Best ever basslines?

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    Danny1969 said:

    With or without you - U2  ..... when the song has gone to the  quiet ish bit and the bass rests on the D, then comes back in with the 4 note riff you realise it's been driving the whole song.
    This one too.

    Adam Clayton is probably the most under-rated bassist ever. He's not flashy but everything he plays is perfect for the song.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • flyingvflyingv Frets: 555
    https://youtu.be/ZXECy3i4N28 3:09 great bass line.
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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14036
    tFB Trader
    Leo Lyons of Ten Years After - and many great tracks of him driving the band/groove
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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14036
    tFB Trader
    Not that hooked on the bands but Cass Lewis (Skunk Anansie) and Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai) both have some very tidy bass lines on many tracks
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280

    Best of all, The One That I Want:

    https://youtu.be/9Zf9n3s0y3g

    I just came here to mention that. Surprisingly good, I never noticed it at the time.
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  • AlexCAlexC Frets: 2396
    Listening to a compilation album yesterday and Spencer Davis Group - Keep On Runnin was on it. That song is essentially a very beat driven bass line. Aside from the Tonbender sloppy chords the guitar just does the usual 60s soul clink, clink, clink on the beat. So really - it's the bass that makes that song.

    And I'm surprised that JJ Burnel hasn't has a mention yet. Especially the earlier Stranglers stuff. Peaches is obvious. And check out Down In The Sewer.
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  • NeillNeill Frets: 941
    edited March 2021
    Sassafras said:
    Watching The Detectives.

    That guy who used to play bass with Joe Jackson was pretty good. Think his name was Graham Mayby.
    Yes @Sassafras ;;Graham Maby, he's my favourite bass player.  Has worked with lots of artists but his playing with Joe Jackson on the first two albums really showcases his talent.  Joe had this concept of a band where the guitarist just played rhythm and the bass would sort of play lead, "Sunday Papers" is a good example of this approach.  It wouldn't work with most bassists but Graham has such natural melodic ability.  By total co-incidence one of his mates was my sister in law's partner for some years, - he always said Graham never got the credit he deserved, Joe Jackson was not by all accounts the most generous of band leaders.  
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  • Dan_HalenDan_Halen Frets: 1646
    Some of the bass in stuff by The Specials is great. Love Nite Klub and Ghost Town.
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  • NeillNeill Frets: 941
    I don't know about "best ever" but my favourite bass line of all time is the backing on Randy Crawford's "You Might Need Somebody" by Abraham Laboriel.  You may not have heard of this guy but I promise you that you have heard him...

    It's a fairly simple bass line but played with such style and tone, I could listen to it all day.

    You Might Need Somebody also has that wonderful restrained but soaring guitar solo by Steve Lukather.  
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16255
    The one that always comes to mind is Puget Sound by Gillan. Haven't heard it for ages but in my head it's this classic throbbing bassline and then he detunes at the end. 

    Dave Pegg with Tull and Fairport is a bit under rated, playing jigs and reels on bass. Mick Karn and his lovely atmospheric basslines. Colin Hodgkinson of Back Door and many other acts, the Back Door version of 32-20 blues is some bass playing!
    There's a long list. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • breakstuffbreakstuff Frets: 10230

    Sabotage by Beastie Boys.



    Laugh, love, live, learn. 
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  • JohnnysevenJohnnyseven Frets: 905
    Tool - Schism
    The Cure - Fascination Street
    Ride - Leave Them All Behind
    My trading feedback can be seen here - http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/58242/
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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11791
    proggy said:
    Sledgehammer - Tony Levin.
    proggy said:
    Wherever I lay my hat - Pino Palladino.
    yes, these were the 2 non-reggae bass players I thought of. Both amazing.
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  • skaguitarskaguitar Frets: 909
    I listen to a lot of ska and reggae ....great bass lines always but this one always stood out for me...

    https://youtu.be/c5G3W82Wtvs

    And been watching a lot of live from Daryl’s...so this too

    https://youtu.be/ATRsYfiVUy8
    • “To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.”
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  • TonyRTonyR Frets: 908
    Down in a Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam (Bruce Foxton)
    We are all Chameleons...
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  • TheBigDipperTheBigDipper Frets: 4722
    Two favourites of mine are both Tony Levin in the 1980s King Crimson

    Thela Hun Ginjeet - where he spanks a MusicMan rather nicely

    Elephant Talk - which is technically a Stick performance, but Tony always played the Stick as a bass rather than a piano, so... 

    But anything Norman Watt-Roy plays with The Blockheads sounds pretty good to me. 
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9552
    TonyR said:
    Down in a Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam (Bruce Foxton)
    Also has the greatest rhyming couplet this side of Ian Dury...

    They smelt of pubs
    And Wormwood Scrubs
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • yorkioyorkio Frets: 173
    Sassafras said:
    Most things by the  Clash.
    Specially The Magnificent Seven.
    Which was actually played by Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy.
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16255
    https://youtu.be/Z4cDUXPEybQ

    Norman played on a few tracks for The Selecter, I always thought this was one of their best tracks and it’s him. 

    And on this...which I’d have probably guessed was a synth line...a young Kirsty MacColl on BVs...

    https://youtu.be/62eTq8ErUOQ
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • SassafrasSassafras Frets: 30273
    yorkio said:
    Sassafras said:
    Most things by the  Clash.
    Specially The Magnificent Seven.
    Which was actually played by Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy.
    I know, but I didn't want to show off by acknowledging it.
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