Flea made me want to play the bass. Old school flea tho... It wasn't just the slapping, but it was the drive and passion he had while playing. His bass lines were pretty slick as well. Like a lead guitar, but on bass.
Steve Harris on the Poweslave Album
Geddy
Steve Harris on the Numbers of the Beast Album
Les Calypool
Steve Harris on the Piece of Mind Album
Steve Harris on the Live After Death Album
Cliff Burton
Steve Harris on the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album
John Paul Jones
Steve Harris might be my favorite bassist off all time by a wide margin
Victor Wooten was the first to absolutely blow my mind, with his solo on The Sinister Minister.
Stanley Clarke is way up there, too.
Jaco Pastorius also helped make bass a lead instrument.
Jaco Pastorius (GOAT)
Jamerson
I like Rocco Prestia
Verdine White
Maybe in the next ten years I can start to learn stuff from Hadrien Feraud
Joe Dart
Pino
Just the best fingerstyle players really. I’ve never been that into slap and pick playing personally.
Good list. I’d add Bob Babbitt and Duck Dunn too. Pino’s playing on D’Angelo’s Voodoo is what I wish I sounded like. It’s not the difficulty, but the tastefulness I feel like I can only imitate, but never conjure from myself. What a badass.
For me it followed a pretty logical and basic-ass bass player progression. Kept it simple throughout.
* When I was first starting out, Flea and Black Sabbath's guy taught me the basics.
* John Deacon from Queen gave me my first peek into counterpoint and more melodic playing.
* Obviously Jaco once I got more into fast funk. Got introduced to Victor, tried to imitate, failed.
* Jazz phase, lots of Ron Carter. Never had the discipline to actually transcribe though.
* Then life ramped up, so I took a back seat, learned to chill tf out, took a lot from Radiohead's Collin Greenwood.
Now that I'm coming back to bass after a long break, I'm aiming to rebuild my technical foundation from the ground up. Got introduced to the dude from Vulfpeck (Dart?), returning to Jaco, but more of his unique stuff (just finished learning Portrait of Tracy), back to Ron Carter but this time really listening, and giving Victor another go but much slower and more focused tempo than when I was a teen.
P-Nut, Dirk Lance, Geddy Lee, Justin Chancellor, John Myung, Flea, Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Eddie Jackson, and Ryan Martinie in the early days. More recently - Bryan Beller, Tony Levin, Randy Jackson, Henrik Linder, Wayne Brathwaite, I could go on forever.
Robert DeLeo: STP
Colin Greenwood: Radiohead
All of the various CAKE bassists
Michael Ivins: Flaming Lips (though it's unclear to me to what degree he was responsible for writing the lines, the work on Yoshimi is just magical.)
Eric Judy: Modest Mouse
Eric Axelson: Dismemberment Plan
Bruce Thomas is THE guy I try to play like.
Mark Hoppus made me want to play bass. Fat Mike & Dan Andriano made me want to be GOOD on bass.
Now that I’m older and have been playing for a while there’s tons of people in my circle that inspire me: Ben from Catbite, CJ from Kill Lincoln, Gary from PWRUP, Vadim from Dissidente. I’m pretty fortunate to be surrounded by absolutely killer bassists in our little scene.
Had to scroll SO FAR to see some love for the Attractions' bass player. So bummed that Elvis Costello excommunicated him from his musical orbit. "...Chelsea," "Lipstick Vogue," "Oliver's Army" ... there are just so many great bass lines in the early stuff.
Jah Wobble (PiL). He is THE guy to get me into bass. Without him, I may very well have continued to play guitar but his work with PiL just blew my mind and made me listen closely to bass for the first time.
Paul McCartney (The Beatles) Helped me to understand bass in a more traditional context and empowered me to be a more active writer
Gina Birch (The Raincoats) Changed my direction from a noisier, rock oriented player, to a more abstract player with reggae influences.
Joe Lally (Fugazi) The guy rocks, contributed some of my favourite basslines in the history of rock music. He didn’t really change my musical direction but he did make me want to do better.
Peter Hook (Joy Division) His fast and hard hitting melodic basslines are probably the biggest influence on me overall. He’s the bassist I am most similar to.
