5 Most Inventive Rock Bassists

Metal music has always been graced with incredible bass players from Geezer Butler to modern day legends like Paul Gray. The greatest of these bass players has got to be Cliff Burton, whose epic feats on the four-string helped define what thrash metal would sound like.

While metal bassists of old would tend to fill out the sound by playing the riff along with the guitar, Burton took a totally different approach by playing his bass almost as if it were a lead guitar. His knowledge of music theory and harmony also made for great guitar hooks like the guitar harmonies on "Creeping Death" or the classical intro of "Fight Fire With Fire."

Some of the best bass work Cliff would ever play can be found across Metallica's instrumental pieces, such as the one-take bass solo on "Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" or the bass extravaganza that is the monumental "Orion."

Though Burton died in a bus crash in 1986, his memory lives on throughout all of Metallica's work. In an era where metal was looked down upon for not being "real music," Cliff Burton brought an heir of sophistication to Metallica's songs that revolutionized how metal would be perceived.