McCartney. First melodic bass player thanks to his origins as a guitarist. The rest learned from him.
Paul Simonon - The Clash but never had the pleasure of seeing so can't count him in my list, but another close to my top 3 would be Chris Wolstenholme- Muse incredible bassist.
Martin Turner - Wishbone Ash. Tony Levin - King Crimson Bert Ruiter - Focus Greg Lake - King Crimson and ELP Roger Waters - Pink Floyd John Entwistle - The Who Obviously I have no idea how good any of these actually were but they played in some of my favourite bands .
Bass players tend not to stand out, so I’m trying to think of ones that I’ve noticed. The obvious choices are Hooky and JJ Burnel, both of whom demand attention when you’re watching them. For my third choice I’ll have to go with Macca. Not that his bass playing was the think I was noticing him for when I saw him in 89, but because his bass lines are just so good. I’ve said this numerous times, but Paul’s bass lines are the Beatles’ best kept secret. I’ve never seen, and never will for one of them, a couple of my favourite bass players, Jaco Pastorius and Guy Pratt, but I’m wracking my brain as to whether I’ve seen Pino Palladino. I think I may have, as I think he could have played when I saw Nik Kershaw (I was working!) in 1987. Clearly made a big impression then! I do like his bass playing though, although I’m assured he nicked his style off Mick Karn of Japan. Two others who are fun to watch are Mick Anker of the Blow Monkeys and Ged Grimes, formerly of Danny Wilson and now with Simple Minds, although I saw him when he played with Gary Clark, ex-lead singer of Danny Wilson. Actually, Kit Clark came onstage for a number, so I did see Danny Wilson play for one song!
Flea is my favourite guitarist of all time but I saw this last night when I couldn’t sleep and thought it was worth a share. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/irqTmJM2ZdA1arjR/?mibextid=KsPBc6 Here he is on YouTube. The drummer in these videos is Jack Irons who was the Red Hot Chili Peppers first drummer who was also in Eleven and Pearl Jam.