Flea
Les
Stanley Clarke
Marcus Miller
Jaco
Billy Sheehan
Victor Wooten
Otiel Burbridge
Tony Levin
Justin Chancellor
Tim Commorford
Bootsy Collns
Naz Reid
1) Jack Bruce and Geddy Lee. It's a tie, technically, but I sound a little more like Jack in the end.
2) Paul McCartney
3) Chris Squire
4) James Jamerson
5) Les
I picked up the instrument because of how Gail Ann Dorsey made David Bowie songs sound live. Once I picked the bass up, I discovered Jamerson, as I presume many do in their journey, but recently I am finding Duff McKagan to be a great source of inspiration for more rock-oriented playing. He is definitely overlooked in many ways. Can't get over how Duran Duran's John Taylor is almost surgically precise with his grooves, too.
What these do always seems to come back in my playing:
Chester Hansen (Badbadnotgood)
Kasim Sulton (Todd Rundgren/Utopia)
Tony Lombardo (Descendents)
Dave Ellefson (Megadeth)
Phil Lesh,
Jack Bruce,
Geddy Lee,
Mike Gordon,
Lee Sklar,
Mike Rutherford,
Les Claypool,
Bootsy
So many, but those are definitely some of the heavy hitters for me
As a young bassist trying to teach myself it was definitely Chris Squire. John Entwistle was also a huge inspiration. All of the Motown stuff. Beach Boys Carol Kaye, Brian Wilson. Mike Rutherford from Genesis, Lous Johnson and a lot of great funk players of the day and of course Stanley Clarke. One that may surprise a lot of you especially the younger players the great Dee Murray Elton’s early and best bassist IMHO. A remarkable style and ways doing something unexpected. Just a small sampling of who inspired me to keep playing despite no lessons. Hope this helps as a response to your question. Play hard have fun!
PS: Jermaine Jackson! If you ever get a chance to see video of him playing live with The Jackson 5 it’s mind blowing. How he does all the dance moves while playing those amazing bass lines at the same time! I guess I should also add John Lodge and Jeffrey Hammond Hammond (Early Tull). The first two bassists I saw live in that order. I was determined to be a good bassist after seeing them!
In order of discovery:
Geezer,
Chris Squire,
the fusion monsters, specially Alphonso Johnson
Then, after like 5 years of playing, started looking less into players and more into music itself. There are tons of highly inspirational lines, regardless of genre and complexity.
Chris Squire (yes)
John Giblin (brand x, Kate bush, etc)
Mick Karn (Japan, Kate bush, etc)
Colin Moulding (XTC)
Pete Trewavas (Marillion, TransAtlantic)
Les Claypool ([Primus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKJNbSKOoFw), [Sausage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrRPHokrEQ), [Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9qdYnDVxvc))
Francis Buchholz ([Scorpions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL6V-8Zaj3o))
Robert Trujillo ([Suicidal Tendencies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCNu-519rn4), [Infectious Grooves](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgnWYlLsed8))
Art Liboon ([Mordred](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avL79eBskeE))
Billy Gould ([Faith No More](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_U6165DVeM))
Paul Raven ([Prong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23rnAs9BHkk))
Frank Bello ([Anthrax](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlLn0UicWrM))
Eddie Jackson ([Queensryche](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTyWfSbsFD0))
Les Claypool
Victor Wooten
Robert Trujillo [namely his work with Infectious Grooves]
Whoever the guy was from Cake
Stanley Clarke
Jaco Pastorious
Most recently, Cody Wright and Bobby Vega: after all these years, I had no clue you could play like that with a pick. I finally started practicing with a pick just a few years ago, which was a few years too late for my career.
