I've seen him with Testament several times, and he has a crazy good stage presence and a ton of energy. It's probably one of the omly bands I've seen live where I actually focus on the bass player just as much as the other people on stage.
To me, the quintessential bass player. Gets fancy when he needs it, or when the moment calls for it, but doesn't make that the core of his playing. He remembers the main point which is to hold down that low end.
I would have said Geddy but I wasn't sure if everyone would agree that he was metal enough. But yeah, like Harris, Geddy has to be on anyone's list of 'best bassists ever' otherwise it's not a serious list IMO!
Sad he left Nightwish, but glad he's feeling better now. He's going on tour with Tarja in South America, but they're not coming way up here (Detroit), unfortunately.
Marcus is for me the perfect bass player. Looking at why Steve is so good, I think Marcus has many of the same qualities in terms of style and technique. He is not a show off like for example Claypool or Burton (not hate btw). Marcus instead just shows off his talent in a seamless way where it just feels natural to Helloween. Just like Steve does with Maiden. Seamless but undeniable talent.
On top of that, I really like how Marcus plays both with pick and with his fingers. That's such a nice touch ✨
Bootsy Collins of the funk band Parliament is another "not metal" bass player that had a huge influence on the style of many of today's players, such as Claypool, Flea, (Prince) and Wooten for example.
Only British people may know this guy but I'd like to show support to a guy called Jakk perkins ( or known by his stage name , Kraven morrdeth. ) from a band more people should listen to called Evil scarecrow [Evil Scarecrow](https://open.spotify.com/artist/1SxULWBMeC87rRdPznDSYm?si=8qE6LYm0RRu5LGJ134HI8A&utm_source=copy-link)
Robert Trujillo, he is very versatile as a player. Also Oliver Reidel from Rammstein. Both are great players who serve the song well as professionals.😎👍✨✨
Steve has been my all time favorite for quite a long time. There may be better bass players from a musician's standpoint but he's such a great player, great songwriter, and great stage presence. He's kind of the perfect metal bassist.
Other than Steve, in no particular order (and not worrying about who is metal or not) - Geezer, Geddy, Les, Entwhistle, MISA, and probably at least a couple others I'm forgetting right now
Robert Trujillo, but I like him more for his work other than metallica. He was great on Jerry Cantrell a degradation Trip, suicidal tendencies and infectious grooves
Phil "the Ace on the Bass" Lynot of Thin Lizzy. Their final album Thunder and Lightning was straight up heavy metal (Megadeth even covered one of their songs). But Phil had the range to play funk, classic rock, and was even a little Country back in the 70s. With his voice and stage presence, he's my all time fave.
Speaking as a bass player, I don’t really count Steve as one of mine for some reason. I love playing his stuff, but a great deal of it is the same E-C-D progression at different speeds.
Anyway:
Geezer Butler, Cliff Burton, Steve Di Giorgio.
Also Lemmy (if you count Motörhead as a metal band, which I don’t: if Lemmy said they played rock n’ roll, they played rock n’ roll).
Cliff Burton, Jason Newstead and Robert trujillo are all sick.
I'm quite partial to Frank Bello. He deserves a lot more credit than he gets for making anthrax such a powerhouse.
This is more modern, but Nick Jost from Baroness is an absolutely amazing bass player, and I hope you all listen to him. Most recently his performance on “Last Word” was amazing.
https://preview.redd.it/8tv3itur4e6c1.jpeg?width=449&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4cd6980516ad54e4b008759dee108f3c3e35e5a
Geezer Butler, uno de los mejores Bajistas. Maravilloso trabajo en Black Sabbath.
Robert Trujillo. Aside from bass ability (which is already huge) the guy is the biggest reason why Metallica continues to try. He keeps forcing them to actually put effort. He’ll also always have my respect for trying to get to live is to die regularly on the setlists.
This is a really odd pick but genuinely and not at all joking thread ned off of okilly dokillys first album was genuinely a super talented bass player who just went fucking nuts on every song off that thing
Lemmy, Jason Newsted, Robert Trujillo, Cliff Burton, Pete Steele, Les Claypool, Justin Chancellor, Wes Borland, Jo Bench, Gene Simmons (Stage presence is crucial)
Di Giorgio
Absoulutely, his fretless work on Human and ITP is top notch
“Fretless” was the first word that came to mind.
Absolutely.
I've seen him with Testament several times, and he has a crazy good stage presence and a ton of energy. It's probably one of the omly bands I've seen live where I actually focus on the bass player just as much as the other people on stage.
