Justin Chancellor and Les Claypool

Steve DiGiorgio is a really great bassist!!! His work on Individual Thought Patterns is absolutely great!!!

Written by [user id=1909] on 31.01.2009 at 21:58

Bassist? Who the hell cares about bassists? lol Most bands I listen to the bassist is just some guy making the 5th member of the band lol

then most of the bands you listen to take their bassists for granted. there are only a few things besides inhumane production that can render a bassist pointless. most bassists are assholes and force their sound to be recognized and heard on top of the guitars, drums and vocals. at least in my experiences.

Written by LeChron James on 01.02.2009 at 02:40

Written by [user id=1909] on 31.01.2009 at 21:58

Bassist? Who the hell cares about bassists? lol Most bands I listen to the bassist is just some guy making the 5th member of the band lol

then most of the bands you listen to take their bassists for granted. there are only a few things besides inhumane production that can render a bassist pointless. most bassists are assholes and force their sound to be recognized and heard on top of the guitars, drums and vocals. at least in my experiences.

then the question becomes, does it matter if it makes the track better?

the question of who is louder is pretty insignificant. If you want your bassist to turn down so he is inaudible thats your business, but metal in general would do better to have stronger bass parts. I will refernce N.I.B., Run to the Hills, Ramble On. Almost all of the BANDS people recognize for greatness have a good bassist to compliment the rest of them. 2 out of 4 exeptional band members makes you worthy of a few albums, 3 out of 4 makes you worthy of remembering, 4/4 makes you immortal. Slayer is one of the bands that makes up the 3/4 group, slayer is amasing dont get me wrong but who is going to compare the impact slayer has had on music to led zepplin, the beatles, iron maiden, pink floyd or black sabbath. if your honest with yourself its not even close.

Yeah i coulda told you that. the skill of the bassist and his/her presence within the group, makes or breaks the band. if a band is willing to recognize the inherent skill of the bassist along with the other members of the band, a power band could be formed. i mean come on, what is better than a pair of kickass guitarist, a ballin' ass bassist and a vocalist of Daniel Heiman's quality. thats what Lost Horizon was. i cant wait for another one of those to come around.

Damn all you ignant' to the beauty of the BASS

I really like Katatonias, Mattias Norrmans bass playing on the Great Cold Distance. I find it oddly unique and it almost makes that album with its moodiness.

Steve Harris, John Paul Jones, and Cliff Burton are my top 3.

Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, Jeff Waters (YES!! Alison Hell bass pieces were composed and performed by him) and Jim Sheppard (Nevermore).

Steve Harris, Cliff Burton.

Frank Bello of Anthrax is a underrated Bassist who has a good sound, Cliff Burton and Steve Harris are gods, and Alex Webster of cannibal Corpse is fucking fast, and real talented.

Justin Chancellor, dunno if you count Tool as metal though.

1.Steve Digorgio-No need to explain, the most technically sound bassist in metal that I have ever heard
2.Jeff Walker-Not the best, not the most original, however I LOVE HIM...
3.The dude from Obscura/ex-pestilence. He's got some fretless chops.

Written by Galar on 31.08.2009 at 20:02


3.The dude from Obscura/ex-pestilence. He's got some fretless chops.

You mean MetalStorm member JPT Jeroen Paul Thesseling

Geezer Butler (Sabbath), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Martin Mendez (Opeth), Dave Ellefeson (The Dave Mustaine Experience), Scott Clendenin (Death), Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) are all fantastic bassists... Geezer's one of the more prominent examples, Mendez has a wonderful jazzy aura about him, Clendenin is a motherfucker, and we all know how JPJ, Harris and Ellefeson can drive a song.


EDIT: Woah, with an avatar like mine, HOW THE FUCK DID I FORGET LEMMY

Favourite metal bassist?

Who really gives a crap about bassists? Unless you're a whale and can hear a seal take a shit from 10 miles away then you might care who the best bassist is. I can possibly recall hearing bass maybe 5 times in the music I listen to...and even then I wont mind them being replaced by a third guitarist. I think theres only a bassist in a metal band because the instrument has fat strings and kinda looks cool. Other than that I hardly see the point...or maybe my ears are just fucked from listening too much music - either way who cares.

Written by [user id=1909] on 14.12.2009 at 20:09

Favourite metal bassist?

Who really gives a crap about bassists? Unless you're a whale and can hear a seal take a shit from 10 miles away then you might care who the best bassist is. I can possibly recall hearing bass maybe 5 times in the music I listen to...and even then I wont mind them being replaced by a third guitarist. I think theres only a bassist in a metal band because the instrument has fat strings and kinda looks cool. Other than that I hardly see the point...or maybe my ears are just fucked from listening too much music - either way who cares.

I don't know if you're joking or if you're just deaf.
If it's the second option, go buy yourself some ears (or a good hi-fi music player).

Written by Darkside Momo on 14.12.2009 at 22:03

Written by [user id=1909] on 14.12.2009 at 20:09

Favourite metal bassist?

Who really gives a crap about bassists? Unless you're a whale and can hear a seal take a shit from 10 miles away then you might care who the best bassist is. I can possibly recall hearing bass maybe 5 times in the music I listen to...and even then I wont mind them being replaced by a third guitarist. I think theres only a bassist in a metal band because the instrument has fat strings and kinda looks cool. Other than that I hardly see the point...or maybe my ears are just fucked from listening too much music - either way who cares.

I don't know if you're joking or if you're just deaf.
If it's the second option, go buy yourself some ears (or a good hi-fi music player).

Well whichever it is, I think I am a bit deaf. I just dont really care too much for bass. Has never done anything for me...I mean some prog bands like Suspyre etc have some cool/groovy basslines but when you listen music which are "fuller" (for lack of better term) it's hardly an instrument to notice between all the others. Eitherway, its just my opinion so to each his own..