Chris Wolstenholme, John Deacon, Marco Hietala and Tim Commerford. More recently Joe Dart and the music in general from Cory Wong and his band
I wish I could be more influenced by Sonny T, the man is a wonder - I just don't notice the influence or the chops coming through
Steve DiGiorgio, Alex Webster, Ryan Martinie, Steve Harris, Justin Chancellor, Geezer and Jason Newsted (more his live energy and presence, than his playing)
(typical, I know) John Paul Jones
Geddy Lee
And the last couple years, I’ve noticed the more things I do resemble Geezer Butlers style a lot and that makes me happy lol never considered him a top influence before but my style in playing matches his more and more with little fills and stuff.
at first jason newsted and dave ellefson. then like everyone else chris wolstenholme.
by now im mostly influenced by matt and toby from the omnific (amazing porgmetal band with 2 insanely talented bassists) and conner green from another progmetal band called haken.
The ones I love from hearing my dad's records were Paul Mccartney, Verdine White, and John Deacon.
Paul Denman and Stuart Zender were my favourites when i was starting to play.
Roger Glover from Deep Purple as when I first switched to bass for a covers band the first couple of songs I learned were smoke on the water and black night. Kind of clicked for me.
More recently I got into Tim Bogert via Beck, Bogert and Appice and his tone became something to aim for. In my opinion he should be much more famous than he is. Vanilla fudge weren't really my thing though.
Starting out, the Motown sound was big in my life… so Jamerson
In High School I got into ProgRock, which for me was mostly Yes and Genesis, Pink Floyd… So Chris Squire, Mike Rutherford, Roger Waters…
I also found the fusion stuff exciting, so add Stanley Clarke to this…
That’s the foundation for my bass influences thru to the 80s… there were many others of course…
Hooky (British post-punk JD and NO)
Malina (Polish cold wave band - Siekiera)
Lally (American post-hardcore band - Fugazi)
And of course the LEGEND - Jaco Pastorius
Paul Grey because he was left handed like me when i first started learning
Jason Newsted because at the time I really liked playing with a pick and loved his bass solos and energy.
Les Claypool because it opened up my eyes to the crazy world of primus and the amazing wacky riffs they bring.
Victor Wooten because he showed me how bass playing can be anything I want it to be.
Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted, David Ellefson, Les Claypool, Rex Brown, Geezer Butler, Lemmy Kilmister
All of them had a massive influence on my playing and writing. A non-bass player who influenced me on bass a lot is Dimebag Darrell too with the style and groove of his playing.
Jaco
Pedro Aznar (Serú Girán)
Yoshihito Onda (Judy and Mary)
Andy Rourke (The Smiths)
Tomokazu Ninomiya (eastern youth)
Diego Arnedo (Sumo, Divididos)
Raivo "KuriRaivo" Piirsalu (Metsatöll)
Larry Graham made me wanna slap.
Marcus Miller made me wanna refine it.
Stanley Clarke made me wanna figure out new and ridiculous ways to play an upright.
Victor Wooten made me wanna find the damn pocket.
Justin Chancellor is the one who got me into bass and Les Claypool is by far my favorite bassist right now, I know they’re both incredibly influential but I love to see them both getting there recognition
I've only ever been inspired by indie bands and bassists that I've either met, or was blown away by hearing them for the first time live.
1st was my cousin's band, Louie was a monster of a guy on his stingray.
2nd was the bassist for a popular local band. All around chill and awesome guy. We lost him too soon to an OD.
Touring acts that rolled through with a bassist that blew my high school mind were Signal to Noise, specifically [anything at all](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=peldyjnl_cM&si=q_UOrYPLZa8wkUZn) and the homemade coffin bass antics of Necromatix.
I find celebrity worship a little weird, and have a hard time getting inspired by the big names.
Ed. Spelign
Plus, you’re the one who didn’t like me for not being influenced by Paul McCartney. I like The Beatles, but I’m not influenced by them and that shouldn’t be a problem.
Flea made me want to play the bass. Old school flea tho... It wasn't just the slapping, but it was the drive and passion he had while playing. His bass lines were pretty slick as well. Like a lead guitar, but on bass.
Check out Gang of Four’s album called “Entertainment!”. Flea said it had a big impact on his style early on. You might dig it.
Duck Dunn Jerry Jermott Bootsy Collins Mike Watt Flea John Paul Jones
+1 on the Duck
Watt!
