Progressive Rock Bassists — Musician Guide: Players, Bands & Key Albums

Progressive Rock Bassists — an atmospheric illustration of an unbranded electric bass on a stand in blue stage haze

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Progressive Rock Bassists — Musician Guide: Players, Bands & Key Albums

The bass players of progressive rock: who they are, the bands they played in and the albums where to hear them.

  • InstrumentBass
  • Guides277
  • OrderBy scene
  • Each guideBands, albums, where to start

Want the full stories? My books map every scene → All instruments

This hub gathers the progressive rock bassists covered on Prog Atlas. Each player has a guide with the bands, the key albums and a place to start, and the list below is sorted by scene, so you can follow the bass players of one tradition from band to band.

Bassists who also sang or played other instruments are listed here when the bass is what they are best known for; the guide itself covers the rest.

Already on Prog Atlas

Hugh HopperBritish bass guitarist, played with Soft Machine

Prefer the whole story in one place? See my books →

The bassists, scene by scene

277 guides, grouped by the scene of the band each musician is best known for, in alphabetical order.

British Progressive Rock

Ade Shaw Alan Cartwright Alan Davey Andrew Powell Andy Pyle Billy Sherwood Bob Daisley Boz Burrell Chas Cronk Chris Squire Cliff Hugo Clint Warwick Colin Bass Colin Pattenden Danny McCulloch Dave Pegg Davey Rimmer David Goodier David Hood David J. Keyes David Knights David Paton Dee Murray Doug Ferguson Dougie Thomson Frank Farrell Gary Thain Glenn Cornick Glenn Hughes Gordon Haskell Graham Simpson Greg Lake Harvey Bainbridge Jeffrey Hammond Jim Rodford John Ford John Giblin John Glascock John Greaves John Lodge John Wetton Jon Camp Jonathan Noyce Keith Ellis Kelly Groucutt Lee Jackson Lemmy Les Holroyd Louis Cennamo Martin Briley Martin Turner Matt Irving Matt Pegg Mike de Albuquerque Mike Rutherford Mike Wedgwood Niall Hone Nic Potter Nick Graham Nick Simper Pat King Paul Newton Paul Rudolph Percy Jones Peter Giles Ray Shulman Ric Grech Richard Sinclair Rod Demick Roger Glover Roger Waters Ron Chesterman Rosko Gee Steve Kinch Thomas Crimble Tony Kishman Tony Levin Tony Reeves Trevor Bolder

Italian Progressive Rock (RPI)

Ares Tavolazzi Bob Callero Dino Cappa Enrico Fagnoni Fabio Pignatelli Fabio Zuffanti Fausto Branchini Furio Di Castri Gigi De Rienzo Giorgio D’Adamo Giovanni Tommaso Marco Gallesi Patrick Djivas Pino Daniele Pino Martini Rino Zurzolo Roberto Tiranti Tiziano Ricci

German Progressive Rock & Krautrock

Carmine Rojas Dave Anderson Dave King Dick W. Frangenberg Dieter Petereit Eberhard Kranemann Hans Hartmann Hans Maahn Harald Eller Hartmut Enke Hellmut Hattler Helmut Köllen Holger Czukay Horst Stachelhaus Jerry Berkers Klaus-Peter Matziol Lothar Meid Uli Trepte Wolfgang Jäger

American Progressive Rock

Al Staehely Andy West Billy Greer Chris Kringel Chuck Panozzo Dan Briggs Danny Miranda Dave Hope Dave LaRue Dave Meros Dave Waterbury Don Schiff Doug Howard Doug Pinnick Eddie Jackson Jason Newsted Jeff Jones Jeff Lords Jerry Penrod Jim Sheppard Joe Bouchard Joe DiBiase Joe Puerta Joey Vera John Myung Johnny Christ Johnny Lee Middleton Jonas Hellborg Kasim Sulton Kristoffer Gildenlöw Lee Dorman Mark Andes Michael LePond Michael Todd Mike Levine Philip Taylor Kramer Randy Jackson Rick Laird Ricky Phillips Robin Zielhorst Ross Valory Rudy Sarzo Scott Carlson Scott Clendenin Sean Malone Stanley Clarke Steve Di Giorgio Terry Butler Thomas Miller Todd Jensen Troy Sanders Walter Egan

Modern Progressive Rock

Cameron Picton Chris Wolstenholme Colin Edwin Dave Pybus Dick Lövgren Duncan Patterson Ellen Andrea Wang Eva Gardner Gregory Spawton Jean-Michel Labadie Johan De Farfalla Jonas Reingold Juan Alderete Justin Chancellor Lucas Harwood Martín Méndez Nathan King Paul D’Amour Thomas MacLean

The Canterbury Scene

Bill MacCormick Dave Sturt Dill Katz Francis Moze Fred Thelonious Baker Jeff Clyne Jim Leverton John G. Perry Lee Pomeroy Mike Howlett Mont Campbell Neil Murray Rob Burns Rob Statham Roy Babbington

Neo-Progressive Rock

John Jowitt Pete Trewavas

Symphonic Progressive Rock

Bert Ruiter Bobby Jacobs Carlos Canzani Cees van Leeuwen Cyril Havermans Demis Roussos Fedor Frešo Jannick Top Józef Skrzek Måns Groundstroem Mike Chunn Nigel Griggs Pave Maijanen Pekka Pohjola Philippe Bussonnet

Psychedelic & Space Rock

Dave Wintour Jack Green John McKenzie John Stax Ken Whaley Liminha Phil Curtis Wally Waller

Progressive Metal

Jari Kainulainen Johan Niemann

Post-Rock & Math Rock

Bundy K. Brown Dave Konopka Dominic Aitchison Doug McCombs Eric Emm Ethan Buckler Georg Hólm Mauro Pezzente Pat Morris Thierry Amar

Experimental & Post-Metal

Jeff Caxide

Tech & Extreme Prog Metal

Colin Marston Jeroen Paul Thesseling Stephan Fimmers Tony Choy

Jazz Rock & Fusion

Alphonso Johnson Bunny Brunel Gary Willis Herb Bushler Jack Bruce Jaco Pastorius Jeff Berlin Jim Richardson Jochen Schmidt-Hambrock Juini Booth Mark Clarke Miroslav Vitouš Patrick Scales Tony Newton Victor Bailey Wolfgang Schmid

Progressive Folk

Barry Devlin Göran Lagerberg Nick Beggs Ted Dwane

Indo-Prog & Raga Rock

Alonza Bevan

RIO & Avant-Prog

Bob Drake Dave Willey Ferdinand Richard James Sedwards Thierry Zaboitzeff

Crossover Prog

Charlie Tumahai Graham Gouldman John Deacon Mike Grose Paul Jeffreys Pedro Aznar Seffy Efrati

Further reading on the blog

My ranking of the best prog rock bassists of all time is the companion to this directory. For the playing itself, try the best bass solos in prog rock, the best fretless bass moments in prog and the best bass tones in prog rock, or go player by player with Chris Squire's bass solos with Yes, Geddy Lee's bass solos with Rush and John Myung's bass solos with Dream Theater.

How these guides work

Each musician guide follows the same plan: the bands, the albums where the playing can be heard, the line-ups the musician was part of and a place to start. A musician who played in several bands has one guide, filed under the band that made the name, with links to all the others. The guides go online in stages, scene by scene.