Top 10 Hardest Bass Riffs To Play
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
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These bass riffs rock! For this list, we’ll be ranking the most popular or well-known songs that also possess memorably complex bass lines. Our countdown includes Rancid, Metallica, Rush, and more! Know of any great bass licks we missed? Let us know in the comments!
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Know of any great bass licks we missed? Let us know in the comments!
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I guess Steve Harris is second rate with y’all. He’s better than Geddy and should be number one. Hell y’all didn’t even give him an honorable mention, smh.
Wait why the comment is one day ago when the video is one hour ago
Marcus Miller's Detroit
Title is so misleading.
@@Chris_Clark1MaidenFan so true! Steve is a genius!
Always nice to see bassists get some love, and they’re so criminally underrated by people. Not a musician myself, but I gained a respect for bassists in my 20’s after listening to four-stringers like Cliff Burton and Les Claypool.
Bruh, Bassist and Goaltenders. Loneliness fuckers alive.
Respect
As a bass player my self I agree
as a bassist, it’s nice to know people appreciate us. 🥲
Thank you for mentioning Entwistle, Dude is still one of my all time favorites.
That lil solo in My Generation BLOWS ME AWAY every time. His live solo version of The Real Me is powerful as hell too.
Rest well John, I miss ya....
He was a BEAST on the bass!
Thunder Thumbs! My buddy used to be one of his drum techs. Super under appreciated bass player.
My favorite from John is The Real Me
Boris the Spider? NO!
The Real Me is my favorite from John.
Eminence Front is worth a listen, too.
John Entwistle belongs on the top of the list because of his bass work on The Who's "The Real Me". Boris the Spider was not a good choice to represent him.
Bass players are always underrated. I always loved Mark King form Level 42. His slap-bass playing style was cool as hell
Oh yeah, their guitar player too!
Lessons in love is killer!
@@sorrynotsorry5589 Mark King said Running in the Family was the hardest because the bass in it is so relentless
Yeah, but WatchMojo doesn’t know who Mark King, Marcus Miller, Matthew Garrison, Or Alain Caron is. I’m surprised Victor Wooten even got a sniff on here.
#10: Rancid- Maxwell Murder
#9: Funkadelic- One Nation Under a Groove
#8: Led Zeppelin- Immigrant Song
#7: Cannibal Corpse- Hammer Smashed Face
#6: Weather Report- Teen Town
#5: Dream Theater- Panic Attack
#4: Metallica- Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)
#3: Yes- Heart of the Sunrise
#2: Primus- Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
Honorable Mentions:
Victor Wooten- More Love
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Aeroplane
The Who- Boris the Spider
Muse- Hysteria
#1: Rush- YYZ
Davie504 anyone?
Bassists are the unsung heroes of the music world. I think there are so many talented bassists out there, and this proves that they can really play things other than just the rhythm. Geddy Lee is my favorite bassist of all time, not just because he's Canadian like I am, but because he is one of the greats of any genre.
Tommy The Cat is more difficult than Jerry Was A Racecar Driver imo, especially knowing that Les raps that middle verse while playing that insane riff.
Also, Right On Time is the most difficult Red Hot Chili Peppers tune to play by a LONG shot.
No Iron Maiden?? All of Steve Harris’s bass-lines are awesome!
but not hard to play... just fast
His gallopping and chords!!
Not hard to play at all. Just the speed of the fingers.
Iron Maiden has some serious bass riffs if you take the time to listen
And the bass in Maiden songs comes out loud and clear, it’s always refreshing to hear metal where the bass isn’t buried underneath the guitars.
Steve's bass lines are iconic (not to mention he wrote most of Maiden's music) but I would not call them complex, at least not as much as the ones on this list.