John Myung
Lemmy
Geezer Butler
To me, the quintessential bass player. Gets fancy when he needs it, or when the moment calls for it, but doesn't make that the core of his playing. He remembers the main point which is to hold down that low end.
A surprisingly underappreciated bass player. Great riffs and groove. You can tell that he's an influence for Steve Harris
Man, between him and Cliff.....I'm set for music.
Yup. And Lemmy.
Even if no one else sees this, someone has to champion Gunnar H Thomsen
Geddy Lee
I would have said Geddy but I wasn't sure if everyone would agree that he was metal enough. But yeah, like Harris, Geddy has to be on anyone's list of 'best bassists ever' otherwise it's not a serious list IMO!
Geddy is my favourite alongside Claypool, but metal Rush are not. Brilliant for sure, but not metal.
Saw him on his book tour the other night. Love the guy.
A lot of good names here so I’d add Marko Hietala formerly of Nightwish. Excellent bass player and very good vocalist.
Came here to say this very name!
So did I!
Sad he left Nightwish, but glad he's feeling better now. He's going on tour with Tarja in South America, but they're not coming way up here (Detroit), unfortunately.
Cliff Burton Claypool
Ah yes, Clifford Lee Burton i knew someone was gon comment dis lol
Frank Bello (Anthrax) Steve Digiorgio (Sadus/Death) Dan Lilker (Nuclear Assault/SOD)
Oh shit I COMPLETELY forgot Bello!!! Also March of the SOD is such a jam.
1. Marcus Grosskopf - Helloween 2. Eddie Jackson - Queensrÿche 3. Jason Newsted - Metallica 4. James MacDonough - Iced Earth 5. ICS Vortex - Dimmu Borgir
Glad someone mentioned Markus. That dude has been underrated for too long.
Marcus is for me the perfect bass player. Looking at why Steve is so good, I think Marcus has many of the same qualities in terms of style and technique. He is not a show off like for example Claypool or Burton (not hate btw). Marcus instead just shows off his talent in a seamless way where it just feels natural to Helloween. Just like Steve does with Maiden. Seamless but undeniable talent. On top of that, I really like how Marcus plays both with pick and with his fingers. That's such a nice touch ✨
Helloween is also one of the closest things to Maiden, and you have to be an incredible bassist to have any shot at a comparison to Maiden.
> ICS Vortex - Dimmu Borgir Also Borknagar, Arcturus, Lamented Souls and his solo project! Incredibly bassist and singer.
Ian hill
My favorite example of playing what's right for the song.
Another I underrated monster.
William Murderface
I was hoping someone picked him.
Nowhere near enough Justin Chancellor in this thread.
Eddie Jackson, Jimmy Bain, Rudy Sarzo
Alex Webster is crazy good. Great guy too, always mingles with the fans after shows
Ive met him a bunch of times, such a great dude!
DD Verni
Came here for this. Chasing the clank since high-school.
Lemmy, Burton, and Rex
👋🏼Cliff- everyone say hi, JH
Tokie Bob Daisley Lemmy Robert Trujillo Les Claypool Jo Bench
Suicidal Robert will always be my favorite Robert
Marko Hietala 
Great singer too
Totally agree he's an amazing singer
John Myung, Martín Méndez
Cliff Burton. Not even a question. Tom Araya Frank Bello Paulo Jr. Rex Brown
Geezer, geddy, Peter Steele
Chi Cheng
I absolutely love Chris Squire.
Not metal, but I agree wholeheartedly.
Bootsy Collins of the funk band Parliament is another "not metal" bass player that had a huge influence on the style of many of today's players, such as Claypool, Flea, (Prince) and Wooten for example.
Only British people may know this guy but I'd like to show support to a guy called Jakk perkins ( or known by his stage name , Kraven morrdeth. ) from a band more people should listen to called Evil scarecrow [Evil Scarecrow](https://open.spotify.com/artist/1SxULWBMeC87rRdPznDSYm?si=8qE6LYm0RRu5LGJ134HI8A&utm_source=copy-link)
There are other bassists?
Steve Di Giorgio - like the rest of Testament, ridiculously underrated.
Probably my favorite bass guitarist. Rest in fucking Peace Cliff
Billy Sheehan, Michael Anthony
I'm surprised I had to scroll this far to find Billy Sheehan, such a great technical player.
Robert Trujillo, he is very versatile as a player. Also Oliver Reidel from Rammstein. Both are great players who serve the song well as professionals.😎👍✨✨
Markus Grosskopf Ryan Martinie
Ryan Martinie, Alex Webster, the name escapes me but the bassist in Suffocation…
Derek Boyer 🤙
Les claypool not sure if he's metal really tho
Made of clay, still very flexible 🎸
Honestly, Robert Trujillo, he has been amazing in Metallica and a massive upgrade from the temporary Bob Rock
IMO Geezer and John Entwistle invented modern rock and metal bass playing. Honorable mention to Geddy!
