Aaaand - you beat me to it by 15 minutes. Yes, even though she did not perform on stage (which seemed the criteria by which Scott sorted this list), as one of the foundations of The Wrecking Crew, one might say we wouldn't have rock/pop as we know it today if not for the likes of Ms. Kaye. So I think it's a glaring oversight not to include her on ANY list. In fact, to think of her merely as "a woman bass player" is something of a slight given her legendary status. Much like calling Bette Davis or Katherine Hepburn "a woman actor from Hollywood's past" lol. So an episode solely about Carol Kate would very well be in order.
Carol Kaye how can you leave her off this list. Absolutely the most heard female Bass players of all time. Most people don't realize how many times a day ,if listening to early pop rock. The Wrecking Crew. Of the60s &70 Phenomenal Bassist!
Kim Deal didn't even know how to play the bass when she met the pixies, but she wrote among the simplest, influentive and the most addictive basslines in pop-rock history ever. I totally love the pixies, their music was so genuine simple and awesome, and it has been gold for the pop music
Thank you so much for mentioning Tina Weymouth! As a young bassist, she actually ended up being my 1st real influence on bass, and still one of my biggest!
Yup, I was just about to comment that Sh*t! Shes the original bassist plus shes the one that made female bassists look hot- and trendy- so cool. This guy is an idiot for leaving her out but a supposed Pumpkins fan. Screw him
Right on that Kim was the core of SY I prefer her songs to Moore. And she was electric live. Funny that some of the best new wave bands has girl bassists. Pixies. Sonics. Pumpkins. Hole. The Fall with `Brix. Breeders. Talking heads. Throwing muses.
Surprised that *Meshell Ndegeocello* was not mentioned. There is an up-and-coming Japanese female bassist, *Kiyoshi* , who absolutely shreds. She has a channel on RU-vid.
Do keep an eye on Ale Villarreal from The Warning. As mentioned in other comments she just turned 16, but almost all the basslines she's played live were written when she was 12 or 13. The Warning has a new album coming out this Spring and this should really showcase her skills. And do check out Misa of Band-Maid!
Enough of the past, my man, the future is bright! ;-) Try these ladies: - Alejandra Villareal, from The Warning (Mexico), only 16 yrs old but already kicking ass ("Dull Knives" is their most recently recorded song, I think, from home during the pandemic) - Fernanda Lira, formerly from Nervosa (Brazil), if you wanna get heavy, "Death" or "Into Moshpit" are two of my favorites of theirs - Misa, from Band-Maid (Japan), is always great, but I particularly like her work on the song "Play" By the way, the three bands are female-only.
@scott, you overlooked that Japan has the best rock bassists out now 🤷♂️. Check out Misa from Bandmaid. Misaki from Sokoninaru. Ainya from Silent Siren. Mina from Girlfriend. Tomomi from Scandal. The list just goes on and on and their style, voicings, choices, writing, tone, technique... everything is as good as it gets, man.
@@BassesandBows Dice is a good one. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZpAYnVJX9CY.html And Onset has a nice solo section. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mVrN-j_Uc0U.html
Not truly a bass player BUT... Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go's. A guitarist who switched to bass and proceeded to add huge sound to the Go-Go's... a musician in all the sense of the word. Vacation, Our Lips Are Sealed, Head Over Heels... some good ones.
Glad I've seen her mentioned before, but MISA from Band Maid deserves a check nevertheless. I transcribed for me some stuff off their records and it's as good and as fun to play as it gets in rock music
The bass she's playing in the little recent clip is her first bass, original Fender Precision '57, which she's had all those years. No need to "relic" this one!
I had a great pleasure of going to Melissa Auf der Maur's gig in Warsaw some years ago. The show was great, and - with my then-gf - we decided to stay and try to get some autographs. Some time after the show, Melissa showed up - a tiny little figure almost lost in her hoodie - with a hot cup of tea in her hands. But the first man who came to her was an elderly gentleman who, as it turned out, used to know her late father, a local politician from Montreal. She spent about an hour taling to the gentleman and was clearly moved by him coming there. Of course, we waited patiently and respectfully for about an hour.. and it was well worth it. When we came to her to thank for the show and ask for the autographs, she appeared to be an absolutely sweet, lovely woman. We spent about an hour chatting about various stuff. I still have the autographs. Great night, great memories. Now, she's retired from music - she decided to be a full time mom (and she sometimes helps with her husband's cinematic endeavours) which I respect greatly but, on the other hand, it's a bit of a shame, as I really love her solo work. Hats off to Melissa Auf der Maur!
