The Best Blues Bassists Of All Time Ranked

Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern (the blues scale and specific chord progressions) of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or “worried notes”), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove. Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African-Americans. Here are all of the best Blues Bassists of all time ranked.

See more: The Best Prog Rock Drummers Of All Time Ranked

See more: The Best Prog Rock Bassists Of All Time Ranked

7. Noel Redding

“Noel David Redding was an English rock bassist and guitarist best known for his work as bassist with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Without his bass jimmy wouldn’t’ve been able to fly to all direction his geniality wished, and yet, being part of whole. Redding gave hendix’s experience a marvelous ton of CLASS and psicodelity.”

6. Jack Bruce

“Jack is the master. His incredible playing and ground-breaking sounds have influenced many of the other bass players listed here. His constant growth and change and adaptation to new ideas is apparent in everything he plays. His song writing and collaborations are always unique, powerful, and intriguing. And he’s still playing in many different venues and bands”

5. Bill Wyman

“The thing I like about him, is that he’s all about the feel, not the technique. No long winded pretentious solos and showing off, just great meat-and-potatoes playing that held the music together, and enhanced it. He put the balls into the Stones sound, which has been suffering considerably with his absence, in my opinion.”

4. Willie Weeks

“Beautiful tone, tasteful chops and great feel. Willie has played on hundreds of great albums and with so many influential artists that he must be one of the most influential unsung musicians in history! Highlights include Donny Hathaway Live and George Harrison’s Thirty Three and a Third”

3. Glenn Hughes

“Glenn Hughes is an English rock bassist and vocalist, best known as a member of Deep Purple and the rock pioneers Trapeze, and his solo career. Hughes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple. He is acclaimed for his wide vocal range. One of the best players. Influenced lot of bassist. For a bass player in 1976 to put David Coverdale back stage was incredible.”

2. Berry Oakley

“Raymond Berry Oakley III was an American bassist and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band, known for long melodic bass runs. Berry Oakley was an instrumental part of the early Allman Brothers sound, with his bass chords defining some of the band’s most popular songs like “Whipping Post”, ” “Mountain Jam”, “Les Brers”, and countless others.”

1. Nathan East

“Has played with Clapton on several projects and tours. One of the finest, most focused bassist on the face of the planet. A very flexible, adjusting musician, trained in many genres. Listen to some Clapton tunes, and you will experience the groove East pushes through his rig.”