Musings on some of my favorite bassists
Here follows a discussion of some of my favorite bassists, just because the idea popped into my head at work today.
Mary Huff of Southern Culture on the Skids. I've been a fan of her work since about '96 or so. Not only is she a total bad-ass on the bass, her style is to me the best balance of thump and melody of anyone I've ever heard. She plays the strings off of her basses, and she makes it look effortless as she does so.
Nate Query of The Decemberists. He's kinda similar to Mary Huff to my ears, but with his rheostat turned just a fuzz more towards "thump" than "melodic". Tasteful and perhaps a little understated, the more I listen to his work the more I admire his technique and sensibilities.
Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath. The man is one of the godfathers of metal. While I actually do not care much for his playing during Tony Iommi's solos (to me he just turned into another noodly 60's rock bassist, albeit a very good one), the way he held down the low end beneath Iommi's doomy riffing is pure genius: he keeps it relatively simple, but spices it up juuuuuust enough to not be merely playing the lowest notes of Iommi's riffs. He also has a particularly mean bass sound that I really dig.
Casey Daniel of @Seven Mary Three. His work on "American Standard" was a big part of what shaped me as a budding young rock bassist. His playing was just a wee bit more dressed up than that of the aforementioned Geezer Butler, but still light years from being noodly or wankery. Rock solid, in the pocket playing, and a wonderful way of "rolling" from one passage to the next, he is arguably my second biggest influence as a bassist, right behind...
Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day said it best when he was inducting GnR into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "Duff, you can sing the basslines to Appetite For Destruction." To me he is the epitome of "playing the song" and not showing off, while throwing in just enough spice to make even their harder tunes interesting and sometimes even pretty. (Well, the basslines were pretty, at least.) The way he would play in the low register on the bass and then slide up an octave to throw in brief melodic accents at the ends of certain passages is sweeter to my ear than honey is to my tongue, and to this day I aspire to be half as interesting a bassist as he is.
This list is by no means a complete list of bassists I dig, just a few thoughts on a few of my favorites.
Mary Huff of Southern Culture on the Skids. I've been a fan of her work since about '96 or so. Not only is she a total bad-ass on the bass, her style is to me the best balance of thump and melody of anyone I've ever heard. She plays the strings off of her basses, and she makes it look effortless as she does so.
Nate Query of The Decemberists. He's kinda similar to Mary Huff to my ears, but with his rheostat turned just a fuzz more towards "thump" than "melodic". Tasteful and perhaps a little understated, the more I listen to his work the more I admire his technique and sensibilities.
Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath. The man is one of the godfathers of metal. While I actually do not care much for his playing during Tony Iommi's solos (to me he just turned into another noodly 60's rock bassist, albeit a very good one), the way he held down the low end beneath Iommi's doomy riffing is pure genius: he keeps it relatively simple, but spices it up juuuuuust enough to not be merely playing the lowest notes of Iommi's riffs. He also has a particularly mean bass sound that I really dig.
Casey Daniel of @Seven Mary Three. His work on "American Standard" was a big part of what shaped me as a budding young rock bassist. His playing was just a wee bit more dressed up than that of the aforementioned Geezer Butler, but still light years from being noodly or wankery. Rock solid, in the pocket playing, and a wonderful way of "rolling" from one passage to the next, he is arguably my second biggest influence as a bassist, right behind...
Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day said it best when he was inducting GnR into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "Duff, you can sing the basslines to Appetite For Destruction." To me he is the epitome of "playing the song" and not showing off, while throwing in just enough spice to make even their harder tunes interesting and sometimes even pretty. (Well, the basslines were pretty, at least.) The way he would play in the low register on the bass and then slide up an octave to throw in brief melodic accents at the ends of certain passages is sweeter to my ear than honey is to my tongue, and to this day I aspire to be half as interesting a bassist as he is.
This list is by no means a complete list of bassists I dig, just a few thoughts on a few of my favorites.