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
James Jamerson’s bass playing on “What’s Going on” , they’re lines in there that I’m sure most of the people listed can’t finish or quite link together. While it’s true he already left a major impression on rock, soul and RnB as part of Motown’s in house studio combo, by the time this song was written, they had to track him to a bar and almost literally throw him into the studio with a bass. Word is he was laying in the dark on his back when he did it. You listen to what he’s playing and it’s so on, and I don’t think he even gave it a listen before he laid his bass track down…
Its an amazing bass line and is more technically hard. WatchMojo doesn't know what that means. They see fast and think its hard.
So glad to see Dream Theater get some recognition. This band is always overlooked on lists of greats.
Yet myung has harder riffs than Panick attack. this list was made by somebody who can only play toc tocs
Cliff Burton's bass playing blew my mind when I first heard Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth). But what really got my attention was seeing Cannibal Corpse perform, and seeing Alex Webster play the bass. His fingers looked like a spider having a seizure going up and down the fretboard. It was almost hypnotic.
The bassline from Too Shy by Kajagoogoo has been getting a lot of recognition lately. Nick Beggs is the bass player.
Dig by Mudvayne is fantastic for its bass. It goes brr-brr-DENG!
Love that song.
Nice to see Rancid getting a little bit of mainstream recognition! One of the best punk bands ever!!
Operation ivy has 1 of the best bass lines ever. U know the one I mean
Didn't like em at the time. But after what's been served to us this century. Rancid now sounds like a Class act.
“The Real Me” by The Who should have been on here, johns bass playing is incredible on that song.
"The Real Me" and also "Heaven and Hell" from Live at Leeds shows incredible playing by JE
Agreed. Mojo must not have Quadrophenia.
Also, the bass line for Boris the Spider is pretty simple by Entwistle standards. Even I could play it back when I fooled around with playing bass. I could never even get through even the opening of The Real Me.
agreed
Fun list to hear/see. Great bass playing deserves recognition. Glad Rush & YYZ we’re on top.
even Rob Trujillo struggles to play Anesthesia these days. Cliff was absolutely sick and can't be duplicated. Heart of the Sunrise is my go-to YES song. Amazing bass lines!
Also tempus fugit…from Drama
Charles Beryhoud. Look him up! He can play everything we just heard and not break a sweat. Seeing Neil Peart playing brought tears to my eyes.
Charles is a Beast! As Neil was on drums!
CORRECTION: Charles Berthoud!
More Love by Victor Wooten is absolutely Insanity, he's playing 3 parts at the same time, should definitely be in the top 10, not an honourable mention
I agree! He does belong in the top ten! That said, I'm glad to see him getting recognized for what he does!
I’m not saying these other bassists aren’t good, but the fact that Victor Wooten and the other guys I’ve already mentioned just don’t get the attention they deserve is crazy.
That one isn't really that hard compared to a show of hands
They did say that popularity was a major criterion, and Wooten is more of a bassists’ bassist.
@@StamfordBridge Wooten is legitimately the world's greatest electric bassist
Unfortunately, you forgot the Best.
Where is Lemmy. He was the Bonzo of the bass.
The crazy thing about Jerry was a race car driver is the fact that Les repeatedly hits a dead note harmonic on point each time, which to reliably do is very hard
I do believe Bootsy was the first to play a bass like a lead. Everybody else after that is his children.
Sorry but John Entwistle was the first lead bass player by 1961 bootsy didn't form a band til 1968.
Brothers johnson
Phil Lesh was before bootsy too
Chris Squire as well
Y’all all bugging. I was bassist for Bach!
Plus, Flea played bass on Young MC's ""Bust A Move" and also in the music video for it. That's some REALLY good slap-bass!
Plus, Les Claypool went to high school with Kirk Hammett and was even considered a spot whenever Metallica was first starting out!
Hammett also played guitar in the music video for "John The Fisherman"!
Wow, a top 10 hardest bass riffs video, I wonder if Daive504 will approve this list. 😏🤔 Ether way my favorite hard bass riff is, Space cowboy, by Jamiroquai.
Well done putting primus as high as you did, Les is legendary!
I love listening to Weather Report. They are one of my favourite fusion bands and I like to see their music come up more on these lists.
