, and Willie.

And I gotta mention four who influenced my approach to LEARNING music too- Carol Kaye for all those monthly columns in Guitar Player Magazine I went back to when I started playing bass.  I didn't wind up using a pick, but all she taught about music is still the foundation of my learning.  Jeff Berlin for his absolute no BS, it's a lot of work wiithout secrets approach to education.   Darryl Jones inspires me with EVERY interview of him I've ever read.  He did one for Bass Player maybe 10 years ago where he talked about repeating the same riff over and over until one gets past the mechanics and finds the music- like a trance or something.  I did that with "I'll Take You There" and learned so much about focus, locking into the groove, and being THE BASS PLAYER.  And I find Vicotor Wooten's words to be a bigger influence on me than his music.

jte

[lowend1]

So you guys really DO go back a long time don't you Mark?

It's always good to keep in touch with people who helped you get started on your musical journey.

Yeah, Mark - I'm only a year behind you!

[Dave W]

I think he was referring to Mark and Mike Lull going back a long time, not just Mark's ancient age. 

[lowend1]

I think he was referring to Mark and Mike Lull going back a long time, not just Mark's ancient age. 

My apologies - I thought he was referring to the median age here at the outpost - which apparently requires Carbon-14 dating to establish.