Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
UK EditionUK US EditionUS AU EditionAustralia SG EditionSingapore
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Cyber Monday
  • Artist news
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About us
Don't miss these
Andy Fraser in 1971
Artists “The notes he didn’t play were more important than the notes he did play”: A salute from one great bassist to another
Rush in 1986
Artists “I never realised how difficult it was for Alex”: When Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson had to battle to get heard
2013 Inductees Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush perform onstage at the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
Bands “I realised how hard it was to play these songs”: Alex Lifeson makes a surprise admission
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. ET and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Monday, September 8 included Spinal Tap (Nigel Tufnel aka Christopher Guest, David St. Hubbins aka Michael McKean and Derek Smalls aka Harry Shearer) and Marty DiBergi (aka Rob Reiner) ("Spinal Tap II: The End Continues"), and musical guest Spinal Tap. (Disney/Randy Holmes) SPINAL TAP  (Photo by Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
Bands Five basses! Spinal Tap recruit Tal Wilkenfeld and Thundercat for bottom-heavy Jimmy Kimmel performance
Derek Trucks takes a slide solo on his Gibson SG as Tedeschi Trucks Band performs live at Madison Square Garden.
Artists Derek Trucks is one of the greatest slide players of all time – here’s how he decides when to use it
Craig 'Goonzi' Gowans and Steven Jones from Scottish metalcore heavyweights Bleed From Within pose with their weapons of choice: Goonzi [left] has an ESP LTD M1000, while Jones has a Caparison TAT Special
Artists Bleed From Within’s Craig ‘Goonzi’ Gowans and Steven Jones on the high-performance shred machines behind their heavyweight metalcore sound 
Glenn Hughes
Artists “I’m not trying to alienate my audience!”: Glenn Hughes says he's still taking inspiration from David Bowie
Alex Skolnick of Testament shows off his signature ESP singlecut as he performs at Belgium's Alcatraz Festival in 2024. On the right, Kiko Loureiro and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth photographed in the corridors backstage at Wembley Arena in 2015.
Artists Alex Skolnick on the time he was on standby for Megadeth – and what to do when you can’t match a player lick for lick
Simon Phillips
Artists “I got a hacksaw, chopped down the stand and put the hi-hats down there”: How Simon Phillips learned to play left-handed
Paul Gilbert
Recording Four big-name guitarists spill their recording secrets
Rush in the '70s
Artists “The high priests of conceptual rock!” Every Rush studio album ranked – from worst to best
 Ozzy Osbourne and Andrew Watt attend the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
Singers & Songwriters “He said bass is the most important thing in a rock song”: Andrew Watt on what Ozzy Osbourne taught him about mixing
NEW YORK: Todd Rundgren posed at a studio mixing desk in New York in 1974 (Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)
Artists “Sometimes it’s best not to meet your idols”: Todd Rundgren’s Top 5 favourite album productions
Bass
Music Production Tutorials 37 heavyweight bass production tips
David Gilmour plays a Black Stratocaster onstage in New York, on a moody stage lit in dark blue.
Artists David Gilmour shares an essential tone tip for guitarists using a whammy bar with a delay pedal
More
  • Cyber Monday plugin deals - LIVE
  • JoBo x Fuchs
  • "The most expensive bit of drumming in history”
  • Radiohead Daydreaming
  • Vanilla Fudge
  • 95k+ free music samples
  1. Artists
  2. Guitarists

Interview: Geddy Lee's 5 favourite bassists of all time

News
By Roger Newell published 1 January 2013

The players who've inspired him

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Interview: Geddy Lee's 5 favourite bassists of all time

Interview: Geddy Lee's 5 favourite bassists of all time

BASS EXPO We aim to please here at MusicRadar, and it doesn't get much better than sitting down with legendary Rush frontman Geddy Lee to talk bass.

In no particular order, what follows is a list of Geddy Lee's five favourite bassists of all time, and words from the man himself that explain his inclusions. Read on!

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
Jack Casady

Jack Casady

"Back in the early days, Jack Casady. I thought he was probably one of the most inventive players I’d ever heard and was really the reason I fell in love with Jefferson Airplane."

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
Jack Bruce

Jack Bruce

"Jack Bruce of course was my hero when I first started playing. Just him coming out with that bluesy, jazzy style on bass and he brought a kind of aggressive tone to the Cream."

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Chris Squire

Chris Squire

"Chris Squire is incredibly inventive and imaginative writer of bass melodies. He’ll always be a pinnacle of great bass players."

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Jeff Berlin

Jeff Berlin

"He's more of a jazz bass player now but he used to play kind of fusion, rock and jazz with Bill Bruford on Bill’s solo records. Bruford was a fantastic band and Jeff is still among the top bass players out there, different calibre, he’s just off the planet."