I'd love to see Jaco get more recognition! His solo stuff also needs more props!
@@AlanOnBass65 His solo stuff is phenomenal.
Dig by Mudvayne should have been on this list. Ryan Martini is not only one of the best but also super underrated. Also The Pot by Tool has an amazing base line.
Entwhistle was so underrated. Considering every member of The WHO has stated they played to what he was putting out. He was a virtuoso and a groundbreaking bassist and all he gets is Mention? Ridiculous!
Bernard Edwards of Chic funky AF.
Wow..I have to give ya props Mojo for giving Cannibal Corpse and Alex some recognition! Hats off to you. 🤘🍻
For sure! I’ve been a fan of CC since the 90’s and Alex has always been my favorite. He is amazing.
The band rules, but the pick is deffinetly not one of the hardest bass lines oat…
I kind of disappointing. There was no mention of anything by iron maiden. Steve Harris is such an amazing bassist in the baseline on the clairvoyant is sick.
Phantom Of The Opera would've been another good one, but yes, I completely agree that Steve Harris was unreservedly overlooked.
@@wynonasbigbrowndragon6121 he was who inspired me to try to play bass when I was younger
The first Maiden song I heard was The Trooper, and Steve’s galloping riffs grabbed my attention.
"Stanley Clarke is an immensely adept and highly acclaimed performer, whose melodic and harmonically rich approach to playing the bass revolutionized its role from being simply a part of the rhythm section to becoming a front-stage lead instrument." - AllMusic
"Many of the now-established techniques of contemporary bassists were pioneered by Stanley Clarke in the 70s ... Clarke approached bass like a guitar with dazzling, rapid patterns his specialty. Clarke's rock background and amazing skill made him a favorite on both acoustic and electric bass ... One of the greats of his generation." - All Music Guide
"Gifted with jaw-dropping technique ... His slapping style has produced a host of innovators, though none can quite match his speed and confidence." - The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
"Perhaps the most gifted bassist of his generation ... as adept on double bass as electric, something which marks him as a more versatile player than Jaco Pastorius, his closest rival." -
Rolling Stone
Definitely happy to see Rancid on here, Matt Freeman is such a killer bassist and the solo in Maxwell Murder fucking kills
Geddy Lee rightfully at the top! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
This is James Jamerson and Marcus Miller erasure. Also Tommy Shannon from Double Trouble is ridiculously good at blues improv, Steve DiGiorgio's work with Death was just nuts, Sean Malone from Cynic was also ridiculously good (RIP)
I played bass for 10 years in my younger days, we played a lot of SRV & DT, and I have always felt that Tommy Shannon is sooooooo underrated.
DiGiorgio and Malone were wizards.
My old band covered The Philospher and just learning Steve's lines changed the way I played the bass forever,much the same way jamming to Jamerson's lines did.
Sean left us much too early, his talent was otherworldly. Rest in Peace Master Malone 🙏
You guys TOTALLY forgot Dazed and Confused and that friggin........FLAMING bass SOLO near the end!
Wow those are really the hardest bass riffs,
Davie can play them all easily btw.
I think the comments about Davie are getting deleted, given the dislike ratio with the number of views.
"One Nation Under a Groove" is not that difficult of a bass line. If you really want to know what a hard Bootsy bass line is, check out his bass work on "Rumpofsteelskin" or Rodney "Skeet" Curtis' complex bass work on "Groovallegiance" from the One Nation Under a Groove album. Still props to you guys for recognizing P-Funk's awesomeness and including a Funkadelic classic on your list. Any list that gives love to the Funk Mob is one that I can roll with.
Stuffs and Thangs
The fact that Steve DiGiorgio isn't listed here ... Disappointing. You can choose anything from his work with Sadus, Autopsy, Death or more recently Testament and Gone in April. He's a madman and crazy talented.
