Top Five rock Bass players

bdp, FWIW Carol says Brian wrote out all those Beach Boy bass lines for her. She did come up with many other things including the classic line for " The Beat Goes On."

Some faves of mine already listed, esp. Sir Paul and the two Jacks.
I'm surprised no one has suggested Bill Black (early Elvis) or Les Claypool.  Tom Fowler (Zappa, It's A Beautiful Day, Ray Charles, Steve Hackett, Jean-Luc Ponty) also deserves mention.  Oh, and I love the way Rick Danko played.

Ah, what the heck, additional bassists to the above, regardless of style, that I like are:

John Paul Jones
Percy Jones
Jaco Pastorius
Dave Holland
Mike Rutherford
Greg Lake
Walter Becker
Jeff Berlin
John Wetton
Jimmy Johnson
Ray Brown
Phil Lesh (lesh is more)
Kim Deal
Carol Kaye
John Deacon
Mani Mounfield
Krist Novoselic
Colin Greenwood
Pino Palladino
Cliff Burton
Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond
Charles Mingus
John Myung
Geezer Butler
Jack Casady
Paul Simonon
Jay Wobble
Squarepusher

Add Stanley Clark to the list, Stevecham.
(glad someone included Jaco!)

Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh