# Top 16 Rock Bassists of All Time

> Sixteen players who made the low end worth listening to, from John Entwistle and Paul McCartney to Flea, Kim Deal and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

*By YPB Team · Published September 16, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-16-rock-bassists-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Jaco Pastorius** — score 1000/1000
   A jazz player whose fretless sound changed what every rock bassist thought the instrument could do.
2. **John Paul Jones** — score 930/1000
   Led Zeppelin's bassist and keyboard player, a session arranger before the band and the quiet engine inside it.
3. **Kim Deal** — score 891/1000
   Pixies' bassist and Breeders' founder, whose lines made the loud-quiet-loud formula work.
4. **Les Claypool** — score 848/1000
   Primus's bassist, whose technique is the band rather than its foundation.
5. **Geddy Lee** — score 734/1000
   Rush's bassist, singer and keyboard player, usually all three at once.
6. **Cliff Burton** — score 734/1000
   Metallica's first bassist, who wrote a bass solo onto a thrash album and made it stick.
7. **Lemmy Kilmister** — score 734/1000
   Motörhead's singer and bassist, who played the instrument through a guitar rig on purpose.
8. **John Entwistle** — score 636/1000
   The Who's bassist, who played lead lines under Townshend and barely moved while doing it.
9. **Chris Squire** — score 636/1000
   Yes's bassist, a Rickenbacker tone bright enough to sit on top of the mix rather than under it.
10. **Steve Harris** — score 520/1000
   Iron Maiden's founder and bassist, whose galloping right hand is the band's signature.
11. **Paul McCartney** — score 382/1000
   Wrote the melodies and then wrote counter-melodies underneath them on bass.
12. **Flea** — score 382/1000
   Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist, who made slap technique a lead instrument in a rock band.
13. **Jack Bruce** — score 382/1000
   Cream's bassist and singer, improvising against Clapton and Baker every night.
14. **Bill Wyman** — score 382/1000
   The Rolling Stones' bassist for thirty years, playing as little as each song needed.
15. **Bootsy Collins** — score 0/1000
   Came out of James Brown's band and into Parliament-Funkadelic, taking rock's low end with him.
16. **Tina Weymouth** — score 0/1000
   Talking Heads' bassist, whose spare, funk-derived lines carried the band's best-known songs.

Tags: music, rock, bands, musicians, bass