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
Les Claypool

Les Claypool

"We must not forget Les Claypool from Primus. A true style-seeking venture on bass, really original, an incredible player and he’s influenced me with his attitude towards bass playing."

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
CATEGORIES
Guitars
Roger Newell
Deals not to miss
Andy Fraser in 1971
“The notes he didn’t play were more important than the notes he did play”: A salute from one great bassist to another
 
 
Rush in 1986
“I never realised how difficult it was for Alex”: When Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson had to battle to get heard
 
 
2013 Inductees Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush perform onstage at the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
“I realised how hard it was to play these songs”: Alex Lifeson makes a surprise admission
 
 
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. ET and features a diverse lineup of guests that include celebrities, athletes, musical acts, comedians and human interest subjects, along with comedy bits and a house band. The guests for Monday, September 8 included Spinal Tap (Nigel Tufnel aka Christopher Guest, David St. Hubbins aka Michael McKean and Derek Smalls aka Harry Shearer) and Marty DiBergi (aka Rob Reiner) ("Spinal Tap II: The End Continues"), and musical guest Spinal Tap. (Disney/Randy Holmes) SPINAL TAP  (Photo by Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)
Five basses! Spinal Tap recruit Tal Wilkenfeld and Thundercat for bottom-heavy Jimmy Kimmel performance
 
 
Derek Trucks takes a slide solo on his Gibson SG as Tedeschi Trucks Band performs live at Madison Square Garden.
Derek Trucks is one of the greatest slide players of all time – here’s how he decides when to use it
 
 
Craig 'Goonzi' Gowans and Steven Jones from Scottish metalcore heavyweights Bleed From Within pose with their weapons of choice: Goonzi [left] has an ESP LTD M1000, while Jones has a Caparison TAT Special
Bleed From Within’s Craig ‘Goonzi’ Gowans and Steven Jones on the high-performance shred machines behind their heavyweight metalcore sound 
 
 
Latest in Guitarists
Joe Perry
“Miles Davis would just record right to the vinyl”: Why Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry loves to record with no safety net
 
 
Fuchs Audio Joe Bonamassa JB-ODS: the new signature 100-watt combo is inspired by the Dumble Overdrive Special but has key differences, such as reverb – and it has Bonamassa's signature Celestion speaker
Joe Bonamassa just teamed up with Fuchs Audio on a signature tube amp that might just save you spending $175,000 on a Dumble
 
 
Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Hiro Yamamoto of Soundgarden at 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
"It’s bittersweet, of course”: Soundgarden’s final album is “pretty close” to completion
 
 
Alex Skolnick play his silverburst ESP signature model [left] while Joe Satriani plays his JS signature Ibanez
“You can be an educated musician but also have feel and be a street player”: Alex Skolnick on what he learned from Joe Satriani
 
 
PRS Mark Lettieri Fiore HH, pictured here in its blue gloss and red satin versions against a pair of PRS tube amp stacks.
“It’s been on stage with everyone from Deep Purple to Janet Jackson. It kind of blows me away that people ever responded in that way”: PRS reworks Mark Lettieri’s signature Fiore as super-versatile dual-humbucker model with serial/parallel switching
 
 
Neal Schon
“Steve Cropper was right next door, and he wrote the song. I was kind of nervous!”: When a guitar hero got the jitters
 
 
Latest in News
A pair of Sennheiser HD 490 Pro studio headphones on a light purple background
I’ve tested 13 studio headphones this year and my top choice just landed a serious Cyber Monday deal - save $110 on the Sennheiser HD 490 Pro
 
 
user18081971, aka Aphex Twin, on Souncloud
“Got many requests for this one from a few years back”: Aphex Twin uploads new tracks to his Soundcloud page
 
 
Elektron Syntakt Cyber Weekend deals
I love the Elektron Syntakt, mostly because it’s like a Rytm, but cheaper, and it’s got one of the biggest savings I’ve seen this Cyber Monday
 
 
Thom Yorke performs at Sydney Opera House on November 01, 2024 in Sydney, Australia
“We are devastated to have to postpone these two shows at such short notice”: Radiohead put back two Copenhagen dates
 
 
 universal audio
“We built Paradise to make any guitarist feel like they’re playing in a dream studio": Universal Audio releases Paradise Guitar Studio – and it's 25% off for Cyber Monday
 
 
MXR FOD Drive on wood floor
It’s an open secret that the MXR FOD Drive is the Dookie Drive circuit under a different name, and for just $99 you can get the tones from Green Day’s best album on your pedalboard this Cyber Monday
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...