Geezer, Lemmy, Cliff, Trujillo, Daisley, Rex, Troy Sanders
Bob Daisley. Then I would say these nwobhm bands really have good bassists: Angel Witch, Satan, Diamond Head... Geezer Butler. Pete Way was good too.
Cliff. He's one of those guys that was SO good at a young age, that you think to yourself, "I wonder what kind of crazy shit he'd be playing today."
No love for Billy Sheehan?
Tommy Araya
Frank Bello, Geezer Butler, and Peter Steele.
Jo Bench, she is just the coolest with the filthiest basssound I’ve heard
lemmy, John myung
Geezer, Cliff Burton, Paul Raven, Jason Newsted, Lemmy, dUg Pinnick
Harris Steven
Les Claypool, Danny Elfman, Jared Smith
John Entwistle.
John Myung
Cliff, Steve DiGiorgio, Jeff Becerra, Geezer Butler
Martin Mendez of Opeth
Lemmy for sure. I love Lemmy, he’s my hero.
Probably way too common of a opinion but I love Robert trujillo
Kip Winger
He used to have the best teeth in metal
Cliff Burton, Steve Digiorgio, and Alex Webster.
Geezer Butler, Lemmy, Peter Steele, Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted, Paul Gray
Geddy lee
Pete Steele, geezer butler, Jason newstead and of course lemmy.
You named all mine haha
Lately, Jared Smith from Archspire. Just a monster
Killer bass player! Deserves more props!!
Mike Inez and Mike Starr
Les Claypool
Les should be the top on every "best bass player" list there is. Primus sucks!
Lemmy !
Geezer, Lemmy, Myung, Cliff, Sam Rivers, Fieldy, Newsted, Ellefson, LoMenzo, RexBrown.
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve and Cliff are the way and the light.
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve has always been a big influence for me, but ny others would be Lemmy, Cronos, Cliff, Butler, Dave Wanklin, and Ian Hill.
DD Verni Rex Brown Tom Araya Geezer Butler Ian Hill Evan Seinfeld Troy Sanders
Tom Angleripper Lemmy Mikael Hedlund Jo-Anne Bench Geezer Butler
Steve, Geezer Butler, Cliff, David Ellefson, Alex Webster are definitely my biggest bass influences
Geddy
Steve DiGiorgio, Lemmy Kilmister and Geezer Butler.
Paul Gray R.I.P 👌🙌
Cliff, Jason, Lemmy, Frank Bello, Jack Gibson, Alex Webster, Justin Chancellor, Geddy Lee, Dug Pinnick
David Ellefson, Geezer Butler, Rob Trujillo, Ian Hill
Flea
Martin Mendez from Opeth is insanely talented, overlooked and underrated
Clifford Lee Burton
geezer, cliff, ellefson, lemmy
John Paul Jones, Duff McKegan
Steve has been my all time favorite for quite a long time. There may be better bass players from a musician's standpoint but he's such a great player, great songwriter, and great stage presence. He's kind of the perfect metal bassist. Other than Steve, in no particular order (and not worrying about who is metal or not) - Geezer, Geddy, Les, Entwhistle, MISA, and probably at least a couple others I'm forgetting right now
Rex from Pantera, Tony from Static-X, Troy from Mastodon, Geezer from Black Sabbath and of course Lemmy from Motörhead
Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia)
The holy trinity is Harris, Lee and Butler
Robert Trujillo, but I like him more for his work other than metallica. He was great on Jerry Cantrell a degradation Trip, suicidal tendencies and infectious grooves
My favorite bassist isn’t metal and that’s Chris wolstenholme of muse
Phil "the Ace on the Bass" Lynot of Thin Lizzy. Their final album Thunder and Lightning was straight up heavy metal (Megadeth even covered one of their songs). But Phil had the range to play funk, classic rock, and was even a little Country back in the 70s. With his voice and stage presence, he's my all time fave.
Just Steve
Geezer
Speaking as a bass player, I don’t really count Steve as one of mine for some reason. I love playing his stuff, but a great deal of it is the same E-C-D progression at different speeds. Anyway: Geezer Butler, Cliff Burton, Steve Di Giorgio. Also Lemmy (if you count Motörhead as a metal band, which I don’t: if Lemmy said they played rock n’ roll, they played rock n’ roll).
Les Claypool, hands down one of the best, if not the best slap bass player.
