Top 10 Best Bass Guitars

There are many different bass guitars, and here we can vote for our favourites. (Mine is a tie between the 1974 fat-style Gibson Ripper and the black-pickup style Gibson G3.)

Fender, Jazz, and Precision will probably win, but who knows? I've added a few to get you started.

The Top Ten

Fender Precision Bass (P Bass)

The first good bass ever made. It hasn't changed since 1957 for a reason: it's perfect.

Black Sabbath's first album was recorded with a Fender Precision Bass.

The Fender Precision Bass is the best bass guitar ever created.
Fender Jazz Bass (J Bass)

Bright and perfect for slap.

I wish this was #1.

Jaco wouldn't be wrong.
Rickenbacker 4001/4003

The BEST bass, hands down! I also love the Jazz Bass!

Best prog rock bass, hands down.

Classic design and sound.
Gibson Ripper

Mike Dirnt of Green Day used it on Dookie.

Krist Novoselic used a natural one on Nevermind. Enough said.
Gibson G-3

Innovative and cool. I prefer the black-pickup version, but the clear pickups are good too. Plus, this is the Green Day bass.

The earlier version with tan-pink pickups.

No other bass like it.
Spector NS-2

At one time, the biggest complaints some bassists had with the Spector bass were its weight (full maple, which is indeed a very dense tonewood, combined with a brass bridge) and its aggressive tone from the combination of maple and active EMG pickups.
It's no wonder that the vast majority of bass players back in the day found the aggressive tone positive, as the music style they were playing was also aggressive. Fast forward to today, and Spector now offers more options to choose from, including various price points and choices of tonewoods, pickups, preamps, and bodies.
With these additional options, players who had issues with the weight and/or aggressive tone now have many options to choose from!
Fender Telecaster Bass (T-Bass)

Thumpy single-coil predecessor to the P Bass.

Thumpy precursor to the normal P Bass.
Music Man StingRay

I've owned and played them all. The absolute best rock bass is the Stingray. No bass on the planet has more teeth than this monster!
I also love Jazz and P basses, but if I only played one guitar for the rest of my life, my Music Man would win hands down.

Simply the best. Super smooth to play. Nice spacing. Beautiful tone.

You feel the quality the moment you pick it up.
Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass

The bass behind the Beatles.
Gibson RD Artist

Slap on some roundwounds, and you won't find a brighter bass.