# The 13 Greatest Bassists in Heavy Metal

> The instrument nobody watches, played by the people who decided what metal sounds like underneath.

*By YPB Team · Published August 20, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-13-greatest-bassists-in-heavy-metal*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Cliff Burton** — score 1000/1000
   Metallica's bassist until his death in 1986, who wrote a bass solo into a thrash album.
2. **Lemmy Kilmister** — score 622/1000
   Motorhead's frontman, who played bass like a rhythm guitar through a distorted stack.
3. **Geezer Butler** — score 512/1000
   Black Sabbath's bassist and lyricist, whose lines shaped the low end of metal itself.
4. **Rex Brown** — score 512/1000
   Pantera's bassist across the groove-metal records that defined the 1990s.
5. **Tony Levin** — score 444/1000
   Session and King Crimson bassist whose Stick playing bled into progressive metal.
6. **Tom Araya** — score 444/1000
   Slayer's bassist and vocalist, holding the fastest rhythm section in thrash together.
7. **Steve Harris** — score 363/1000
   Iron Maiden's founder and galloping engine, writing most of the band's catalogue from the bass.
8. **Robert Trujillo** — score 363/1000
   Metallica's bassist since 2003, previously the finger-style anchor of Suicidal Tendencies.
9. **Jason Newsted** — score 266/1000
   Metallica's bassist from 1986 to 2001, hired into the hardest job in metal.
10. **John Myung** — score 266/1000
   Dream Theater's bassist, the technical benchmark for progressive metal players.
11. **David Ellefson** — score 148/1000
   Megadeth's long-serving bassist, the counterweight to Mustaine's thrash writing.
12. **Frank Bello** — score 148/1000
   Anthrax's bassist since 1984, the most visibly kinetic player of the Big Four.
13. **Nikki Sixx** — score 148/1000
   Motley Crue's bassist and chief songwriter through the Sunset Strip years.

Tags: music, rock, metal, legends, bassists