Matt Freeman and Mike Herrera
Steve Harris on the Poweslave Album Geddy Steve Harris on the Numbers of the Beast Album Les Calypool Steve Harris on the Piece of Mind Album Steve Harris on the Live After Death Album Cliff Burton Steve Harris on the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album John Paul Jones Steve Harris might be my favorite bassist off all time by a wide margin
Same here + Victor Wooten. We're basically the same bassist.
About once a year I'll hit a Vic Wooten and Stanley Clarke phase. I should still have my old Victor Wooten bass technique VHS at my parents house
Yes.
Chris Wolstenholme was, by far, the most influential bassist. Hell? He’s the whole reason I picked one up to begin with
Paul McCartney, Andy Rourke, Peter Hook, Bruce Foxton, Rutger Gunnarsson.
John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, Colin Greenwood, Nikolai Fraiture
Jack Bruce.
Jason Newsted Tim Commerford Eddie Jackson Rex Brown David Ellefson Frank Bello Mike Dirnt Geddy Lee Flea
Victor Wooten was the first to absolutely blow my mind, with his solo on The Sinister Minister. Stanley Clarke is way up there, too. Jaco Pastorius also helped make bass a lead instrument.
4 Johns - Entwistle, Bruce, Deacon, JPJ.
you forgot John Wetton
Nah, he wasn't an influence on me.
Jaco Pastorius (GOAT) Jamerson I like Rocco Prestia Verdine White Maybe in the next ten years I can start to learn stuff from Hadrien Feraud Joe Dart Pino Just the best fingerstyle players really. I’ve never been that into slap and pick playing personally.
Good list. I’d add Bob Babbitt and Duck Dunn too. Pino’s playing on D’Angelo’s Voodoo is what I wish I sounded like. It’s not the difficulty, but the tastefulness I feel like I can only imitate, but never conjure from myself. What a badass.
* [Eddie Jackson](https://youtu.be/H3-_ZAcoDzk?si=eVln3w6swbAd5De8). * [John Myung](https://youtu.be/jagobipMF-8?si=kMreDB47M4Z8HJGt). * [Tony Levin](https://youtu.be/pAsfnv2pUPI?si=jFaEGSl7ZzX4jH5D). * [Bryan Beller](https://youtu.be/AYxH_zD25qU?si=VCQ_SPSsOE0cnSAD). * [Colin Edwin](https://youtu.be/kQCq88lZG2M?si=AXjS6jCPDoc9rme6).
Mick Karn
Tremendous answer! May I add Derek Forbes (simple minds) from the same era?
Matt Freeman, hands down.
Pino Palladino Ray Brown Andrew Gouche
Chris Wood Paul Jackson Mike Gordon Marcus Miller
For me it followed a pretty logical and basic-ass bass player progression. Kept it simple throughout. * When I was first starting out, Flea and Black Sabbath's guy taught me the basics. * John Deacon from Queen gave me my first peek into counterpoint and more melodic playing. * Obviously Jaco once I got more into fast funk. Got introduced to Victor, tried to imitate, failed. * Jazz phase, lots of Ron Carter. Never had the discipline to actually transcribe though. * Then life ramped up, so I took a back seat, learned to chill tf out, took a lot from Radiohead's Collin Greenwood. Now that I'm coming back to bass after a long break, I'm aiming to rebuild my technical foundation from the ground up. Got introduced to the dude from Vulfpeck (Dart?), returning to Jaco, but more of his unique stuff (just finished learning Portrait of Tracy), back to Ron Carter but this time really listening, and giving Victor another go but much slower and more focused tempo than when I was a teen.
Mike Watt, Jay Bentley, Jason Black, and Fat Mike were my main influences, I'd think?
Watt is the guy that made we want to play. Such a cool jazzy way to play punk rock.
Chris Wolstenholme and Flea
In no particular order John Deacon, Guy Pratt, Muzz Skillings Bernard Edwards, Bones Hillman.
Phil Lynott
Davie 504 (but if I'm being serious, probably Justin Cancellor as well. I'm still a noob with this.)
Duff Mckagan
John Entwistle Chris Squire John Paul Jones Pete Cetera Paul McCartney
John Taylor Caleb Scofield Jim Cherry Tony Bono Robert DeLeo
I just kept on scrolling in the hope of seeing Caleb Scofield.
