Next up in my music posts is 10 of the best current bassists in the world, as usual the list is not definitive of the absolute 10 best. Bass players are another essential piece of any band, even though many will joke and say the bass player is useless, that is entirely untrue. These 10 bassists have been around for a long time and I am sure most people will be familiar with the majority of them. There are also a couple where I could not find the best quality videos, if I do find replacements for these I will update the page.
Flea (RHCP)
Les Claypool (Primus)
John Myung (Dream Theater)
Geddy Lee (Rush)
Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)
Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Sadus, Testament and many more)
Stu Hamm (Various projects including work with Vai, Satriani, and Eric Johnson)
Billy Sheehan (Various projects including Steve Vai, Mr. Big and many more)
Christopher Wolstenholme (Muse)
Justin Chancellor (Tool)
{ 82 comments… read them below or add one }
How could you make a top 10 list of bassists and leave out Ben Kenney? Justin Chancellor was a terrible pick imo, there are a lot of superior players.
What about:
Jack Bruce
John Paul Jones
John Entwistle
I do have to say that a big miss from this list is Voctor Wooten. Other than I agree with all the picks.
Clearly a subjective list.. You could easily make an argument for Victor Wooton, and I think Oteil Burbridge is one of the most under-rated bass players going.
It seems more like you made a list of YOUR favorite ROCK bassists. I would not say that these are the 10 best bassists around. You’ve overlooked many.
good list. what about Victor Wooten?
Great list! Missing Cliff Burton, though.
tal wilkenfeld, jaco pastorious, victor wooten, bill dickens
These guys are good, but Mike Gordon of Phish is the best of all time.
R.I.P. Cliff Burton, the best bassist ever.
This list is only current musicians.
If Cliff and Jaco were alive they would be here.
I never said these are the top 10, just 10 OF the best. It is impossible to do a definitive top 10 of musicians and I would never attempt it. I also do not even like some of the bands a couple of these guys play in, like Muse and the RHCP.
1. Jaco Pastorius!!!
amen…
Alain Caron
Matt Garrison
Gary Willis
Dominic De Piazza
Hadrian Feraud
Jaco Pastorius
etc etc…..
No Bryan Beller? (Of Steve Vai and Mike Keneally Band fame.)
My creaky grey matter would put Carole Kaye on top and I certainly like the up-front sound of Graham Maby. Now get off my lawn!!!
you should hear Bodan Arsovski
Thanks to everyone leaving comments that are not bitching about who is not on here, there are many others that are phenomenal and easily among the best. This is just some of the greats and I would only list a few of these guys among the “best ever”.
I love when folks make recommendations and list their favs because I find some I have never heard.
This list is mistitiled. It should read: 10 of the Best Mainstream Bassists in the World. There is always much greater talent in the underground. You left out Matt Freeman as well as John Ansley of Streetlight Manifesto. Those bassists are good no doubt, but it really looks like whoever compiled this list really just took their favorite bands and picked their bassists.
Great list…but how could you leave out Mr. Chris Squire..he’s a Bass God!!!
Maybe this is a stretch and because it’s my fav band, but Jim Creggan from the BNL should not be overlooked. Even though they’re not really in the “rock” genre, Jim can throw down with the best of ‘em. I’m sure Geddy Lee would vouch.
Hey Stunz,
I would not consider many of these guys mainstream at all, and they are definitely not all from my favorite bands. I do not like the RHCP or Muse very much at all, but their bassists are amazing. I do like Rancid a lot and almost out Freeman on, he definitely ranks among the best.
No John Entwistle? WTF!?!?!? But overall a pretty good list. Would have added Victor Wooten and Geezer Butler too.
Jack Bruce
John Paul Jones
John Entwistle
Rob Wright (NoMeansNo)
Dan Manes (Clutch)
don’t forget will lee (david letterman)…and suzi quatro…well maybe not so much on suzi’s playing but she’s still fun to look at!
Sorry, Short, gotta write you a dirty letter here and second some of the other folks and have you take a look at Tal Wilkenfeld + Jeff Beck + Crossroads over on YouTube. She is the reason I started playing bass three weeks ago.
Thanks in advance! xo Brin
Uh, you forgot:
-Victor Wooten
-John Patitucci
Tal is amazing and I am very familiar with her. This is not a definitive Top 10, only a sample so any omissions are not because I do know of them, only because it is only 10 OF the best.
Victor Wooten
Stanley Clarke
You should check out Sean Andrews from Redemption.
They tour with Dream Theater and he’s got Geddy Lee down!
Here he is playing YYZ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHPhyRyGAfc
Here’s Bleed Me Dry from Redemption:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7kqcnkROuI
Plus his arrangement of Strawberry Fields on bass is amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc9Jk9Lqbwc
What about me? I can play the pants off all these bozos plus I ave innovated the instrument unlike these guys!! Victor Wooten is better than me as well.
Tony Levin….need I say more?
Tony Levin, Victor Wooten, Oteil, Dave Schools, Les Claypool,George Porter Jr, Trey Gunn, Stanley Clark, Stanley Jordan, Dave Pomeroy
Sorry guys, Entwistle and Jaco are dead….
GEEZER BUTLER!
How could you forget Jaco? Whats up with that.
The TOOL from TOOL does the same Bass line in every song!
Shame on you!
Ummmm I left Jaco out because he is dead. The word “current” implies they are alive.
wow not a single vote for Marcus Miller.
for shame.
As much as I love Sabbath, Geezer does not belong in a list of the best. No doubt he was good, but not that good. The guy from Tool does not do the same bass line in every song.
I agree with PHIL LESH. He should up there for one of the best.
Is that really you Phil? You rock, keep droppin’ “philbombs” forever.
