The 2 best Rock bassists of all time according to Geddy Lee

Besides being the frontman and keyboardist of Rush, Geddy Lee certainly is one of the most influential bass players of all time. Mixing Progressive Rock and Hard Rock, the group became one of the most successful Canadian acts of all time, with an estimated amount of more than 40 million records sold worldwide. It was the perfect power trio also formed by Alex Lifeson on guitar and Neil Peart on drums, which took Prog to a whole new level not only in terms of music but also in lyrics.

Over the decades, Geddy Lee talked about many bass players and even wrote a book about the instrument. He once mentioned which are in his opinion, the two best Rock and Roll bassist of all time.

The two best Rock bassists of all time according to Geddy Lee

Although he is a multi-instrumentalist and a singer, Geddy Lee’s main passion is certainly the bass guitar. He even wrote the “Big Beautiful Book of Bass”, to talk about the instrument and how it impacted music. But as he said in an interview with UDiscover Music in 2019 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), it’s not easy to pick only one bass player as the greatest of all time. For Geddy it depends on which style you are talking about. So he mentioned two bassists that in his opinion are the best when it comes to Rock and Roll music.

“Judging a bass player is really about the context of that bass player. If I were to pick the greatest jazz fusion bassist of all time, of course it would be Jaco Pastorious. If I was to pick the greatest Progressive Rock bassist of all time it would have to be Chris Squire without question. For a pure Rock bassist I think between John Paul Jones and Jack Bruce you would have to have a playoff. Jack’s no longer with us, sadly.”

“So I guess the crown goes to John Paul Jones. I think it’s all about context, it’s very hard to pick one guy out and say he does that the best. If you look at Flea’s playing, for his style of music. I mean, it’s fantastic, he is an amazing player. I have great respect for his bass playing. But how do you compare that to what Chris Squire did? Because it’s a whole different genre,” Geddy Lee said.

Jack Bruce

Geddy Lee is a huge fan of the late legendary Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce. He was lucky enough to have seen the British power trio playing live at their prime in the late 60s when they toured in Canada. They were a direct influence to what Rush would become later on, since they were also a trio.

In an interview with BBC in 2019 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), Geddy chose Bruce as his Rock God. He said: “I was a very young, aspiring musician in Toronto, Canada. Jack Bruce’s bass parts that slipped behind Eric Clapton’s soloing always really grabbed my ear. I remember in 1969, seeing an advertisement for Cream coming to Toronto at the prestigious Massey Hall, which was our Opera house.”

“I went to Massey Hall, bought my single ticket and came back for that show. It was one of the strangest and greatest experiences of my life. Because I got a balcony seat, so I was overlooking the stage and I was so close to them. I remember being so enamored with them and watching Jack Bruce. It was one of the greatest, most memorable shows I’ve ever seen. I went of course, to follow Jack Bruce’s solo career (after that),” Geddy Lee said.

John Paul Jones

Led Zeppelin is another important British band that Geddy Lee admires a lot and he praised the band many times, even saying that in his opinion, John Paul Jones is the “unsung hero” of the band.

He explained that in an interview with Guitar World in 2014. “I saw them in Toronto at a little place called the Rockpile. We were in the second row, and when they played this song it just blew me away. It reaffirmed for me all the creative potential in blending hard rock with progressive music. John Paul Jones was the unsung hero in that band,” Geddy Lee said.

Curiously, John Paul Jones was really thrilled when Lee interviewed him for his book. One of the bass players Geddy Lee interviewed for his book “Big Beautiful Book of Bass” was Jones.

Talking with Rolling Stone in the year the book was released, he recalled the experience of meeting Jones. “First of all, he’s an incredibly lovely guy. If you ever have the opportunity to sit down with one of your heroes, it’s never an easy situation. It’s always a bit nerve-racking, and you never know what to expect.”