Addicted to that Rush, Mr. Big, Billy Sheehan is unbelievable on it
Really missed Cliff Burton 😪 😔😪😔
I got to see Yes several times and they were great. Chris Squires was a awesome bass player. I read somewhere he had been a lead guitar earlier in hid career.
Alejandra Villarreal from The Warning learned to play Hysteria when she was 8 years old, really killing it a couple years later when they performed the whole song at a show in front of their school. She was barelly bigger than her short scale bass. Today, she and her sisters have grown into fine young women and they are rock legends in the making.
Louis Johnson. One of the most sampled bass players and master of the slap. He played on Thriller and perhaps the most sampled bass line ever, Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgetting”
No James Jamerson? The stuff he did in the 60s was incredible and he influenced everyone on this list whether they know it or not.
This whole thing is for people under 35.
I respect you guys for including great funk bass and giving credit to thrash/death metal - It's not my favorite, but I won't put down great musicianship, regardless of the genre.
Giving a shout out to Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, who was incredibly precise, energetic and steady on tunes like "Lost Woman" and the live workout "Here 'Tis."
How about The Who's 'Won't get fooled again'? Entwistle is the driving force of the entire song. At least they included him on the honorable mentions.
Fun fact: Tool’s “Sober” was played on a Chris Squire signature Rickenbacher by my cousin Paul
The band was better with Paul.
No mention of the Brothers Johnson, they were incredible.
Geddy Lee, in a Rolling Stone interview: "Well, I was a Yes fan - that’s well documented. And [original Yes drummer] Bill Bruford started doing some solo work. And on a couple of his solo records, he had a bass player named Jeff Berlin. I didn’t know who this guy was, but his playing was incredible. And as much as I loved Jeff Berlin on record, when I saw them live, he just knocked me out. He was a rock player, jazz player, with incredible range. He could turn that bass into so many different things. His playing really affected me ... He’s just a very under-the-radar, but incredibly talented and influential bass player, I think. Other bass players know who Jeff is, and how great he is. Not a mainstream name, but no less a great player."
This list was perfect! As a bass player I was glad to see that Bootsy, Metallica, Cannibal Corpse, Rancid, Rush, RHCP, Muse, and So many other God Tier names were on this list.
One bass player I’m surprised that didn’t make it on this list was Fieldy of Korn, that guy knows how to slap bass and was very important to the Nu-Metal sound that would soon build up into the mainstream of other Nu-Metal bands.
This list is very respectable and I’m glad WatchMojo made it! 👍🏼
Fieldy's bass playing is terrible. It's 95 percent muted notes that sound like clicks. I don't think he even uses pops on higher strings.
Glad to see Primus make the list
I mean, considering how insane Les Claypool’s bass playing is it’d be more surprising not to see him here
"Low Levels, High Stakes" by Allan Holdsworth has probably the greatest bass solo I've ever heard in it. Played by Skuli Sveresson
I agree. Geddy Lee is #1
I understand your picks but I still think you should have put in Stanley Clark
For sure. I forgot about Stanley Clark. One of the best
Part of the problem is that there are just _too many_ great bassists out there, way more than ten.
Finally someone recognizes Matt Freeman.
John Paul Jones is multi-talented as he also did the keyboard and synthesizer parts, AND composed music for any orchestral parts the band needed (I believe he was a church organist as well.)
......and mandolin.
No Trevor Dunn on Mr Bungle or Robert Trujillo on Infectious Grooves? Violent and Funky is a crazy riff.
Violent and Funky should be there!
No mention of John Taylor’s bass playing on Rio? 😑
That’s what I was waiting for!!! John Taylor & Rio!! It’s incredible!!
You and me...
John Taylor of Duran Duran on Rio.
Amazing bass work underneath all that pop.
Dmv is harder than Jerry was a racecar driver by a long shot, almost no one on youtube covers it because of it's difficulty and even Les Claypool himself even had to stop playing it live because of how hard it is.
I can play DMV. It’s not that difficult.
