Sunday, February 17, 2008

Who Is the better bass player?


The above video is a clip of the renown bass player Les Claypool, better known for his work in the progressive rock band Primus. He is recognized as an exemplary bass player, and revolutionized music when he created that crazy sound Primus encompasses. For the longest time I considered Les Claypool to be the best bass player to ever pick up the instrument. Then I heard the work of Victor Wooten.

Victor Wooten has been playing the bass guitar on stage since he was five years old. He was in a band with his brothers, and was an obvious musical prodigy. In the video clip above, he makes it look way to easy to play. I've been debating with many people over the past few years over who is the better bass player: Victor Wooten or Les Claypool?
Now if you watched the two videos above, it's quite blatant both musician's styles are totally differentiated. Victor Wooten has a much cleaner appeal, and puts a lot more emphasis on clarified slap techniques, compared to Claypool's sort of muddy, almost grungy sound. However, Les Claypool makes it sound like he's just screwing around, but it still sounds professional. He can slap like any professional, and he incorporated a large portion of bass capabilites into rock music. He created that intriguing sound Primus transmits, and that has to mean something. Although Victor Wooten easily sets the bar for aspiring bass players everywhere, he hasn't realy done anything revolutionary as Les has done. However, Victor has been recently playing with his band Bela Fleck, and I highly recommend them. They focus the spotlight on the bass (didn't see that one coming), and they hold a quite interesting sound. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in the not so distant future.
There really is no answer to my never ending question of which one of these two bass players can outmatch the other. Both are ridiculously talented in their own rights, and I have an appetite for both their styles, it just depends on the occasion. If I'm in the rocking mood I'll listen to Primus, but if I'm in the mood to chill and listen to some fantastic bass playing, I'll listen to Victor Wooten and Bela Fleck. I would like to hear what other people think, based on the video clips above, so anyone with three minutes to spare should totally drop me a comment so I can know what other think about my unanswered dilemma. Any input is much appreciated, muchos gracias.

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