Carol Kaye is a "Must Have" on the list. She has a ton of records she has been on from Beach Boys (Good Vibration) and so on. Another is Ida Nielsen mostly known from Prince. Great list by the way
@@sivertSt02 yeah, they always got better and better. Trust me, you missed something. I'm not a Death Metal guy, but BT were one of my fav bands. Live you had the impression that a whole brigade of tanks just ran over ou. They had such an incredible sound
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I'm a lifelong Talking Heads fan and got to see them live in the early 80s on the NMSU campus at a FREE concert in the then old cafetorium/rec-room. Tina Weymouth looked slightly petrified throughout the performance, bobbing back and forth but still playing wonderfully and I was hooked. It was fun to see her evolution through the years and I remember thinking how cool she looked in Johnathan Demme's/Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense, her moves had vastly improved!
Like others, I think this should start at the beginning with Carol Kaye. She is on so many recordings and albums. She also was the innovator of technique on recording bass. If you want a laugh there’s a video of her showing Gene Simmons how to play a groove.
Scott: Bass and the role of bass has evolved so much over the past 50+ years. From some of the comments, it seems that flash and fretboard gymnastics is what impresses some of the folks. You know, BEAST MODE. What about the solid, in the pocket, bass players that make others sound good? I don't consider myself a great player nor was it my goal. I just like to play. Almost every time I sit in at a jam, I get asked to join a band. I laugh because I just play the song straight rather than try to impress and I get complimented. I wanted to play bass back in the 1960s because I thought the bass player was the coolest band member who just stood the looking cool while the singer and guitar player pranced around. Sometimes people overlook the solid player until they're gone and only then realize what they lost. Icing without cake is just icing. To me, bass is the cake. IT'S NOT WHAT YOU PLAY, IT'S HOW YOU PLAY IT!
Absolutely. I keep mentioning Kim Deal explaining how she made the bass line of "Where is my mind"; she said that bassists always try and "contribute" to the song by adding some ornaments in between bars. She was being sarcastic about it. That's like trying to catch up with the "flashiness" of the guitar: "Look, I can be a virtuoso too!", lol. But her take on it really blew my mind back then. The bass is a lot more versatile than most people assume, and has evolved in a fascinating way being a relatively young instrument, but the most important part of it is the GROOVE, the bass defines the mood and the feeling of the song. It's the pulse, not the voice in itself. And sometimes we bassists add to the mix, by looking down on others. I once wanted to know more about Muse's Chris Wolstenholme, so I ended in this forum where someone wrote: "I've never got why some people is so excited about him, his lines aren't even that complicated". I had to process that for a few minutes before I concluded this guy wants every bass to sound like Geddy Lee, or some obscure and misterious guy from a quasi-unknown Swedish death metal band, lol.
Good point, I think it's harder to evaluate a rock bass player outside the context of a band. The core of rock sound is really when the players are locked in together.
Hey Scott. After watching this video then reading the comments section where many had mentioned Misa from Band-Maids I went and checked out their video "Dice." I have to say that Misa is indeed awesome on that five string. The video includes a short Bass solo so you should check it out. I think she is playing an Ibanez but not sure. Perhaps you can tell.
Tina Weymouth is a cool and innovative bassist, and you picked the straight quarter-note pulse of "Psycho Killer" to show off her skills? How about "Take Me to the River" or "Making Flippy Floppy"?
Tal has played with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Prince, The Allman Bros and Jeff Beck. Go check her out playing with Jeff Beck. Siiiick bass solo. And she was like 17.
Always thought Kathy Valentine and Gina Shock made one of the coolest drum and bass grooves in their era. Thanks for the video, Scott. Love your channel.