Steve DiGiorgio's fretless work on Jealousy by Death is jaw dropping and could knock out most of the people on this list.
Some of mine, in no order:
1. Queen - Dragon Attack
2. Loudness - Clockwork Toy
3. Talas - High Speed on Ice
4. King's X - Pleiades (the tone is INCREDIBLE)
5. Jennifer Batten - Giant Steps
6. David Lee Roth - Skyscraper
7. Motorhead - Overkill
8. RUSH - Leave That Thing Alone
9. Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
10. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
Can you do another list like this but break it down in genre bc RNB have great bases songs too
This is not what I expected for hardest bass riffs. Guess I was thinking smoothest or grooviest or something like that
@@NiKiMa023 yes same
Jerry was honestly one of Claypools easier bass riffs to learn. So many more Primus bass riffs should be ahead of it but it's just their most well known one.
thats why this content is trash
@ossimer6 Tommy or blue collar tweekers is actually harder. Tommy is hard because of the pace of it. Tweekers is hard because of the perfect groove you have to be in for it. theres no wiggle room on the song. anything faster or slower on it, it sounds screwed. but replicating les' non fretting hand is what makes primus so hard, most bassist on this list use pretty much the same motion and style on their non fret hand, even jaco, you can get one, you can do them all. Les is in a league all his own, much like lemmy, (lemmy's lines werent that complex but its his picking style that makes it unique)
Check out Billy Sheehan, his bass work on David Lee Roth's album Eat Em' and Smile is incredible. He pretty much follows Steve Vai on scales and solos. And you can't leave out Iron Maiden and Steve Harris. Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
I came to mention Billy Sheehan too. His work in Mr. Big is awesome. That whole band is very underrated here in the states
Elephant Gun….I’m a bassist from Buffalo known Billy for years…great bassist even greater guy.
Michael Manring's work on his song The Enormous Room is vastly underrated.
Tony Levin also could have had a few different works mentioned.
Wooten as a honourable mention is just insanity,the man is the greatest hands down.
Tony Levin of King Crimson should have had at least an honorable mention. He is a monster on the bass and the Chapman stick
Tony Levin has also done great work for Peter Gabriel!
I thought the same thing. Jerry Was a Racecar Driver sounds alot like Elephant Talk, but Tony played most of those killer riffs like Sledgehammer on a stick, not a bass.
Tommy The Cat by Primus should get a special mention
Thundercat on Mac Millers' "What's the Use?" is boss
🙋🏾♂️ Long live the P-Funk! ✊🏾🤘🏾
Casiopea - Domino Line, Fightman, Midnight Rendezvous . TWRP - The No Pants Dance, Phantom Racer, Planet Bass! Joe Dart anything lol
casiopea are fantastic and vulfpeck/all the other shit joe dart does is amazing as well. dean town is cray cray!
Top 10 Best Punk Rock Songs
That ought to start a good fight.
Ask MGK…
Rancid - Axiom has an amazing bass solo.
A solo isn’t a riff though
Top 10 Hardest Bass Riffs. Number one : a solo ...
John Taylor (Duran Duran) crushes it on Rio.
Glide by Pleasure, possibly the most difficult and jammin' funk bass line in history.
Very glad to see DT referenced! 🥰
I probably would've gone crazy here if "Hysteria" wasn't on the list, but it at least made the honorable mentions, so we cool. Muse has a lot of other great bass riffs, too, but "Hysteria" is definitely the best one Muse has to offer.
I also love that a few of the songs featured are on the Rock Band games. "Panic Attack" is one of my favorite songs from Rock Band 2, and "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" on Rock Band 3 was the first Rock Band bass part I ever played that featured triple notes. Tough songs, but so fun to play.
As a huge Rush fan for decades, I was floored hearing that bassline from Chris with Muse's Hysteria!! Now seeing them live several times, and each time they play this, I'm grooving right along with them! Indeed, they have some GREAT bass lines in their catalogue!
Wooten and Entwhistle make honorable mention??? Glad to see Jaco, but come on!
