Victor Wooten is far superior than any of the bassists that have already been mentioned. Just sayin.

Jaco Pastorius
Paul Jackson
Larry Graham
Chris Squire

Louis Johnson
Marcus Miller
Ray Ransom
Mark Adams
Bernard Edwards
Dave LaRue
Bunny Brunel
Chuck Rainey


no, hes not over-rated....but, back in the day, it was unusual to hear funk basslines in an otherwise punkish hardcore background so, while he wasnt doing anything new on the instrument, he did introduce funk to players who otherwise would have never bothered with the genre. Flea CAN play and, one of the biggest differences between him and many players, is that his funk-side was influenced by First Generation funk players like Larry Graham and Louis johnson....its the second-generation guys that were influenced by Flea and P-Nut are all the "slappity tackity" grooveless nonsense I always hear in Guitar Center

There are many players I prefer over Flea and Flea is NOT one of my influences but that is personal preference, but - yes - Flea can play

Wooten's a pretty good player, but I've noticed his "wowza" moments tend to just be one trick while the rest is just sort of standard bass playing. Also, even though he has some gems along the way, a good part of his music is very bland and uninteresting. In regards to his discography I kind of feel the same way about Billy Cobham, tbh (though Cobham's great moments are far greater than Wooten's and Cobham's definitely no one trick pony.)

I most definitely second Claypool. I'd also like to add Rockette Morton from Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to the list as well as Zu's Massimo Pupillo.

Geddy Lee

John Lodge

John McVie

Kip Winger is one of my favs

Haha! Good one.

Dennis Dunaway from the old Alice Cooper band had some nice melodic lines, IMO.

John Paul Jones playing on Lemon Song is great too.

He's actually pretty good.

Doug Wimbish gets a nod from me too.

Flea (RHCP)
James Johnson (Biffy Clyro)
Mark Hoppus (Blink 182)