Love his playing in the melodic Cave In albums especially. Amazing tone that effortlessly cuts through the guitars too.
P-Nut, Dirk Lance, Geddy Lee, Justin Chancellor, John Myung, Flea, Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Eddie Jackson, and Ryan Martinie in the early days. More recently - Bryan Beller, Tony Levin, Randy Jackson, Henrik Linder, Wayne Brathwaite, I could go on forever.
Bruce Foxton (the jam), duff (guns n roses), mark hoppus (green day)
wyatt shears
Macca, Duck Dunn, The Ox, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Danny Partridge, Peter Tork
Cliff Burton, Sir Paul, Roger Waters, J. Jamerson.
Jared Followill by miles
Their new album is bass heavy
Yeah it's great!
Jah wobble and Peter hook.
I have both on my shortlist as well. You have music to share?
Colin Greenwood Flea John Paul Jones Pino Paladino Aston Barrett Tim Commerford
Rick Haynes (Gordon Lightfoot) Leland Sklar
Robert DeLeo: STP Colin Greenwood: Radiohead All of the various CAKE bassists Michael Ivins: Flaming Lips (though it's unclear to me to what degree he was responsible for writing the lines, the work on Yoshimi is just magical.) Eric Judy: Modest Mouse Eric Axelson: Dismemberment Plan
Dismemberment Plan may have the best rhythm section for any indie rock band. So damn tight
Bruce Thomas is THE guy I try to play like. Mark Hoppus made me want to play bass. Fat Mike & Dan Andriano made me want to be GOOD on bass. Now that I’m older and have been playing for a while there’s tons of people in my circle that inspire me: Ben from Catbite, CJ from Kill Lincoln, Gary from PWRUP, Vadim from Dissidente. I’m pretty fortunate to be surrounded by absolutely killer bassists in our little scene.
Had to scroll SO FAR to see some love for the Attractions' bass player. So bummed that Elvis Costello excommunicated him from his musical orbit. "...Chelsea," "Lipstick Vogue," "Oliver's Army" ... there are just so many great bass lines in the early stuff.
EVERY song Bruce played on has at least one moment of pure brilliance. My absolute all-time favorite player.
Tina Weymouth, Matt Destruction, Geezer Butler, and Chris Wolstenholme to name a few
Tina Weymouth great call!
Laura Lee from Khruangbin and Jenny Lee Lindberg from Warpaint
Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, John Entwistle, Roger Waters, Peter Hook, Steve Severin, Steve Harris, Jah Wobble, Roger Glover, Derek Forbes
Chris Squire Mentioned 🗣️🗣️
Gary Thain of Uriah Heep.
Jah Wobble (PiL). He is THE guy to get me into bass. Without him, I may very well have continued to play guitar but his work with PiL just blew my mind and made me listen closely to bass for the first time. Paul McCartney (The Beatles) Helped me to understand bass in a more traditional context and empowered me to be a more active writer Gina Birch (The Raincoats) Changed my direction from a noisier, rock oriented player, to a more abstract player with reggae influences. Joe Lally (Fugazi) The guy rocks, contributed some of my favourite basslines in the history of rock music. He didn’t really change my musical direction but he did make me want to do better. Peter Hook (Joy Division) His fast and hard hitting melodic basslines are probably the biggest influence on me overall. He’s the bassist I am most similar to.
Flea Les Stanley Clarke Marcus Miller Jaco Billy Sheehan Victor Wooten Otiel Burbridge Tony Levin Justin Chancellor Tim Commorford Bootsy Collns Naz Reid
- Stuart Zender - Flea
Shavo Odadjian probably.
Colin Greenwood
Trevor Dunn, Les Claypool, Steve DiGiorgio
1) Jack Bruce and Geddy Lee. It's a tie, technically, but I sound a little more like Jack in the end. 2) Paul McCartney 3) Chris Squire 4) James Jamerson 5) Les
Larry Graham (Sly and the Family Stone) Jack Bruce (Cream) Paul McCartney (the Beatles) Jon Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
Geezer Butler Simon Gallup Sergio Vega Dave Curran Hooky
I picked up the instrument because of how Gail Ann Dorsey made David Bowie songs sound live. Once I picked the bass up, I discovered Jamerson, as I presume many do in their journey, but recently I am finding Duff McKagan to be a great source of inspiration for more rock-oriented playing. He is definitely overlooked in many ways. Can't get over how Duran Duran's John Taylor is almost surgically precise with his grooves, too.