Maya Ford of the Donnas is one of my favorite bassists, and a Thunderbird player to boot! Also interesting is that it looked like Tina Weymouth was playing the open A instead of the E string's A, which I always assumed was how she did it. Next time I play Psycho Killer I'll try it that way to see how the different tone changes it. Love little details like that.
Great selection! Especially, Tina Weymouth. I think she’s one of the most creative and original bass player. But what I noticed in this selection, for most of those women is that they could really sing!
Alright! Great video Scott! Let me add a few amazing bass ladies here: Kiyoshi (solo artist) Doris Yeh (Chthonic) Michael Steele (Bangles) Mia W. Wallace (Kirlian Camera, ex-Abbath) Lena Abé (My Dying Bride) Fernanda Lira (Nervosa) Becky Baldwin (Hands Off Gretel)
Not saying she should be on this list but check out Yolanda Charles's work with Paul Weller in the early -mid 90s. Also check out Kim Coleta from Jawbox. Start with the album For Your Own Special Sweetheart.
Love that MAdM, Tal and Paz got some recognition. They are definitely over looked by a lot of people. Surprised that Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blond weren't on the list, their Bass playing made up the iconic sounds of both those bands. Also with the amount of new female bass talent that has hit in the last 10 to 15yrs you really should think about a part 2, and definitely look internationally. A few suggestions to look at : Ale' - (The Warning), MISA - (Band Maid), Alicia Vigil (Vigil of War, DragonForce), Miho - (Lovebites) , KT Chang - (Elephant Gym) , Pu Yu (Crack, VooDoo Kungfu, PU YU music project -(her new solo indie project)), Nikki Monninger (Silversun Pickups)
She was in a "Five Ages of Rock" documentary, it was about her bass line in "Where is my mind", and the way she explained why she kept it so "simple" made me laugh and blew my mind. If you haven't seen it, try and check it: BBc's Five Ages of Rock, the Eighties part...
I’m a beginner bass player and trying to learn the history, so many badass female bass players!!!! This was such an inspiring and cool video, thank you for making it!!😭🙏🏼
Hi guys, You know what genre is never mentioned and some of the greatest tone is always used and that is Reggae. Some of the greatest basslines comes from that genre IMHO. They are sometimes pretty tricky, never the same unless they are in Dub and always have this deep, fat calling Jah tone. Check some out, guys.
Really need to check out the Japanese rock and metal scenes, MISA of Band Maid and F Choppa Koga of Gacharic Spin/Doll$boxx blow most of these girls into the weeds. Hard to disagree with Tal at No.1 though.
Paz Lenchantin had to be on the list, she's amazing(also played with Billy Corgan in band called Zwan). Beside A perfect circle always play's on C# (its like Billy Howerdels favoutire tunning) so once you listen to them its easy to recognize them :)
Kim Coletta of Jawbox - Huge tone, high energy, tremendous band to see live. Search for "Jawbox Live @ The Regent (7/14/19)" for a pretty good video from their recent reunion tour. Some favorites: Cutoff, Savory, Motorist, FF=66
Sean Yseult is so baddass! Saw White Zombie at Donnington Monster of Rock around 1995 and they were amazing. All those bands around them put on great shows. Constantly throwing their hair and bodies around.
Great list , one of my favourite players of all time is Gail Ann Dorsey. Also, check out Miho from Lovebites, great bass player and band leader, and you'll guess her influence.
Carol Kaye. I watched an amazing video on her life and contribution to all music we ever heard, and then the final scene. She went back to the studio where she played on thousands and thousands of songs. She explained to the guard they were finishing a video. They didn't let her in the door.
Where’s Carol Kaye,? You can’t talk about great woman basplayers without talking about Carol. Another great woman bassist is the great Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde.
I must confess I didn't know really how HUGE Carol Kaye was until relatively recently, but still she has done so much, she's kind of way beyond just Rock. The list is about rock, so it's understandable she's not included. Great pick, Johnette, she's got such a beautiful tone, love her lines on "Caroline" and omg, "Mexican Moon"! "God is a bullet"!
OK, is it just me or when Scott got to TAL WILKENFELD with the picture only of her hair, and asked "can you guess who it is?" did you want to answer "Dee Snyder!" LOL
