The following is a list of essential rock, pop, blues, R & B, jazz, fusion, and Latin bassists with one or two of their finer albums. This list is by no means exhaustive. It's best to think of this list as a point of departure. Note: if the bassist is not the leader, the artist or band name will be listed in parenthesis. Also, only electric bass guitarists are listed here, though some of these musicians also play upright bass. Lastly, some of these bassists cross genres, particularly session giants Carol Kaye, Roscoe Beck, Leland Sklar, Chuck Rainey, Duck Dunn, and others.

Rock and Pop

Michael Anthony — Diver Down and 1984 (Van Halen)

Jack Bruce — Disraeli Gears (Cream) and More Jack Than God

Cliff Burton — Master of Puppets (Metallica)

Geezer Butler — Paranoid (Black Sabbath)

Les Claypool — Sailing the Seas of Change (Primus)

Adam Clayton — The Joshua Tree and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (U2)

Rick Danko — Music from Big Pink (The Band)

John Entwistle — Tommy and Who Are You (The Who)

Flea — Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication(Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Tony Franklin — Outrider (Jimmy Page)

Colin Greenwood — Ok Computer (Radiohead)

Tom Hamilton — Toys in the Attic (Aerosmith)

Steve Harris — Killers (Iron Maiden)

Glenn Hughes — Machine Head (Deep Purple)

Darryl Jones — Bring on the Night (Sting) and A Bigger Bang (The Rolling Stones)

John Paul Jones — Led Zeppelin I and Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin)

Carol Kaye — Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys) and Boots (Nancy Sinatra)

Lemmy Kilmister — Ace of Spades (Motorhead)

Mark King — World Machine (Level 42)

Geddy Lee — 2112 and Vapor Trails (Rush)

Tony Levin — Three of a Perfect Pair (King Crimson) Us (Peter Gabriel)

Nick Lowe — Seconds of Pleasure (Rockpile) and The Convincer

Graham Maby — Look Sharp! (Joe Jack-son) and Ophelia (Natalie Merchant)

Paul McCartney — Abbey Road (The Beatles) and Driving Rain

Randy Meisner — Hotel California (The Eagles)

John Myung — Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Dream Theatre)

Krist Novoselic — Nevermind (Nirvana)

Pino Palladino — Sowing the Seeds of Love (Tears for Fears) and Endless Wire (The Who)

Noel Redding — Axis: Bold as Love (Jimi Hendrix)

Billy Sheehan — Sink Your Teeth Into That (Talas) and Hey Man (Mr. Big)

Gene Simmons — Destroyer (KISS)

Chris Squire — Fragile and 90125 (Yes)

Sting — Ghost in the Machine (The Police) and Ten Summoner's Tales

Bill Wyman — Aftermath and Tattoo You (The Rolling Stones)

Country and Western

Roscoe Beck (also a noted blues bassist) — Top of the World Tour: Live (The Dixie Chicks)

Leland Sklar — Joshua Judges Ruth (Lyle Lovett) Starting Over (Reba McEntire)

Bee Spears — Red Headed Stranger (Willie Nelson)

R & B, Funk, Soul, and Motown

Bootsy Collins — America Eats Its Young (Funkadelic) and Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band (Bootsy's Rubber Band)

Larry Graham — One in a Million You and Just Be My Lady

James Jamerson — Dance Party (Martha and the Vandellas) What's Going One (Marvin Gaye)

Rick James — Come Get It! and Bustin' Out

Chuck Rainey — Spanish Harlem (Aretha Franklin) and Body Heat (Quincy Jones)

Latin

Aston “Family Man” Barrett — Uprising (Bob Marley & The Wailers) and Family Man in Dub

Lincoln Goines — World on a String (Dave Valentin)

Robbie Shakespeare — Friends and Mambo Taxi (Sly and Robbie)

Oscar Stagnaro — The Caribbean Jazz Project (The Caribbean Jazz Project)

Bobby Valentin — Rey Del Bajo

Blues, Jazz, and Fusion

Jeff Berlin — Road Games (Alan Hold-sworth) and In Harmony's Way

Richard Bona — Tiki

Brian Bromberg — Brian Bromberg and Metal

Stanley Clarke — Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (Return to Forever) and If This Bass Could Only Talk

Donald “Duck” Dunn — Money and Cigarettes (Eric Clapton) and Good-bye Newport Blues (Muddy Waters)

Nathan East — Journey (Fourplay)

Mark Egan — American Garage (Pat Metheny) Wouldn't It Be Nice (Elements)

Jonas Hellborg — Mahavishnu (Mahavishnu Orchestra)

Anthony Jackson — Gaucho (Steely Dan) and The Nightfly (Donald Fagen)

Jerry Jemmott — Guess Who (B.B. King) and Texas Blues (Lightnin' Hopkins)

Will Lee — Don't Stop the Music (The Brecker Brothers) Reunion (Gary Burton)

Marcus Miller — Silver Rain and The Sun Don't Lie

Jaco Pastorius — Heavy Weather (Weather Report) and Jaco Pastorius

John Patitucci — Chick Corea Elektric Band (Chick Corea) and On the Corner

Tommy Shannon — Texas Flood (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)

Steve Swallow — Swallow

Victor Wooten — Left of Cool (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones) and Soul Circus