Sky Arts ,Worlds greatest Basslines .28/11/25

[Martin E]

Yes, by far the best one. Didn't know much about Nate Mendel but an articulate and interesting chap.

 

 

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, sblueplanet said:

Who is the dude with the steinberger who appears in the intro? Does he even appear across the three programmes? I thought it was jazz bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma but maybe too young? 🤔 

 

He appeared in the first episode talking about reggae bass.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I thought there were a few reggae bassists 😁

 

Notably "the dude with the Steinberger" and Glen Browne with the five-string (I don't know him, I just made a note of his name).

 

The third episode was far and away the best. If the best snippets from the first two episodes (Glen Matlock on the Anarchy in the UK bassline in the first episode and a couple of other bits, the bit on slap and on singing when playing bass from the second episode) were shoehorned into the third episode, you could chuck away all the rest.

[Uncle Rodney]

Not heard of Mr Hook?? - This is one aspect of being a "musician" I like. Yes I've heard and know who PH is and never heard of the Foo Fighter chap  "his" episode was a decent watch. Meaning very often I "discover" a musician that I would never have looked at, now I have info on what they offer, I'm "enriched"

 

Adam Clayton surpised me. Usually I've seen the U2 crew to seem like schoolboys in interviews, the spokesman being Bono who was always on point. Adam speaks very well, must be his age

Edited 7 hours ago by Uncle Rodney

[Leonard Smalls]

11 hours ago, sblueplanet said:

jazz bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma

One of my favourites... But this is him in the mid-90s, probably last time he used the Steinberger (at least that I've seen!):

 

 

And when I first discovered him - I was looking for funk records in Leeds as I was DJing. There was no means of finding The Funk via radio, or TV or music press, so guess work was usually the way forward. And this import (twas about £8, in 1984!) ticked all the boxes! Though I found when listening that it was deeply unsuitable for a funk disco, and it took me about 3 years to actually be able to listen to it!

 

[BigRedX]

@ those who didn't like what I said in my last post:

 

I'm a musician and therefore I have at least a passing interest in other musicians, and like to know about the music they play so I can either find more to hear or to know to avoid them in the future. I've just looked back through this thread and there are only one or two bass players mentioned that I hadn't heard the names of before, but when I checked out who they'd played with I found I was aware of at least some of their work. 

 

I have to admit that the late 70s and early 80s is my era for musical influences and therefore I'm well-aware of Peter Hook and what he has done. Conversely I have very little interest in post-grunge American rock (the sort of thing that is called "alt-rock" despite that fact that most of it is completely mainstream these days), but at least I know who Melissa Auf der Maur and Nate Mandel are and have heard some songs that they have played on (and have listened to enough to know that it's not to my taste). 

 

What I don't like is wilful ignorance on the part of other musicians. I don't expect people to like everything; after all what each of us finds interesting about musical styles is completely subjective, but when we all have the internet at our fingertips to claim that you don't know who a particular musician is and be proud of the fact is just stupid. 

[Linus27]

59 minutes ago, Uncle Rodney said:

Not heard of Mr Hook?? - This is one aspect of being a "musician" I like. Yes I've heard and know who PH is and never heard of the Foo Fighter chap  "his" episode was a decent watch. Meaning very often I "discover" a musician that I would never have looked at, now I have info on what they offer, I'm "enriched"

 

Adam Clayton surpised me. Usually I've seen the U2 crew to seem like schoolboys in interviews, the spokesman being Bono who was always on point. Adam speaks very well, must be his age

 

To be fair, Adam has always been like this. I've grown up with U2 since around 83 and he has always been this very cool, intelligent, calm, thoughtful character. Not too technical but he knows his stuff and very level headed. The Edge is the technical geek, Larry is always in the shadows and Bono is Bono and exactly when you get.

[Mickeyboro]

I don’t much like U2 but I admire them for staying together and lasting the course. I saw them in 1980 and 2006 and it was the same lineup. How many bands can say that?

 

In my diary for 1980 i described them as ‘Like Siouxsie and the Banshees, but with a bloke’…😂

[SpondonBassed]

20 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Like Siouxsie and the Banshees, but with a bloke

 

I laughed because, at first glance, I read that as "but with a berk".  Near enough, I suppose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iainbass]

Havent seen it yet, I may have a look. On a purely recognisable and musical level I hope Rio and, A Forest are discused. Two eg's of old, powerful, melodic and in your face highly influential basslines.

[Linus27]

6 minutes ago, iainbass said:

Havent seen it yet, I may have a look. On a purely recognisable and musical level I hope Rio and, A Forest are discused. Two eg's of old, powerful, melodic and in your face highly influential basslines.

 

Rio or any Duran Duran is a no but The Cure were discussed.

[Terry M.]

3 hours ago, Uncle Rodney said:

Not heard of Mr Hook?? 

And what if I haven't exactly? Am I the only musician who hasn't?

[tauzero]

18 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

And what if I haven't exactly? Am I the only musician who hasn't?

 

Apparently it's obligatory to look him up on the interwebs, as otherwise you are being wilfully ignorant. I didn't know who Melissa Auf der Maur is and thought I would find out about her and her great career-defining basslines in episode 2. However, the only thing I found out was that I didn't want to listen to any more of her work.

[BigRedX]

41 minutes ago, tauzero said:

Apparently it's obligatory to look him up on the interwebs, as otherwise you are being wilfully ignorant. I didn't know who Melissa Auf der Maur is and thought I would find out about her and her great career-defining basslines in episode 2. However, the only thing I found out was that I didn't want to listen to any more of her work.

 

I get that this is somewhat sarcastic, but now that we have almost all the information about everything ever at our fingertips, why wouldn't you spend a few minutes looking up some musician who people on here think is significant and having a listen to what they have played on? Then you can make up your own mind whether it's worth listening to more or depart with knowledge that what they do is not for you. 

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

I get that this is somewhat sarcastic, but now that we have almost all the information about everything ever at our fingertips, why wouldn't you spend a few minutes looking up some musician who people on here think is significant and having a listen to what they have played on? Then you can make up your own mind whether it's worth listening to more or depart with knowledge that what they do is not for you. 

 

I didn't watch the programmes to find out all about the personal histories of the people presenting them but to have great basslines deconstructed. I realise that this wouldn't be a note-by-note analysis (which wouldn't interest the non-bass-playing majority) but might have some talk about (for example) technique (slapping in episode 2, plectrum technique in episode 3) or timing (ahead, on, or behind the beat, episode 3). It didn't matter whether I knew who she was or not, it was the content that I was watching it for.