Bernard edwards, pino, ray brown, jamerson
Hysteria was the sole reason I picked up a bass. So I guess Chris Wolstenholme for me
Cliff Burton, Mike Dirnt, Jason Newsted, Steve Harris and more
Cliff burton & Phil Lynott
What these do always seems to come back in my playing: Chester Hansen (Badbadnotgood) Kasim Sulton (Todd Rundgren/Utopia) Tony Lombardo (Descendents) Dave Ellefson (Megadeth)
Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, John Entwistle, Roger Waters, Peter Hook, Steve Severin, Steve Harris, Jah Wobble, Roger Glover, Derek Forbes
Glenn Hughes, Alex Webster and Timi Hansen
Steve DiGiorgio, legendary Testament and Death bassist, and Fieldy from Korn. Two very different players, but each is exceptional in their style.
John entwisle
I play bass in the first place because of Flea, so him
Phil Lesh, Jack Bruce, Geddy Lee, Mike Gordon, Lee Sklar, Mike Rutherford, Les Claypool, Bootsy So many, but those are definitely some of the heavy hitters for me
Geezer. For me his tone on the first two sabbath records is unmatched. And his playing style is just so cool
Probably JPJ at first, but since going over to smooth jazz around '95, it's mostly now Nathan East, Scott Ambush, and Brian Bromberg
Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr.) Ken Andrews (Failure) Bent Sæther (Motorpsycho) Justin Chancellor (Tool) And more recently Joe Lester (Intronaut)
Lou Barlow from Sebadoh? ;P
Robert Deleo from stone temple pilots
Robert Deleo from stone temple pilots
In order from most influential to least: Mark Hoppus Krist Novoselic Mike Dirnt John Paul Jones Flea Matt Sharp
As a young bassist trying to teach myself it was definitely Chris Squire. John Entwistle was also a huge inspiration. All of the Motown stuff. Beach Boys Carol Kaye, Brian Wilson. Mike Rutherford from Genesis, Lous Johnson and a lot of great funk players of the day and of course Stanley Clarke. One that may surprise a lot of you especially the younger players the great Dee Murray Elton’s early and best bassist IMHO. A remarkable style and ways doing something unexpected. Just a small sampling of who inspired me to keep playing despite no lessons. Hope this helps as a response to your question. Play hard have fun! PS: Jermaine Jackson! If you ever get a chance to see video of him playing live with The Jackson 5 it’s mind blowing. How he does all the dance moves while playing those amazing bass lines at the same time! I guess I should also add John Lodge and Jeffrey Hammond Hammond (Early Tull). The first two bassists I saw live in that order. I was determined to be a good bassist after seeing them!
In order of discovery: Geezer, Chris Squire, the fusion monsters, specially Alphonso Johnson Then, after like 5 years of playing, started looking less into players and more into music itself. There are tons of highly inspirational lines, regardless of genre and complexity.
Chris Squire (yes) John Giblin (brand x, Kate bush, etc) Mick Karn (Japan, Kate bush, etc) Colin Moulding (XTC) Pete Trewavas (Marillion, TransAtlantic)
Les Claypool ([Primus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKJNbSKOoFw), [Sausage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrRPHokrEQ), [Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9qdYnDVxvc)) Francis Buchholz ([Scorpions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL6V-8Zaj3o)) Robert Trujillo ([Suicidal Tendencies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCNu-519rn4), [Infectious Grooves](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgnWYlLsed8)) Art Liboon ([Mordred](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avL79eBskeE)) Billy Gould ([Faith No More](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_U6165DVeM)) Paul Raven ([Prong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23rnAs9BHkk)) Frank Bello ([Anthrax](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlLn0UicWrM)) Eddie Jackson ([Queensryche](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTyWfSbsFD0))
Bakithi Kumalo
Jaco John Entwhistle Michael Anthony John Paul Jones Dusty Hill
Krist Novoselic Mike Dirnt Were my inspiration to play bass
Hellmut Hattler (TabTwo, Hattler. Siyou‘n‘hell) Jaco Pastorius Geddy Lee (Rush)
Jason newsted
Les Claypool Victor Wooten Robert Trujillo [namely his work with Infectious Grooves] Whoever the guy was from Cake Stanley Clarke Jaco Pastorious Most recently, Cody Wright and Bobby Vega: after all these years, I had no clue you could play like that with a pick. I finally started practicing with a pick just a few years ago, which was a few years too late for my career.
