Gibson Bass!
You may or may not know, but I play bass guitar. If you’ve been a fan of the comic, you know Bud is based on me and his bass, a Gibson bass knock-off, is actually the same as my original bass guitar. I still have that bass sitting in my bedroom. So I thought I’d chat about the rock bassists who influenced me to wanting to play bass as opposed to the popular guitar.
My influences were Paul McCartney, John Entwistle and John Paul Jones. The Paul-John-John-Paul of bass players. Yeah, yeah, many guys out there can play these guys under the table (not many) but they weren’t around in 1971 when I was bitten by the bass guitar urge. I had played clarinet since 4th grade and had progressed to bass clarinet by this time in my music training. So, I was drawn naturally to the lower tones of the bass guitar. I also noticed bass lines more than I did lead guitar stuff.
Where's the bass?
McCartney’s bass lines on “Hey Bulldog” are freakin’ cool and it was one of the first songs I can remember going “Hey, I’d like to play like that someday!” Never did, but I digress… In my opinion, Paul was the embodiment of moving bass players from the single note, simple melodic thumping bass lines that simply followed along with the bass drum to down-your-throat riffs that could stand on their own. Many a Beatle song was 100 times better thanks to Paul’s bass lines. He’s even mentioned how he would record the bass separate so he come up with more intricate lines. So, Paul is first on my list because he’s the first I can remember.
It’s easy to see how McCartney influenced a lot of kids from my generation (and earlier), but it was two bass players for two very different bands that really hooked me on playing bass.
Heavy Metal Thunder... wait...
Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones made my ears perk up from the moment I heard his incredible lines on “Dazed and Confused” but also because he played keyboards; my second love in playing in bands. I took piano lessons and built my own synthesizers back in the day, so playing bass and tinkering on the pearly whites was very natural to me. Plus, Jones seemed like a cool guy. I am a fan of Zeppelin’s first four albums, after that I fell off the Led Zep bandwagon, so my references are only from those albums. So as I moved from listening to the Archies in 1969 to Led Zeppelin’s first album (much to my parent’s chagrin) I got hooked on Zeppelin’s sound, which Jones, along with Bonham, were the foundation of all foundations in rock bands. Hard to find a better duo in rock and roll.
Unless…
"Yeah, I'm flippin' you off!"
You talk about the Who’s John Entwistle. I loved John’s playing early on. How could you not notice that bass guitar solo in “My Generation”? But when I picked up “Quadrophenia” in 1973 and heard John’s lines on “The Real Me” I was blown away and knew I had to play in a band someday. Combine Entwistle’s flying bass lines and Keith Moon’s machine gun fire drumming and you were knocked on your ass. “Quadrophenia” has some great examples of both of their playing styles. John also played French Horn and it gave the marching band geek in me some hope that my clarinet playing abilities would come in handy some day (they did not… not much call for heavy metal clarinet). Entwistle was the quiet one in the band standing off to the side just flying up and down his guitar’s neck with ease. Listening to him jam a solo on some concert footage is just amazing.
So, three very different bass players ended up rounding out my playing style. I never achieved the virtuoso playing these three had, but then I did not try very hard either. Playing like them didn’t come from casual playing… it took hours, weeks, months and years of playing to achieve what they did. So, I occasionally pick up my old original bass and plug it into a tiny practice amp and return to 1977 when I was gigging most weekends. Many things have come and gone in my life, but this old bass is the one constant that I hang on to.
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Yeah, I was drawn to bass players too, but never enough to learn to play one (my brother did that). Apart from Paul McCartney, my influences were Jack Bruce (that intro to ‘Badge’) and Chris Squire (‘Heart of the Sunrise!’). Later came Jean Millington, one of the most melodic players ever. Unfortunately the art of bass playing seems to have got lost now – perhaps the synth-bass killed it off in the 80s?
Ah, Mr. Bruce is represented in this post… he’s in the first picture holding the Gibson bass I’ve always loved. So, in a way he influenced me… not so much in his playing, but in his choice of instruments!
True, bass players have always been a toss away member of the team it seems in a lot of bands, which is a shame. I mean, the Doors didn’t even have a bass player in the group opting for session players for their studio recordings and then Ray Manzarek used a bass keyboard in concert. Man…
Another guy who played bass clarinet. Cool!
A fellow Bass Clarinet player!!! Yay! We are the few, the proud, the bass clarinet geeks!
Loved my bass clarinet, man… 🙂
When everyone else would air guitar, I would air bass. 🙂 I’ve never actually played, but I have always had an appreciation for it. Wanted to be John Entwhistle-cool…standing off to the side, playing the shit out of something while the front men run around like idiots. I could be the cool bald guy with the goatee and the hat laying down the foundation. 🙂 In modern days, Geddy Lee of Rush and Sting of The Police and…well, Sting…are two of my faves. Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers does some AMAZING stuff, too.
I know, Entwistle was just so cool standing off to the side. Moon going nuts, Peter jumping around like a man on fire and Roger strutin’ his stuff.. and there was John just pushing out some of the best damn bass lines you’ve every heard.
Geddy Lee is another fav or mine because he too played keyboards. I don’t have the body to play with only a tube sock on Mr. Happy like Flea and the rest of the Chili Peppers gang do.
I always wore a baseball hat or a cowboy hat on stage. Helped keep the lights out of your eyes. 🙂
Being a bass player myself, I’ll go ahead and give my top three.
Geddy Lee from Rush is a huge influence. After hearing Tom Sawyer, I knew that I had to play bass. Eventually, Rush became my favorite band and still are to this day.
Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is another influence. You just can’t deny how awesome his three finger galloping is! All one has to do is listen to Run To The Hills and it’s all over.
Lastly we have Jon Camp from the progressive rock band, Renaissance. I first came across Renaissance while I was in high school after I found one of their cassettes in the dollar bin at National Record Mart. I was totally hooked by his fusion of jazz and rock.
I could probably list some other bass players that have influenced me through out the years: Jaco Pastorious, John Deacon and Mr McCartney.
I’d vote for McCartney for the lyrical quality of his playing, right from the early days. He helped bring to the world the concept of *not* always using the bass to hold the root note – something The Artist passed along to one of Martin’s favourite bassists 😉
BIIIIG vote for the ever-awesome Chuck Rainey, who almost singlehandedly invented soul-style bass (for those who don’t know, he and Bernard Purdie were Aretha’s rhythm section and a whole lot more), and Larry Graham, who pretty much did the same thing for funk (helloooo, Sly and the Family Stone basslines?!).
Jack Bruce? Nah, he was always so busy trying to play ‘lead bass’ that he didn’t hold the rhythm section together (and feck knows Mr Baker NEEDED holding together). Mr Entwistle OTOH always managed to hold the bottom line even when *he* was playing lead bass – beautiful work, always.
How come no mention for Roger Glover? Come on, Purple were soooo about the strong basslines!
Also, my personal vote for a Mention of Honour: the ever-phlegmatic Mr Perks aka Bill Wyman, because he saw his duty and stuck to it through, well, everything 🙂
I’m late to the conversation, but I just found this blog.
I am also a bass player, but it’s more a hobby than anything else. I’m also a big JPJ fan, too. I wanted to leave you a note to check out Them Crooked Vultures if you haven’t already. JPJ plays bass for Josh Homme (from Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age) with Dave Grohl on the drums.
It’s a fantastic album. I love it. Give it a listen, man!