Listen, I like a good guitar riff as much as the next gal. And good singers with unique voices can make a song. Sure, keyboards are cool (sort of). And don’t get me started on drums; drummers are the hotness.

But, for my money, bass is where it’s at. Bass players are the shit. Seriously.They make me swoon at concerts. I can’t help but watch them on stage, fingers plucking and hand sliding up and down the neck.

70s and 80s bands knew this.

Which is why I still predominantly listen to music from this era. A good bassline makes a song sexier, more danceable, better.

Just try to NOT dance to this song. I dare you. Bernard Edwards is one of the bomb-est bass players that has ever been.

The bass is a difficult instrument to learn how to play. Trust me on this; I asked for – and received – a red bass guitar for my 13th birthday. I think I still have callouses on my fingers from trying to learn how to play it. Eventually, I abandoned my lessons and the bass became a really cool piece of my bedroom furniture.

But I still occasionally regret not sticking with it. Because then I might have been 1/1000th as cool, funky, and beautiful as Meshell Ndegeocello. Well, maybe not, but still.

I couldn’t end this shout out to bass players without a nod to JT from Duran Duran, whose basslines are actually popular with people trying to learn to play bass:

Original song.

See how hard that is?