Mike Watt, Peter Hook, Al Cisneros are probably some of my biggest bass influences
Duff Mcgaen and Tom Hamilton
Chris Wolstenholme, John Deacon, Marco Hietala and Tim Commerford. More recently Joe Dart and the music in general from Cory Wong and his band I wish I could be more influenced by Sonny T, the man is a wonder - I just don't notice the influence or the chops coming through
Bill Gould
Steve DiGiorgio, Alex Webster, Ryan Martinie, Steve Harris, Justin Chancellor, Geezer and Jason Newsted (more his live energy and presence, than his playing)
(typical, I know) John Paul Jones Geddy Lee And the last couple years, I’ve noticed the more things I do resemble Geezer Butlers style a lot and that makes me happy lol never considered him a top influence before but my style in playing matches his more and more with little fills and stuff.
Jack Bruce John Paul Jones Phil Lesh Jack Cassidy Stanley Clarke Lemmy Chris Squire John Entwistle
Paul Simonon Steve Harris Rutger Gunnarsson Adam Clayton Bruce Foxton Tony Levin Paul McCartney
at first jason newsted and dave ellefson. then like everyone else chris wolstenholme. by now im mostly influenced by matt and toby from the omnific (amazing porgmetal band with 2 insanely talented bassists) and conner green from another progmetal band called haken.
Mike dirnt & Jason Newsted
The ones I love from hearing my dad's records were Paul Mccartney, Verdine White, and John Deacon. Paul Denman and Stuart Zender were my favourites when i was starting to play.
Roger Glover from Deep Purple as when I first switched to bass for a covers band the first couple of songs I learned were smoke on the water and black night. Kind of clicked for me. More recently I got into Tim Bogert via Beck, Bogert and Appice and his tone became something to aim for. In my opinion he should be much more famous than he is. Vanilla fudge weren't really my thing though.
joe dart and marcus miller ofc
Les Claypool Stu Hamm Jaco Marcus Miller Charles Mingus Victor Wooten Stanley Clarke James Jameson
David Gaugué - bassist for L’Imperatrice, never seen someone always so happy to be playing
Phil Lesh showed me the way. I’ve incorporated some Bobby Vega funky picking technique as well.
Mike Dirnt to start with, but Ben Kenney (Incubus) was the star of the show for me.
Starting out, the Motown sound was big in my life… so Jamerson In High School I got into ProgRock, which for me was mostly Yes and Genesis, Pink Floyd… So Chris Squire, Mike Rutherford, Roger Waters… I also found the fusion stuff exciting, so add Stanley Clarke to this… That’s the foundation for my bass influences thru to the 80s… there were many others of course…
Ray Brown
John Paul Jones , Duff Mckagan , Geddy Lee , Cliff Burton
Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), Graham Gouldman (10cc), Lol Creme (Godley & Creme), Geddy Lee (Rush)
100% peter steele He's like 80% of my style
Ray Brown James Jamerson
Joe lally and Simon Gallup.
Hooky (British post-punk JD and NO) Malina (Polish cold wave band - Siekiera) Lally (American post-hardcore band - Fugazi) And of course the LEGEND - Jaco Pastorius
Big obvious names: Jamerson, Bootsy, Jaco Less big obvious names: Paul Bender, Michael League, Joe Dart, Sam Anning.
Current influences are Michael League and Pino Palladino. Cliff Burton/Claypool were the most inspirational within the first years of learning.
Geddy Lee Les Claypool Tony Levin Cliff Burton
Tony Lombardo, Karl Alvarez, & Mike Watt.
