Everybody who knows what a bass player does has an idea of who their favorite bassist is. What do you consider to be a good bass player? Is he the invisible guy who just thickens guitar parts or holds the bottom down by riding one note? Is he the guy who plays countermelodies or walks under the rhythm? Is he the guy who shows flash and prowess and can burn up a run in dead spots? Is there such a thing as better at all? Is Geddy Lee of Rush necessarily "better" than Cliff Williams of AC/DC?
Most of the stuff I listen to you can't hear the bass at all, but I can definitely appreciate a great bassist like Flea or Nikki Sixx.
Leland Sklar is probably my favorite bassist because of his ability to make you notice him without really noticing him. He adds some very nice runs and fills that always sound like they belong melodically without overpowering the song. He chooses his spots wisely and has a phenomenal ear.
I like when the bass player and drummer sync up to produce a swagger on rhythm section, the Stones are great at it...
To answer Avvie's question, it all depends on the band.. Dee Dee could barely play - (in fact there is the infamous bass blunder on Beat on The Brat) but there's no way in hell an overplaying bass prodigy would have worked in that band. Love me some Paul Simonon, Geezer, Lemmy etc.. Matt Freeman from Rancid is a human bass machine.. There are some local Nashville boys who can just smoke - Geoff Firebaugh, Sean "Spider Fingers" Kay etc.. And as far as favorites go.. That's an easy one: Handsome Jimmy Hanson of The Creeping Cruds! Natural bass player who can do it all but puts the song first - and puts on ONE HELLUVA show..
Geddy Lee would ruin AC/DC and Cliff would be totally lost in Rush.. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S_7Ec0lxSNg&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S_7Ec0lxSNg&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>