Great list!! Glad my hero Geddy got top spot! I've flown out of YYZ many times, so I always hum that groove when I do!!
Hysteria getting some love is great - loved that bassline from first release!
I would add Justin Chancellor of Tool to the list! As with John Taylor of Duran Duran - just listen to the bassline of Rio and tell me that's not a hard one to play (the ghost notes alone are worth the mention!)
Power by Marcus Miller, Is It Luck by Primus, U can't hold no groove by Wooten, Havona by Jaco/Weather Report, Tears in Heaven by Jeff Berlin
Love the fact I don't think I can play any of these... a little bit of anesthesia, buttttt... I basically got jere was a race car driver down!!! They're one of my big influences(primus) and the singer/Bassist, les Claypool was a big fan of the band yes, I believe one of the first songs he learned or was captured by the bass was yes's roundabout
Chris Squire, "The Fish" from Yessongs. I agree with your assessment here. I put this record on at a large house party in the 70's and everyone was playing "air guitar" to it. They had no idea who the band was and that it was it was the bass and not Steve Howe's guitar. Absolutely brilliant!
I would've put "Higher Ground (the Stevie Wonder remake)" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the list.
I heard RHCP version before I heard the original Stevie Wonder version.
I love that this list from Watch Mojo actually featured some underrated, often-unmentioned bass players. Typically, WM plays it safe. But some of my favorite badass BASS players just off the top of my brain:
Norwood Fisher (Funk, Punk, Reggae, Ska) - Fishbone
Les Claypool (Funk, alternative rock) - Primus, Frog Brigade
Jaco Pastorius (Jazz, Funk) - Weather Report
Bootsy Collins (Funk) - P-Funk
Dirk Lance & Ben Kenney (alternative) - Incubus
John Myung (prog-rock) - Dream Theatre
Matt Freeman (punk) - Rancid, Operation Ivy
Geddy Lee (prog-rock/rock) - Rush
Victor Wooten (jazz fusion) - Bella Fleck and the Flecktones, self
John Entwistle (rock) - The Who
you forgot Flea of RHCP. He gets props for being able to weave back and forth between funk and rock in the SAME bass line
@@michellebrown7714 These were just players I've always appreciated and some of which I find underrated. With due respect, I didn't forget Flea. I actually find him to be overrated. I can appreciate his work just fine, but do feel he/his playing is overrated.
Paul McCartney on Rain and Paperback Writer.
Korn's bass player should be on this list
Monkey is such an animal! I remember the first time I saw Korn back in 2008 and he was holding his base totally vertical and straight up and down. It's stuck with me ever since
@@IceSick88 Munky is the guitarist, the bassist is Fieldy
For sounding like ass?
Usually I would think you're just reading from a script, but something seems unexpectedly authentic about your knowledge of this subject matter.
I personally believe that "In My Time of Dying" is a better example of a complex Led Zeppelin Bass line/riff, but a great list anyways !!
Long live the Bass..
as a bassist, each of the mentioned tracks are heavily influenced, excluding Aeroplane, not too fond of RHCP, I like a lot of the early stuff from them though, but I’m happy to see Yes getting some love, nicest group of guys I’ve met🤘🏻💯
Heart of the Sunrise is one of my favorite Yes songs. Chris Squire is an awesome basest that we lost far too soon.
Kind of surprised that there was no Billy Sheehan on the list, but then, the list was pretty good. Hard to pick a spot to remove to add Billy in.
Anything les claypool 😅😅
I’ve heard TH-camr bassists cover Primus songs. While they were decent, they just can’t quite match the original. That’s how f-ing good he is.
Not surprised to see Tim Chandler left off the list, being the greatest bass player few have heard of. From his 90-mph slap line on "Mall all over the world" through the soaring, singing, melodic line of "Banquet at the world's end" to the rumbling foundation of the title track of the last Daniel Amos album before his death, he was one with the instrument in a way few ever achieve.