I saw him live once doing a solo bass show and noted that his playing sounded disjointed and lacked musicality. Phenomenally dextrous fingers for sure, but much of his bass note placement sounded to be a random bi-product of flashy technique rather than consciously composed or chosen
We don’t care give us 20 more minutes. Give us more bass players. Such fantastic work introducing us all these great players. My daughter and I, who is a bass player too, love this. Thanks!
And let me tell you as a left-handed person who used to play on an upside down guitar, it is not easy or comfortable. When I finally bought a lefty bass, things got a lot easier. The two primary reasons: the knobs/hardware catching your wrist, which can change the tone or volume dramatically, and the higher strings are further away from your wrist resting under the neck, which means more of a stretch when you solo. Plus, the body of the guitar is designed to fit comfortably with your body at only one angle.
Amazing! A lot of monstrous bassists and that's so good to see that the Brazil is well represented in this list! I miss Ricardinho Paraiso but this list still really great!
Every player on this list is incredible. A lot of people love to live in the past but this list shows how amazing the best bass players are these days.
Mono Neon is something else! Its intrested to see, in this compilation, that sound and playing style and harmonic style of the most solos are very similar. With closed eyes, its hard to hear some differences...
Janek's my favourite from this list. Lyrical was the right word to describe him. The 2 bassists I would add both belong to Paco de Lucia's bands: Carles Benavent for the previous video (born in '54), and Alain Perez (born in '77).
that tal wilkenfeld clip is so special. she didnt rely on playing arpeggios and scales at lightning speed. she way not be a jazz soloist, but that melody is so amazing
Incredible! I would have to add Jonas Hellborg to this list but all of these cats are so creative in their approach to the instrument. Definitely can't wait to check out more of the players I'm hearing for the first time, like Anton Davidyants. Lots of new players to check out named in the comments as well!
Hiromi in her mountain woman phase. (I'd forgotten about that.) I thought I knew what was going on, but you have me beat with bass players. These guys are good! But I sure was surprised Mohini Dey wasn't in there.
Looking and listening to these guys play is humbling.. One thing I believe is that if you are rolling around an instrument with more than 5 strings. you are a a unique combination of bass and guitarist and a well rounded musician with lots of mileage. A good musician is always learning.
“You probably wouldn’t think of Tal Wilkenfeld as a jazz soloist…”. ??? Her first (and for a long time afterwards, only) album was entirely an instrumental jazz album, with a scorching jazz bass solo on nearly every track.
Yeayy I was going to recommend you Dane Alderson but midway of watching I see you have included him in. I used to watch him play in Llama bar in Perth Australia when I was living there. He play regulars there with his band called Void, i think there are vids in youtube of them during that days. He's amazing, I used to watch him in awe with my mouth open
Thanks Scott! Great vid. 👍 And i hadn't even heard of most of these bassists... However... (gotta ask) How about Esperanza Spalding? How about Kinga Glyk? And, for what it's worth, i for one am not afraid of 40min videos. As long as it doesn't get boring. 😉
Had the pleasure of meeting Michael League while working for Jazz venue in Manchester called Band on the Wall and filmed a project him and the SP crew did at the venue with local musicians. He's a great teacher too.
Personal fave in this category at the moment would have to be the fabulous Kinga Glyk- wonderfully melodic jazz/fusion bassist. Born in 1997 as it happens since that seems to be important ;)
I'll admit it, I thought, for a split second, something was wrong with Henrik's video resolution, until I realized he had the true temper frets 😂 so many great players...
Brazil going with monsters! Pipoquinha sounds very funny in your pronunciantion! Rsss is like a little popcorn! Kkkk Amazing bass player! Thanks for show me some names I don´t heard before.
hi scott i realy want to thank you and all the mentors in "Scott's Bass Lesson" i feel like im fainaly in the MOST rigth school now .......................it is so big im so new there and im Israeli so my English is not so good BUT im i heaven in there realy ' you are all soooooooooooooooooooo perfect teacher's
Esperanza Spalding and Kinga Glyk - BIG MISSES ( Especially Kinga - she is a monster ) Also - forget the name - but that one guy was a classical guitarist playing a bass - let's be real And I was curious if this Mono Neon literally learned to play up side down and backwards - because it looked like he was playing a right hand style bass - and stringed normally. Which is incredible - because the E string would be the physically ( not sonically ) LOWEST string. and A D G going upwards. ( Upside down and Backwards )
Man - I would be super helpful if you'd include the names of the players you showcase in the description section of your videos. You have done several of these types of videos - and there are always cats I want to explore further - but Id have to rewatch the video to get the names. Links are always great - and Im sure the cats you showcase would love the views. But even just a text list would be much appreciated in the future. CHEERS!
Dont know how old he is, but Dario Deidda should be on this list. One of very few electric bass player besides Steve Swallow who really functions well in a straight ahead jazz setting without going fusion.
Heavy technician passages you chose with 95% similar tonalities. Great players yes. I know at least half have shown the souls side. How about clips with FEEL.
Great Top 20 list, but I would like to know where Adam Nitti ranks on your list of Jazz Bass Soloist. I discovered him on Spotify a couple of years ago and he is fantastic. He plays a phrase in his intro of the Antisocial Media song that blows my mind. I would love to hear you interview him on his style and influences.
Why nothing on Mohini Dey. She is unreal and I have not heard you give her love or did I just miss it. Also these pros you just showed are fantastic and half were new to me so I have some listening to do on Pandora. Ty
Non-even temperament fretboard. The straight frets on a bass (or notes on a piano for that matter) are a harmonic compromise. Strictly if you take harmonic theory back from first principles, as you build different scales up based on the ratio differences of notes’ frequencies compared to the tonic, then individual notes in different scales are at very slightly different frequencies. The G in F major is very slightly different to the G in D major or C major scales. The “even tempered scale” provides standard frequencies for each note that are a compromise but sound OK. However you can place the frets so as to give either scale specific note frequencies or a different compromise from the standard even temperament. Not sure I explained that very well…
Junior Braguinha e Michael Pipoquinha representando o nosso Brasil tão rico e tão musical... Que orgulho! 😍They're representing our rich and musical Brazil... What a pride!