See you back in New York for the Nokia run.
Check out Brady Muckelroy – http://myspace.com/bradymuckelroy
This guy’s amazing, not extremely well known, and definitely a “current” bassist. I recommend an honorary addition above for him!
Peter Baltes, Accept http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahgDSxxuUY check out the bass solo in “Princess Of The Dawn” The audio isn’t the greatest, but Herr Baltes ripping it up is worth the listen.
And if you really mean “world,” here’s a couple Japanese entries:
Jasmine You, Versailles Philharmonic Quintet/Hizaki Grace Project/Jyakura
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kihRWv74Q5s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xy0MhzcnGU&feature=related
seek, Psycho le Cemu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paoKLoPAuqE
Thanks for the links guys, these guys are definitely amazing bassists I am not familiar with.
Victor Wooten is conspicuously missing from this list.
Entwhistle is dead, this list is current and only some of the best, not THE 10 best. LEARN TO READ!
Lol, I told you you were gonna get buried in Victor Wooten comments!
Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power and Mark King from Level 42 are musts for me as well!
think here is missing one of the best bassists of the rock ‘n roll
who is called lemmy kilmister the vocalist of motorhead!!
he is the greatest and he has the most powerful voice to
perform his prominent songs…
” born to lose live to win “
I like Motorhead but do not consider Lemmy one of the best bass players out there.
What about The Whos John Entwistle? Listen to his bass solo in My Generation. He plays the bass like the guitar!
Can’t believe you guys are bad mouthing Justin – such a good bassist and song writer.
Lemmy Kilmister?
Duff McKagen?
Nikki Sixx?
happy to see Steve Harris, Flea and Justin chancellor up there tho
where the hell are the reggae bassist like robbie shakespear.
Not on this list. You should make a list of the best reggae bassists, Im sure youll have fun. Then I can comment on it and say ” “where the hell are all the rock and metal style bassists?”
Na, Mikey Way needs to be on that list! He is an awesome bassist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jaco pwns any on those list. Try to play anything from Jaco and you will sh*t bricks!
I have almost everything Jaco ever did before he passed away, this list is living bassists. It says so many times, you should read before you comment.
Too bad the list says “CURRENT”. If there is a Zombie Jaco Pastorious still playing I would gladly add him because I am a huge fan of Jaco and his punk-jazz.
where’s lemmy, nikki, and for god sake! WHERE IS CLIFF BURTON!!!!! if it weren’t for Cliff bassists like justin, Christopher, the flea, and steve wouldn’t exist. It’s cliff that thought to use the distortion in the first place. that sound would have never existed without him.
Lemmy is a legend but not a phenom on bass, Nicki is just mediocre and the others are dead. This is living, or Cliff would be there.
Victor Wooten is missing. Hes one of the most skilled bassist out there right now, and in my opinion, the most skilled. Watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j01x2lAFRwk
I know a lot of people will just say “It’s just speed” but thats not all he can do. Watch some other videos of him.
ho wthe hell have you guys missed out fieldy and cliff burton its not even funny seriously get a clue!
Burton is dead! It does say current, so you are the one in need of a clue. Fieldy isnt here because I excluded “nu metal” bands ,lol.
Great list the only person I’d add is Ryan Martinie from Mudvayne
john myung is the best bassist of all times dude.
i don’t care about the other top bass player, its just that um so glad and thankful that Flea’s on the top 1 men!
Ryan Martinie
Tom Araya?
Where’s Tetsuya Ogawa?
He’s the best bassists from Japan
Dirk Lance is better than FLEA !!!!
FFFFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAA, IS THE BESSTT.
FLEA is the best skilled bassist together with his stage performance!!!!!!!!!!
Wtf.. no TETSU in the list?
MARC KING.!!!!!!!!
Shame on you for saying Dirk Lance is better than flea, Justin chancellor is fucking amazing, and I am soooo fucking happy Les Claypool is up there, this would have been a failure without him
Chris Squire is the the best.
As for me, Abraham Laboriel comes first
then victor wooten
marcus miller
stu hamm
the rest is up to u, but these guys rock,
Laboriel can beat any bassist in any genre anywhere,most used session bassist u name them, michael jackson,george benson,dolly parton,ron kenoly, what criteria do u use, is it race based or simply ability WTF..
Richard Bona is one of the best and he’s African ( precisely Cameroon) and was recognized at Obama’s inauguration. Check him out on YouTube
Uhhhh, where the heck is Mark King?????
THe best for me is TISSUE HImee!! no. 1 huuuuhhh
what about asians? i think this is very much underrated. there are a lot of great Japanese bassists. How about Tetsuya Ogawa of L’arc en Ciel. A guy with great imagination, a great ear, a great skill.
if these bassists were just chosen to be in the top ten because they play fast, or they play many notes. Well, think again.
You see, playing bass is not all about how fast you can play, or haw many notes you play.
It’s about the magic the basslines brings to the songs that a bassist composes.
It’s about how basslines carry and bring life to every song.
Playing bass requires great ear, great imagination, great knowledge and skills, not just speed.
every note in a bassline should have a reason why it was put there.
some of those who are listed here are just putting notes to make it sound complicated, difficult, and fast. but actually, some notes bring nothing.
It’s not always about great solos. Sometimes, true skills of a bassists can be seen while it’s playing along with a band. A good bassist can lift up a bad band, while a bad bassist can put down a great band.
Listen carefully to Tetsuya Ogawa of L’arc en Ciel, and you’ll understand what I’m saying.
listen to: (by L’arc en Ciel) and you’ll see how a great bassist must be.
Honey
Kasou
New World
Butterfly’s sleep
route666
and she said
Bravery
Blame
Eien
Neo universe
Singin’ in the rain