Who are the new Bass Icons?

PennyroyalWe

PennyroyalWe

Sep 2, 2018
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#1
We all know and love the classic bass icons like Jamerson, Macca, Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, Jaco, Stanley Clark, Vic Wooten, Marcus Miller, Cliff Burton, Flea,...etc, the list could go on forever. I got to wondering, who are the new ones; ones who have made their rise in the last 10 years or so, or the up and comers to keep an eye on?
What about the YouTube bassists, who’s fame has stemmed not so much from playing a group or making albums, but from their bass related online content? Are they the new “face of bass” so to speak?
 
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#9
This is an interesting question. They are undeniably part of the new "face of the bass". Davie504, for example, has 6.5 million subscribers and a Chowny-Retrovibe signature bass (Davie504 signature bass). He must have made hundreds or thousands of people want to learn to play.

Now the problem with YouTube (and the Internet in general) is that it tends to make everyone uniform. All these young prodigies that we see everywhere are incredibly talented, but they all sound about the same and seem to copy each other.
 
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#10
Joe Dart and Thundercat for sure. But away from this board, even those two guys have narrow appeal.

Not sure the list will be super long. The bass is sitting way down in the mix these days in a lot of new music if there's bass guitar at all. And the current fashion in bass tone is mellow and low-key, making it hard for people to notice unless they know what they are listening to. Compared, for example, to the 80s when they were mixing the bass way out front and often with flashy basslines that ended up a main identity of the song.

Non bass player club-goers can sing you the bassline from "Bust a Move." When you do hear a killer bassline in a current radio song, most of the time it's a sample on a keyboard (Charlie Puth), or the artist is using an older, established session player (Dua Lipa).

There will always be incredible young players killing it in niche areas - but broad exposure for bass players is an uphill battle right now and the prognosis is not good. There are so few opportunities like the ones all the great band bass players had in the 70s and 80s.

Perhaps best to learn how to be a functioning, employable gig player. A guy like Justin Meldal-Johnsen (who is my age, not really young) might be a model of what a "bass icon" is now - he's on a zillion records, produces quite a bit, and is enough of a player to have a following among experts.
 
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#13
thirteendevils said:
Michael League, Tim Lefebvre, Rocco Palladino, Kaveh Rastegar, Esperanza Spalding.
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Tim Lefebvre is 52 years old; I doubt he's going to reach icon status outside of musician circles.

All of those are world-class players. But known only to musicians. To be an icon, you have to be recognizable beyond your own professional circle (Jack Bruce, Entwistle, Flea, Geddy Lee) or else be at deified status within it (Jaco, Louis Johnson, Stanley Clarke).

In my opinion of course.
 
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#14
Altitude said:
Joe Dart and Thundercat for sure. But away from this board, even those two guys have narrow appeal.

Not sure the list will be super long. The bass is sitting way down in the mix these days in a lot of new music if there's bass guitar at all. And the current fashion in bass tone is mellow and low-key, making it hard for people to notice unless they know what they are listening to. Compared, for example, to the 80s when they were mixing the bass way out front and often with flashy basslines that ended up a main identity of the song. Non bass player club-goers can sing you the bassline from "Bust a Move."

When you do hear a killer bassline in a radio song right now, most of the time it's a sample on a keyboard (Charlie Puth), or the artist is using an older, established session player (Dua Lipa).

There will always be incredible young players killing it in niche areas - but broad exposure for bass players is an uphill battle right now and the prognosis is not good. There are so few opportunities like the ones all the great band bass players had in the 70s and 80s.

Perhaps best to learn how to be a functioning, employable gig player. A guy like Justin Meldal-Johnsen (who is my age, not really young) might be a model of what a "bass icon" is now - he's on a zillion records, produces quite a bit, and is enough of a player to have a following among experts.
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That’s kinda what I’ve been feeling in the winds, or fearing more so? It’s sad to think that there likely won’t be any ubiquitous bassists in the foreseeable future.
 
#20
I am pretty young for this board (25) and here would be my picks:
-Joe Dart (Vulfpeck):
-Johny Chow (Stone Sour)
-Nolly GetGood (Periphery): one of the people who popularized Darkglass
-Davie504: Youtuber - not my type but still hugely influencial, probably the most known one outside music
-Thundercat
-Michael League (Snarky Puppy)
-Hendrik Linder (Dirty Loops)
 
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