Who is the more skilled bassist?

Wooten wins this easily. His skills are utterly amazing.

Edited by Philéas - November 28 2006 at 09:30

Squire is good.

Sorry, none of the above, although Wooten certainly makes Squire a bore. Jannick Top gets my vote. The bass playing on Magma's "De Futura" has blown me away like no other bassist has. It is technically incredible, besides being bombastic!

The most important part of being an impressive bass player is knowing your place in a band.  This doesn't always mean playing crazy things, more so catchy riffs that get stuck in your head.  So my vote goes to Chris Squire.  See Long Distance Runaround for proof.

OK...maybe Wooten is more technical (don't really know his work, but do know his reputation).....HOWEVER, is technical skill really the most important thing when it comes to music?  Sure, I'd like a high enough level to be able to play some great, and interesting music, but when technique overrides musicality, I lose interest.  When I was younger (as a music major in college 20 years ago), I was more impressed by pure technical ability than I am now....These days its more like "OK...thats cool, but does it MOVE me, musically".....I may get flamed for quoting Gene Simmons here, but I think he had a point when he said something like watching a guitarist that is all technique is as about as entertaining as watching a typist type!  I appreciate the ability that a technical player may have, but if the music doesn't touch my soul, then I just don't get into it.....

I'm not a fan of Wooten as I havnt heard much but the very little that I have heard marks him out as an unbalivably skilled performer. Whether he's a beter player isnt the point here.

Sasquamo wrote: Please base this purely on technical skill.

proghairfunk wrote: The most important part of being an impressive bass player is knowing your place in a band.  This doesn't always mean playing crazy things, more so catchy riffs that get stuck in your head.

That's true, but this poll is based on technical skill, so Wooten wins easily, though if I was making a list of greatest bassists, Chris would trump him for his feel, influence, and considerable technical skill (though not as considerable as Victor)

MMmmm So...

Altough I prefer Chris' compositions rather than wooten's, I think technically speaking there's no thing
he could play that Victor Could not.

On the other hand, I can't imagine Squier being able to play the Classical Thump, for example.

So my vote, based on technique, goes to wooten

smithers wrote: What era is this wooten guy? I thought I would have heard of him if he was 70s fusion. I'm assuming he's 80s or 90s because alot of people in here are not a fan of his music and you wouldn't expect that about 70s fusion from a prog fan. The best bass player is a combination of most talented and best bass lines and best improvisation and song writing and who contributes to the most interesting music. I've never heard Wooten, but talent doesn't mean much if someone doesn't play exciting and interesting music. So judging by the comments it sounds like Squire is the better bass player.

     

THIS IS NOT POLL ON WHO IS BETTER!!!!

It's a poll on who is more technically skilled. It doesn't matter how good Squire's songwriting is; Wooten is far more technically advanced.

You should also know that some of the best players out there you have probably never heard.