Honestly, I don't care much for bass guitar either. There are only a few bands where the bass is interesting to me.

Sure, there are some albums on which you simply can't hear the bass, just because the mix doesn't allow it.
Then there's Iron Maiden, Mötörhead, Mekong Delta, Atheist, Alchemist... For these bands and countless others no bass would really mean no music.

Without bass the music falls flat. You don't need to hear the bass, but you need it nonetheless. Because without bass you will lose that needed bottom end which cannot be achieved by adding a third guitar,

I like hearing bass in band's music!

I've never understood why, some bands have a great bass player, (Example: Metallica and Rob Trujillo) then mix the album in a way that means the bass can't be heard. What's the point of hiring a great bass player, if you're going to do that?! I also think ''...And Justice For All'', as great an album as it is, suffers a bit through the bass being cut out of the mix. That is definitely one album that is in terrible need of remixing/remastering!

As for my favourite bassists, I have quite a few!

Billy Gould - Faith No More
Steve Digiorgio - Death
Cliff Burton - Metallica
Rob Trujillo - Metallica/Suicidal Tendencies (Mainly for his amazing work in Suicidal, where you could actually hear him! lol)
Alex Webster - Cannibal Corpse
Markus Grosskopf - Helloween
David Ellefson - Megadeth
Frank Bello - Anthrax
Geezer Butler - Black Sabbath
Felipe Andreoli - Angra
Steve Harris - Iron Maiden
D.D. Verni - Overkill
Greg Christian - Testament
Eddie Jackson - Queensryche
Doug Wimbish - Living Colour
Les Claypool - Primus
John Myung - Dream Theater
Tony Choy - Pestilence/Cynic
John Deacon - Queen
Nefarious - Macabre
Lemmy - Motorhead
Lars Rosenberg - Entombed
Rob Fioretti - Kreator

Written by Angelic Storm on 15.12.2009 at 00:18


Tony Choy - Pestilence/Cynic

Funny you should mention him for Cynic, where he can only be heard on the demos, and not for Atheist.
But yeah truly a great bass player.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.12.2009 at 00:35
Funny you should mention him for Cynic, where he can only be heard on the demos, and not for Atheist.
But yeah truly a great bass player.

Ooops, I completely forgot he didn't play on "Focus"! *blushing*

He was great in Pestilence though, which was where I first heard him. I didn't know he played for Atheist. I'll have to check them out!

I don't know much about them, except I remember reading years ago that their bassist (I think it was the bassist) died, or something...

Written by Angelic Storm on 15.12.2009 at 00:52

I don't know much about them, except I remember reading years ago that their bassist (I think it was the bassist) died, or something...

Yeah Roger Patterson (the original atheist bassist) died before the recording of Unquestionable Presence, and he was replaced by Tony Choy.
Try to listen to this album's 2005 reissue, as there are demo tracks with Roger Patterson on them. And both are awesome bass players.

Written by Galar on 31.08.2009 at 20:02

3.The dude from Obscura/ex-pestilence. He's got some fretless chops.

Jeroen Paul Thesseling

Written by Angelic Storm on 15.12.2009 at 00:52

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.12.2009 at 00:35
Funny you should mention him for Cynic, where he can only be heard on the demos, and not for Atheist.
But yeah truly a great bass player.

Ooops, I completely forgot he didn't play on "Focus"! *blushing*

He was great in Pestilence though, which was where I first heard him. I didn't know he played for Atheist. I'll have to check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNWhqyaLOJk

He kills it in this tune.

Written by [user id=1909] on 14.12.2009 at 20:09

Favourite metal bassist?

Who really gives a crap about bassists? Unless you're a whale and can hear a seal take a shit from 10 miles away then you might care who the best bassist is. I can possibly recall hearing bass maybe 5 times in the music I listen to...and even then I wont mind them being replaced by a third guitarist. I think theres only a bassist in a metal band because the instrument has fat strings and kinda looks cool. Other than that I hardly see the point...or maybe my ears are just fucked from listening too much music - either way who cares.

If music (metal included) were a house, the bass would be the walls. Everything else is the roof. As fancy as your roof is, it wouldn't exist if the walls weren't holding it up. :/

Written by Fat & Sassy! on 15.12.2009 at 01:31

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNWhqyaLOJk

He kills it in this tune.

ahhh Mother Man

Written by Fat & Sassy! on 15.12.2009 at 01:31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNWhqyaLOJk

He kills it in this tune.

Woah, that was insane!

That definitely put me on my ass!

Tony Choy is a monster bass player, and Athiest (I almost said Cynic again... ) sound like a great band! Thanks for the vid.

Geddy Lee...and then...everyone else.

You want to hear bass guitar in music? Listen to "Moving Pictures"....

Written by Angelic Storm on 15.12.2009 at 02:07

Written by Fat & Sassy! on 15.12.2009 at 01:31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNWhqyaLOJk

He kills it in this tune.

Woah, that was insane!

That definitely put me on my ass!

Tony Choy is a monster bass player, and Athiest (I almost said Cynic again... ) sound like a great band! Thanks for the vid.

Yeah, I know. His performance is so INTENSE.

On to responding to the point of this thread:

My all-time favorite bassist has to be Les Claypool. He may not be the most skilled bassist ever (even though he's definitely a master at the instrument), but he understands the bass as an instrument so well. My biggest beef with a lot of talented bassists is that they tend to loose focus of the purpose of the bass and wander off, floating around in the music they are a part of, making the music less cohesive. The music that Les writes is very bass-driven, but he knows his place. He finds a creative, trademark, funky-ass Claypool groove and just rolls with it as the other musicians raw it up. Rarely does he have a solo.