A disclaimer before all the Metalheads get all sensitive about metal not being soft. It is. It’s actually one of the softest genres of music out there. Notice how most of heavy metal rockstars are ‘troubled’? Exactly. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like them, we do, and we’re always here for a hug whenever metal fails to make-up for their troubling insecurities. Now let’s get to business. The following tracks are badass tracks of mastery, groove, technique, composition, and most importantly wisdom. Yes, wisdom is badass.

1. Jaco Pastorius/Brian Melvin- Jazz Street 

Dubbed the Jimi Hendrix of bass guitar, Jaco shaped what bass playing is today. Jaco can play in one song what other bassists would play in their entire life time. Yet, making it all seem so smooth and effortless. This not being his best track, however, if you want to dig deeper I suggest you check out ‘The Jaco Pastorius Anthology’.

2. Zawinul Syndicate – Patriots
Joe Zawinul was sampling sounds before sampling was cool, or even feasible. He created the concept of groove and he gathered the best musicians around him. Most importantly, he rocked.

3. Stanley Clarke – School Days

The riff will rock your brains out, other than that, Stanley Clark is the trusted father of all bassists in the world and he doesn’t joke around when it comes to grooves that rock.

4. Dave Holland Quintet – Prime Detective

Listen thoroughly and the techniques, theories and complex structure in this tune. Figure out why it’s on the list for yourself.




5. Dave Weckl – Wake Up

Mike Portnoy once said that the only other drummer he acknowledges is Dave Weckl.

Dave Weckl Band – Wake Up