Best Underrated Bassists

The Top Ten
1 Rex Brown - Pantera Rex Robert Brown is an American musician and author, who is best known as having been the longtime bassist for the Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling, now defunct band Pantera.

Yeah pretty underrated should listen to "Good friend and bottle of pills" that bass riff is pretty catchy

Pantera isn't a underrated band but Rex is a underrated bassist,

Rex is a fantastic bassist but nobody tends to realise it

Rex Brown was an awesome bassist

2 John Deacon - Queen John Richard Deacon (born 19th of August 1951) is a retired English musician, who is best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen.

Queen's most underrated member. He wrote some incredible basslines for Queen, and a lot of their best singles (Another One Bites The Dust, You're My Best Friend) were penned by him. His talent is undeniable, but is sadly overlooked constantly in favour of the others. They're still great, but they've gained their deserved exposure. If he was less shy and was still active, his talent would be more widely recognised.

Great bass lines: Another one bites the dust, Under pressure, Invisible man, You don't fool me...
Great song writer: Another one bites the dust, You're my best friend, I want to break free...

I agree with the other comments, and he has a short but virtuoso bass playing in Breakthru, listen it!

For sure a great bassist, loved all his work in Queen

3 Johnny Christ - Avenged Sevenfold Jonathan Lewis Seward, known as Johnny Christ, is the bassist of the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. Seward is the fourth bassist to join Avenged Sevenfold in 2003, replacing former member Dameon Ash.

He underrated? LOL he is anything but underrated how is A7X underrated when they get millions of views on YouTube? He's not even that good of a bassist you can barley hear it.

Super overrated

4 Rob Trujilo - Metallica

I would actually say he is underrated, he was in a Funk Metal/Rock band called Infectious Grooves and he played some pretty good basslines, some say Jason Newsted was better but after hearing Infectious Grooves, I would say Robert is better, he also played good basslines in Suicidal Tendencies.

Before people claim Rob is not underrated. Think that he had to fill Cliff Burton's position and that set his bar very very high

The Best Bassist In Metallica Ever Had

5 Mike Dirnt - Green Day

What I love about Green Day's early production is that you can hear the bass also. Listen to the bass in songs like "Welcome To Paradise" and "When I Come Around" and you'll see why he's great. Even "Longview" with it's amazing bass riff doesn't give him the recognition he deserves.

I think most people recognize Mike Dirnt as the bassist of Green Day, a band they like. They never really respect Mike Dirnt as a bassist, though. Just listen to Kerplunk from start to finish. He's got a lot of talent.

He is underrated in no way. In fact, he's the most overrated bassist. Its not about my opinion. It's a fact. I like his works. But you should definitely check some other bassists. He's nothing to them.

Mike Dirnt is very underrated. He has a lot of potential. I mean, he can slap and pick at the same time.

6 Ben Shepherd - Soundgarden

Here basslines like "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Spoonman" and think: how wonderful. My vote goes to Ben Shepherd, because he is never mentioned in anything.

7 Adam Clayton - U2 Adam Charles Clayton is a British-Irish musician, best known as the bass guitarist of the rock band U2. He has resided in County Dublin since the time his family moved to Malahide when he was five years old in 1965.
8 Dan Maines - Clutch
9 Roger Glover - Deep Purple Roger David Glover is a British bassist, songwriter, and record producer. Glover is best known as the bassist for hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow.

People claim he's just lucky because he's an average bassist in a great band. Highway star?

He's very underrated.

10 Hugh McDonald - Bon Jovi

Yes, he's underrated

The Contenders
11 Colin Greenwood Colin Charles Greenwood, is an English musician best known as the bassist for the alternative rock band Radiohead. He also plays keyboards and synthesisers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead.

He's a master of opportune playing - sometimes only playing a few notes or nothing at all. Put when he does play it is so precisely judged that it forms a vital part of the song's soundscape. He's best compared to a the violas in an orchestra; rarely noticeable, but the orchestra would sound hollow without them.

A bassist with a rare sense of space and appreciation for silence which only makes his playing easier to appreciate.

Colin inspires me to pick up a bass. He is so good at playing it, yet so underrated. Radiohead wouldn't exist without him.

12 John Paul Jones John Baldwin, better known by his stage name John Paul Jones, is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known as the bassist for the English rock band Led Zeppelin. Years after Led Zeppelin split, Jones joined supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, featuring Dave Grohl and Josh Homme. He is also part of the folk band Dave Rawlings Machine.

He's great but not underrated to be honest
He got number five in the greatest bassists list

Poor JPJ, he never gets the credit and recognition he deserves

Just listen to lemon song

13 Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame with the rock band the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop and rock music.One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, he is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, his versatile and wide tenor vocal range and his musical eclecticism, exploring styles ranging from pre-rock 'n' roll pop to classical and electronica. His songwriting partnership with John Lennon remains the most successful in history

Ha ha, both Paul, Paul McCartney and John Paul Jones aren't underrated.

Paul McCartney Bass Playing Bass Is Awesome.Just Listen To The Songs.Case Closed.Beatles Are Underrated,Look At The CrapTheseDays And Compare It.

Not underrated.

14 Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel.

His basslines are amazing, and using the Chapman stick well is something not many bassists have done.

Looks like Walter White's playing bass in this image.

15 James Jamerson

How & why could any true bass player & rhythm lover not rank James Jamerson not only underrated, but 1 of the best bass players? A shame that all of The Funk Brothers had to moonlight to make money because they weren't compensated appropriately.

He's one of the most influential bassists and everyone liked him, he can't be underrated

16 Justin Chancellor Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor is an English musician formerly in the band Peach but best known as the bass player for rock band Tool. Chancellor is of English and Norwegian descent.

Listen to Schism.

17 Frédéric Leclercq - DragonForce
18 Frank Bello - Anthrax Francis Charles Joseph "Frank" Bello is an Italian-American musician who plays bass guitar for the thrash metal band Anthrax.
19 Pino Palladino
20 Krist Novoselic - Nirvana Nirvana's bassist for the entirety of their lifespan before the group was disbanded in 1994. Nowadays, Krist is a humanitarian and a human rights activist.

The Bassist is always overlooked unless the Bassist is the Lead Singer
Krist Novoselic is Underrated

21 Benjamin Orr Benjamin Orzechowski, known as Benjamin Orr, was an American musician best known as a singer, bassist and co-founder of the rock band the Cars.

Benjamin always played exactly what each song needed without trying to elevate himself -- humble, talented, sexy. #BenjaminOrr #neverenough

22 Ray Manzarek - The Doors Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr., better known as Ray Manzarek, was an American musician, singer, producer, film director, and author.

He played the bass on keyboards, and also played the lead keyboard along with it, and also took over the lead vocals when Jim was too high and collapsed halfway through the shows. At one occasion, Morrison also said "Ladies and Gentlemen, this man (pointing at him) is The Doors". Well what more does it take to get to the top 3 at least?

Key bass is bass. And he was among the best at this.

He plays bass. But not bass guitar.

Ray Manzarek. Great musician.

23 Mick Karn

Sadly no longer with us.. The wonderful Bass player originally with Japan.. later JBK... solo... Dalis Car... Midge you're... guesting with Kate Bush.. Gary Numan... among others

24 Jason Newsted (Ex-Metallica Bassist)

Not underrated.

25 Taiji Sawada

Very good bass picking technique, good tapping and slapping. yet, only became one of the best of Asia.

Because he was not from america so not in top list

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