honorable mention:Josh Dunham

5.Larry Graham

4.Rhonda Smith

3.Sonny Thompson

2.Brown Mark

1.Andre Cymone

did I nail it?

1. Larry

2. Sonny

3. Andre Gouche

4. Mono

5. Rhonda or Cymone

1.Sonny

2.Brownmark

3.André

I think Larry, much like Maceo, is a legend and a virtuoso and originator on his instrument but personally I´d never include any of the two in such lists because to me, they were not really part of the Prince sound, if that makes sense. Always felt more like an add-on to me, whereas Sonny, Brownmark and André were there in the making, for lack of better words.

I´m not a musician and can´t really talk about the technical prowess or skills, all I can do is judge by ear and personal taste and those three are my favorite bass players that kind of stand out soundwise.

Ida, Rhonda etc. are great, too, but I could really not tell who´s who just by listening to them play, whereas Sonny and Brownmark have a very identifiable sound to my ears.

I think if André had stayed in the band I would´ve ranked him above Brownmark but I would have to check out a couple of live show recordings in order to be able to make up my mind about him, I´m just not THAT familiar right now with his era. But I´ve been listening to a lot of rehearsals and songs lately where Mark´s bass playing is quite prominent so that´s why I put him at #2.

Levi is great, too, of course but I can´t really say much about him because to me he is more of a guitarist than a bass player but I liked his bass playing a lot during the SOTT/Lovesexy era. But that´s just too short for me to put him in the top 3.

[Edited 10/10/20 10:40am]

OperatingThetan said:

Larry should be at #1 in terms of skill and origination. Also Ida Nielsen is superb, more notable to my ears than Brownmark and not a sore loser

I only included brownmark cuz i felt sorry for him being the only revolution member that didnt have 1 spoken word line in Purple Rain.Prince did him so wrong..thats why unlike most people here i dont assume Prince is in Heaven...he might be downstairs with all the people he did so wrong...

[Edited 10/10/20 15:14pm]

1. Mononeon (unfortuantely we just didnt get to hear/see them together enough)

2. Andre Cymone

3. Larry Graham (by then, he wasnt the same cutting edge Larry Graham from Sly & The Family Stone)

4. BrownMark

5. no disrespect to Sonny, Levi, or Rhonda, but Prince was a better bass player than any of them

RJOrion said:

dodger said:

RJOrion said:

1. Mononeon (unfortuantely we just didnt get to hear/see them together enough)

2. Andre Cymone

3. Larry Graham (by then, he wasnt the same cutting edge Larry Graham from Sly & The Family Stone)

4. BrownMark

5. no disrespect to Sonny, Levi, or Rhonda, but Prince was a better bass player than any of them

I think Sonny is massively under-rated. P used to rave about him and say he was his hero and I don’t think he was exaggerating either. I’ve seen clips of him on both bass and guitar and he’s something else. . Must admit I’ve got a soft spot for Sonny as well after naming our cat after him in 95. The idiot that I am I told him this last year at a meet and greet and he laughed his balls off

yes rumor has it sonny taught prince how to play bass and guitar

Sonny T.

Brown Mark

Andre Cymone

That's it.

The other were fairly irrelevant and not contributing to the overall sound of his and what type of grooves he was known of. Levi Seacer Jr. could be added there as a significant contributor, but more as a guitar player.

He was responsible for his own grooves, for the most part. For the rock / chord based stuff, I don't think it mattered so much who the bassist was. Rhonda did some nice stuff on Emancipation, but it was really just embellishments ("Dreaming About U" etc,).

Ultimately, Prince played the best bass lines that you can find on his records. Bass guitar or keyboard bass, it didn't matter.

Sonny Thompson was his best bass player, by far.

Andre, Rhonda, Levi, Prince.

1. Prince

2. Larry Graham

3. Andre Cymone

4. Brownmark

5. Levi Seacer

KoolEaze said:

I think Larry, much like Maceo, is a legend and a virtuoso and originator on his instrument but personally I´d never include any of the two in such lists because to me, they were not really part of the Prince sound, if that makes sense. Always felt more like an add-on to me, whereas Sonny, Brownmark and André were there in the making, for lack of better words.

I´m not a musician and can´t really talk about the technical prowess or skills, all I can do is judge by ear and personal taste and those three are my favorite bass players that kind of stand out soundwise.

[Edited 10/10/20 10:40am]

I made a similar comment in the thread about his best saxaphonists when I placed Eric Leeds above Maceo. Some people slammed me for that. I'm not a musician and I'll accept that Maceo has more technical skills than Eric, but to me, Eric's style of playing fit Prince's sound better. Eric was trying to expand on Prince's sound, while Maceo was bringing his own sound to the show.

RJOrion said:

1. Mononeon (unfortuantely we just didnt get to hear/see them together enough)

2. Andre Cymone

3. Larry Graham (by then, he wasnt the same cutting edge Larry Graham from Sly & The Family Stone)

4. BrownMark

5. no disrespect to Sonny, Levi, or Rhonda, but Prince was a better bass player than any of them

Prince was not a better bass player than Rhonda. And I'd put Ida on that list over BrownMark.

rogifan said:

RJOrion said:

1. Mononeon (unfortuantely we just didnt get to hear/see them together enough)

2. Andre Cymone

3. Larry Graham (by then, he wasnt the same cutting edge Larry Graham from Sly & The Family Stone)

4. BrownMark

5. no disrespect to Sonny, Levi, or Rhonda, but Prince was a better bass player than any of them

Prince was not a better bass player than Rhonda. And I'd put Ida on that list over BrownMark.

agree Rhonda playing with Jeff Beck who is wayyyyyyyyy better than Prince on guitar!

lurker316 said:

KoolEaze said:

I think Larry, much like Maceo, is a legend and a virtuoso and originator on his instrument but personally I´d never include any of the two in such lists because to me, they were not really part of the Prince sound, if that makes sense. Always felt more like an add-on to me, whereas Sonny, Brownmark and André were there in the making, for lack of better words.

