Bass Heroes

When someone lists their bass heroes the list usually starts with Jaco, Victor Wooten, Stu Hamm, Billy Sheehan, Marcus Miller ect. People seem to focus on chops, flash and soloing.

Nothing wrong with any of that, but I am much more drawn to bass in service of the music and the song. My pantheon starts with James Jamerson, Paul McCartney, Nathan East and Phil Lesh.

I was lucky enough to hang out with Nathan East(thank you Bob Fogle) at a trade show for bassists called Bass Quake. We sat there listening to a whole line of world class bass virtuosos doing their solo thing, lots of slapping, tapping, looping, thumping. Nathan turned to me and said "I don't know how those guys get that shit out of their bedroom" I mean it was certainly impressive what these guys did with the instrument, but it struck me as musical junk food.

When Nathan's turn came, he set a laptop on a stool and said "this is the first million seller I recorded with Anita Baker" and proceeded to play his killer part along with the track. Ahh!! at long last some musical nutrition.

The bass players I love have great chops and harmonic knowledge but they also think like producers(many bass players end up producing). It's all about the end product, every part makes a contribution. Bass is such a big slice of the musical pie but it's the frame that everything hangs on. My bass heroes use their skills to furthur the songs and to facilitate the creation.

Having said that let me also say there is a time and place for everything, times for the bass player to step out front, be it for a bar or for a 15 minute feature. There is more than one way to skin a monkey, a lot of things work. I think the key is to put the MUSIC first, get in the pocket and listen. If you do that you will do no wrong.