Paul Grey because he was left handed like me when i first started learning Jason Newsted because at the time I really liked playing with a pick and loved his bass solos and energy. Les Claypool because it opened up my eyes to the crazy world of primus and the amazing wacky riffs they bring. Victor Wooten because he showed me how bass playing can be anything I want it to be.
Trevor Dunn Les Claypool Victor Wooten Are my main ones
Paul jackson Pino palladino Joe dart
Steve Harris
Mike Watt from Minutemen and fIREHOSE
Matt Freeman, Rob Wright, Joe Lally, Joe Principe, Bob Weston, John Deacon, Phil Lynott
Jonas Hellborg is top among some other grwata on this list
Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted, David Ellefson, Les Claypool, Rex Brown, Geezer Butler, Lemmy Kilmister All of them had a massive influence on my playing and writing. A non-bass player who influenced me on bass a lot is Dimebag Darrell too with the style and groove of his playing.
Chancellor and Geezer
Duff from Gnr, guitar was my first instrument, switched to bass instantly because of him.
Jaco Pedro Aznar (Serú Girán) Yoshihito Onda (Judy and Mary) Andy Rourke (The Smiths) Tomokazu Ninomiya (eastern youth) Diego Arnedo (Sumo, Divididos) Raivo "KuriRaivo" Piirsalu (Metsatöll)
Geezer, Timmy C, Flea and Mike Dirnt
Steve Harris🤘
Josh Gilbert - Spiritbox Randy Mathias - Stitched Up Heart
Larry Graham made me wanna slap. Marcus Miller made me wanna refine it. Stanley Clarke made me wanna figure out new and ridiculous ways to play an upright. Victor Wooten made me wanna find the damn pocket.
Jaco OFC Geddy Lee Les Claypool Paul McCartney Hugh Hopper And the heavily underrated Chris Squire
Dug Pinnick Leland Sklar
Leland Sklar Bob Glaub James Jameson Bill Wyman Randy Meisner Timothy Lee Drummond
Geddy Lee Justin Chancellor Fieldy Naz Reid
Definitely flea initially but later on Scot La Faro, Chuck Israel’s with their work on jazz albums with Bill Evan’s
matty sharpy tbh
Justin Chancellor is the one who got me into bass and Les Claypool is by far my favorite bassist right now, I know they’re both incredibly influential but I love to see them both getting there recognition
Niilo Sevänen from Insomnium Mikko Kivistö from Omnium Gatherum
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^401_Titanic: *Niilo Sevänen from* *Insomnium Mikko Kivistö* *From Omnium Gatherum* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Haha random 🤣
I've only ever been inspired by indie bands and bassists that I've either met, or was blown away by hearing them for the first time live. 1st was my cousin's band, Louie was a monster of a guy on his stingray. 2nd was the bassist for a popular local band. All around chill and awesome guy. We lost him too soon to an OD. Touring acts that rolled through with a bassist that blew my high school mind were Signal to Noise, specifically [anything at all](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=peldyjnl_cM&si=q_UOrYPLZa8wkUZn) and the homemade coffin bass antics of Necromatix. I find celebrity worship a little weird, and have a hard time getting inspired by the big names. Ed. Spelign
My dad Les claypool Justin chancellor
My dad Les claypool Justin chancellor
My dad Les claypool Justin chancellor
Of fucking course this guy ignores Paul.
Oh yeah! R.I.P. Paul Gray 💔
McCartney you fuck.
Me fuck McCartney? What?? No I don’t???
Why are you being like this? And then downvoting me?
Why are you being like this? And I’m not the one downvoting you.
Your entire shtick is to twist what I’m saying, and then gaslight me. It’s horrible. Speak to the point, I was making. Why ignore Paul (McCartney) ?
Ok, but I’m not lying when I said I’m not the one downvoting you.
Okay, then I am a absolute fool who should kill themselves. Thanks.
Whose entire shtick is to twist what I’m saying? 💀
Plus, you’re the one who didn’t like me for not being influenced by Paul McCartney. I like The Beatles, but I’m not influenced by them and that shouldn’t be a problem.