I´m not a musician and can´t really talk about the technical prowess or skills, all I can do is judge by ear and personal taste and those three are my favorite bass players that kind of stand out soundwise.

[Edited 10/10/20 10:40am]

I made a similar comment in the thread about his best saxaphonists when I placed Eric Leeds above Maceo. Some people slammed me for that. I'm not a musician and I'll accept that Maceo has more technical skills than Eric, but to me, Eric's style of playing fit Prince's sound better. Eric was trying to expand on Prince's sound, while Maceo was bringing his own sound to the show.

I agree with you, and if I recall correctly I posted on that thread as well and basically said what you said, too. Maybe Eric Leeds himself would disagree with us, considering that Maceo is one of his heroes but I think he´d understand that his contributions to Prince´s overall sound were more significant than Maceo´s, even though Maceo is one of the most legendary sax players ever.

rogifan said:

RJOrion said:

1. Mononeon (unfortuantely we just didnt get to hear/see them together enough)

2. Andre Cymone

3. Larry Graham (by then, he wasnt the same cutting edge Larry Graham from Sly & The Family Stone)

4. BrownMark

5. no disrespect to Sonny, Levi, or Rhonda, but Prince was a better bass player than any of them

Prince was not a better bass player than Rhonda. And I'd put Ida on that list over BrownMark.

Really? Do you play bass guitar? I´m not a musician so I´m just curious why you´d say that.

RHONDA - one of the best in the world !

I'm not going to do a list but I guess I would rate Rhonda very highly. I think she can do styles that just weren't really part of Prince's sound. Like Jaco Pastorious stuff. It's been a while since I listened to that, but check out her solo from the Rotterdam ONA aftershow in 2002 on 'Beautiful Strange'...

With Prince it's really mostly funk / slap bass. I think his bass playing is the most interesting when you see it together with the beat, he really grooved and had rhythm and was funky. But there's certainly more to the bass.

joyinrepetition said:

1. Prince

2. Larry Graham

3. Andre Cymone

4. Brownmark

5. Levi Seacer

was wondering why Prince was missing from people's list.

lurker316 said:

KoolEaze said:

I think Larry, much like Maceo, is a legend and a virtuoso and originator on his instrument but personally I´d never include any of the two in such lists because to me, they were not really part of the Prince sound, if that makes sense. Always felt more like an add-on to me, whereas Sonny, Brownmark and André were there in the making, for lack of better words.

I´m not a musician and can´t really talk about the technical prowess or skills, all I can do is judge by ear and personal taste and those three are my favorite bass players that kind of stand out soundwise.

[Edited 10/10/20 10:40am]

I made a similar comment in the thread about his best saxaphonists when I placed Eric Leeds above Maceo. Some people slammed me for that. I'm not a musician and I'll accept that Maceo has more technical skills than Eric, but to me, Eric's style of playing fit Prince's sound better. Eric was trying to expand on Prince's sound, while Maceo was bringing his own sound to the show.

No you can't accept that Maceo is more skilled because Eric is much more advanced sax player compared to Maceo,but Maceo have his sound that makes him a legend.

but Maceo is pentatonic funk player,Eric was much more.

Listen to Mace play fusion jazz with Prince in 2002,its laughable compared to Eric.

Those who slammed u had just displayed their lack of musicality.

Brown Mark the inventor of rumble funk bass

Sonny T -lots of style and nuance in his playing,added colors to Prince sound

Ida -a modern day funksteer with great sound

Rhonda -sexy and funky and subtle ,introduced Prince to fretless

Andre-the guy had a lot of stank in his funk (check out 3 shows from Rick James opening that are circulating)

I must not know bass because I thought Levi was up there.

KoolEaze said:

rogifan said:

Prince was not a better bass player than Rhonda. And I'd put Ida on that list over BrownMark.

Really? Do you play bass guitar? I´m not a musician so I´m just curious why you´d say that.

I don't but I've seen enough video of her and I think she's better than Prince.

1. Mark Brown
2. Mark Brown
3. Mark Brown

4. Mark Brown
5. Mark Brown

Honarble Mention: Mark Brown, Larry Graham

rogifan said:

KoolEaze said:

Really? Do you play bass guitar? I´m not a musician so I´m just curious why you´d say that.

I don't but I've seen enough video of her and I think she's better than Prince.

She is a better bass player in technical sense of execution ,but Prince had the stank,the funk that was not as authentic in Rhondas hands.Rhonda is funky and groovy but her bass tone don't have the heavy thump of Prince's style

JudasLChrist said:

1. Mark Brown
2. Mark Brown
3. Mark Brown

4. Mark Brown
5. Mark Brown

Honarble Mention: Mark Brown, Larry Graham

Mark brown cant even sit in the same room as Andre cymone...u must be deaf