Who's Your Favorite Bass Players; Why?

There is a very good bass player named Michael Manring that I like

Manring is outstanding in a trio called "Attention Deficit", with guitarist Alex Skolnick (Testament), and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander (Primus). These guys are phenomenal.

Another great band with killer bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose) is Banyan, which includes drummer Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), guitarist Nels Cline, and trumpet player Willie Waldman. Talk about groovin'!

There's a couple of great bass players from Brazil that I like, Marcelo Maia, who reminds me of Jaco Pastorius, and Zoos Moussawer, who compares with Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. I also admire Andre Vasconcello, who plays on Phil DeGreg's album "Brasilia".

Comparing Paul M., Geddy L., Ray B., et at, isn't very useful; different genres. When I was playing in rock bands in the 60's, Jack Bruce was my favorite. He didn't sound like the others. His lines were ahead of their time. Then, in the 70's it was Chris Sqiure of Yes. Rarely did he play on the beat, though his lines were always interesting (Rick Wakeman said that he (Sqiure) couldn't play a "straight" baseline if his life depended on it!). He was the "Jack Bruce" of 70's rock. But I never heard a bassist quite like Jaco Pastorius. The alternate growling, punchy, lovely portamento of his lines were something to behold. Listen to "Portrait of Tracy"; a piece he wrote that is almost all done with harmonics (I busted a gut figuring that one out). Simply beautiful.

Steve O.

Must agree that Manring's Att. Deficit stuff is groovin' as #@^%$***!!! Unfortunately some of his other stuff hits the Kenny G gag reflex. Attention Deficit is as good as or better than any project connected w/these 3 guys. Life is short Att. Deficit never does gigs... it's a crime! Anyone who digs challenging head warping instrumental rock should be nagging the heck out of Manring, Skolnick and Alexander to get out and play or at least record some more. Same holds true for Massacre (Frith/Laswell/Hayward). Both units can crunch through the skull and sear a deep brand into the brain.

Basic choices, nothing too esoteric here. I love "The Ox", Chris Squire, Billy Wyman and one of the guys in the Fab Four. All very melodic. Lesh is really good too-very powerful lines. Berry Oakley was amazing.