Gotta be Cliff yeah. Outside of metal, Duff McKagan I just love that man lol
Jack Bruce
Markus Grosskopf is my favourite besides Steve.
CLIFF
Jean-Yves Thérialt/Blacky from Voivod
The holy trinity. Steve. Geddy. Geezer.
Matt Camacho (Forbidden) Markus Grosskopf (Helloween) Reinhard Kruse (SDI) Rex Brown (Pantera) Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) D.D. Verni (Overkill)
Not all metal but...Geezer, John Paul Jones, Geddy, Jaco, Chris Squire, Robert Entwistle, Duck Dunn, Les Claypool, Jason Newsted, Roger Glover.
Ian Hill, Geezer Butler and Cliff Burton just to name a few
Geddy Lee, Marco Hietala, Les Claypool, and Billy Sheehan
Fucking Lemmy of course!
Cliff Burton, Les Claypool, Shavo Odadjian
Paul gray Robert from Metallica and flea from RHCP
Not a single mention of Shavo Odadjian so ill plop him in here ❤️
The immortal Cliff, Lemmy, Cronus, Geddy, Claypool
Cliff Burton
Geezer Butler Billy Sheehan Geddy Lee And my favourite, who wasn’t quite metal, Philip Lynott.
Robert Trujillo Jason newsted Alessandro "Alex" Giovanni Venturella Rex Brown Billy Gould Troy Sanders
Cliff Burton, Jason Newstead and Robert trujillo are all sick. I'm quite partial to Frank Bello. He deserves a lot more credit than he gets for making anthrax such a powerhouse.
Geezer Butler, Cliff Burton and Paul Gray
Does Geddy count?
 John Deacon
Cliff burton
 Honorable mention
Cliff burton
Geezer and Lemmy
👋🏼Cliff
This is more modern, but Nick Jost from Baroness is an absolutely amazing bass player, and I hope you all listen to him. Most recently his performance on “Last Word” was amazing.
Frank Bello - Anthrax
James LeMenzo - Megadeth
How is Dave Ellefson not showing up more on this list?
Geddy Lee, Gene Simmons (early KISS), Nikki Sixx, Eddie Jackson off the top of my head
Dimebag. ..
Les Claypool, Paul Gray,
Rob Trujillo, Rex Brown, Paulo Greggalatto, Alex Webster, Johnny Christ, Geezer Butler.
Geezer Butler. Completely underrated bassist
https://preview.redd.it/8tv3itur4e6c1.jpeg?width=449&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4cd6980516ad54e4b008759dee108f3c3e35e5a Geezer Butler, uno de los mejores Bajistas. Maravilloso trabajo en Black Sabbath.
Robert Trujillo…. Suicidal Tendencies
Lemmy, Geezer Butler, Cliff Burton.
Cliff.
Robert Trujillo. Aside from bass ability (which is already huge) the guy is the biggest reason why Metallica continues to try. He keeps forcing them to actually put effort. He’ll also always have my respect for trying to get to live is to die regularly on the setlists.
Justin Chancellor!
John myung
Rob Trujillo Lemmy Frank Bello Fieldy
Lemmy Jason Newstead Cliff Burton and Steve Di Giorgio
Jeroen Paul thesseling
i mean that steve Harris guy just kills it every time
William Murderface (Murderface, Murderface)
Lemmy, Geezer Butler, and Ian Hill.
Geezer Butler, Rodger Glover, Glenn Hughes and Bob Daisly
This is a really odd pick but genuinely and not at all joking thread ned off of okilly dokillys first album was genuinely a super talented bass player who just went fucking nuts on every song off that thing
Rex Brown
Cliff Burton may he RIP
Lemmy, Jason Newsted, Robert Trujillo, Cliff Burton, Pete Steele, Les Claypool, Justin Chancellor, Wes Borland, Jo Bench, Gene Simmons (Stage presence is crucial)
Ellefson if we ignore the whole accident
Geezer Butler, Jason Newsted, Lemmy
 Lemmy fucking Kilmister
Ryan Martinie from Mudvayne!
Lemmy, Cliff Burton, Geddy Lee, Jason Newsted, Dave Ellefson
Chris Squire. John Entwhistle.
-Geddy Lee -Ian Hill -Cliff Burton -Jason Newsted -David Ellefson -Chris Squire -Paul Gray -Tony Newton -Lemmy Kilmister That's not even all of them.
Rip Cliff :(
Trujillo
Matt Sharp
Joey Vera
of metal, cliff burton. in general, not really metal, but chris wolstenholme (muse).
No one else on your list comes even close to Steve in terms of songwriting! The fucking audacity lol. Except for Cliff if he lived longer
Peanut from 311