Who do you aspire to be/play like?

faamecanic · January 19, 2020, 3:13pm

@Mark_D I so want to lift that Keith Richards meme… ROFL and the truth!

Fred · January 19, 2020, 7:25pm

For me, it’s Carl Radle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Radle Especially his work with Eric Clapton during the early 1970’s as part of Delaney, Bonnie, and Friends, Derek and the Dominos, and The Eric Clapton Band. Let It Rain, After Midnight, and Layla - all Carl’s work! Not overly fancy, but always serving the song! I can’t find a YouTube video with good enough audio to do him justice, so if you’re not familiar with his work, find an HD audio source and check out the Clapton self-titled album from 1970.

When I get to the point where I can play Carl’s lines from the three songs above, then I’m going shopping for my BadAss Bass Player hat.

Korrigan · January 19, 2020, 8:18pm

I aspire to play like… me.

marcj42 · January 19, 2020, 10:39pm

Pino Palladino:

Mostly for his Neo-Soul/R&B history but also for his John Mayer Trio material. The epic head bop and soulful bass lines

Gio · January 21, 2020, 4:50pm

+1 to all that.

ctthayer · January 22, 2020, 3:09am

For me, it has always been Duck Dunn. Rock solid, always appropriate, a total groove-maker, responsible for the bottom end of a whole treasury of iconic songs from a Who’s Who of performers.

Gio · January 22, 2020, 4:29am

Great shout out here. What a killer player, and a groooooove machine! Though… I think if anyone played with Al Jackson Jr that much, they’d either groove, or… or… no. No, they’d just groove. That snare drum would create groove in a rock, if you slung a bass on it.

ctthayer · January 22, 2020, 5:50am

Haha! You’ve got that right. Jackson was kinda the Duck Dunn of drums, in that he was always tasteful and appropriate, never overplayed, and his timekeeping was so so so steady, but he still could let the song “breathe.” Hey, I think I just got a new stage name – Groove Rock!

Gadget · January 22, 2020, 2:23pm

Aram Bedrosian, there is another Bass player I came across on YouTube a couple days ago, is it okay to post the page name on here?

Gadget · January 22, 2020, 2:29pm

Looking thru another thread I found my answer. I don’t know how to post a link I’ll just type it. Juliaplaysgroove, 19 year old Polish girl that started in 2013. Amazingly good, creepily right now I wouldn’t mind being like her.

joergkutter · January 22, 2020, 2:40pm

Hi @Gadget, you can always paste a link from YouTube here…

However, just to be sure: in this thread, we are not looking for (random) bass players, however cool they are, but specifically for that ONE player that inspires you most, that you want to emulate or aspire to be able to play like etc.

So, is it Aram Bedrosian or Juliaplaysgroove or someone else? I’d appreciate a real name and perhaps a few words on why this particular bass player! Thanks

Gadget · January 22, 2020, 4:41pm

Aram Bedrosian, not exactly sure what it is about his playing, seems effortless and can stand alone without any backup. I think he could go on stage by himself and do an entire solo show.

Marcel · January 22, 2020, 6:04pm

have given this some good thought, i admire some bass players, like claypool, deal, bootsy, jamerson, dunn

but i dont want to be like anyone of them, i just want to be comfortable playing funk and jazz

JoshFossgreen · January 22, 2020, 10:39pm

Great question @joergkutter! Hard to answer because I play in a lot of different styles, and so am modeling different players depending…

But.

I’m gonna go ahead and say Tim Lefebvre. As I’ve dived deeper into bass tone in recent years, his P bass sounds and cool effects stuff is just always blowing my mind.

I love his playing on Bowie’s Blackstar, but the first stuff I got into with him was Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music -

Love everyone else’s answers too! This also functions as a "check out these awesome bassists thread. )

EDIT: Also, Tim’s playing on the Tedeschi Trucks record “Signs” is off the hook!

PeteP · January 23, 2020, 7:50am

Isn’t it kind of embarrassing that nobody has cited Josh as their icon? I’m putting that down to none of us having the same alien DNA (the hands, people, look at the hands!) so our skills will always miss that mark.

joergkutter · January 23, 2020, 10:03am

Haha, yes, thought the same when I saw @JoshFossgreen actually replying to this thread (which is super-nice, but I thought it was more for us aspiring newbies… but, of course, why shouldn’t Josh have some idol he sees as a guiding star…).

Jazzbass19 · January 23, 2020, 12:01pm

That’s an interesting point, @PeteP . . .

All the aspirations expressed on this thread relate to everyone’s ‘favorite’ bass player, which in turn reflects their favorite musical genre (in my case Entwistle and classic rock).

But @JoshFossgreen has a really unique ability to play many different types of music: Celtic, rock, blues, Motown, country, and so on.

So he deserves special recognition for that! . . . . . .

Cheers, Joe

PeteP · January 23, 2020, 12:06pm

Or perhaps it goes without saying. But if the question had been “who has had the most actual influence on your playing?” then he’s a shoe-in. Better than my face-to-face teacher or any other youtube lessons (and there have been a few good ones in that resource).

Now @JoshFossgreen, about that discount on the advanced course…

Lanny · January 23, 2020, 10:44pm

I aspire to “Be/Play Like”… Me…

John_E · January 24, 2020, 1:02am

For me, it is Rocco Prestia, all the way…