Some people like to argue that Jeff Ament’s first important instrument wasn’t the bass guitar, that it was in fact the piano. Okay yes, he took piano lessons early in his childhood, inspired in part but arguably forced to do so, by his mother who played piano. But it’s safe to say by his sophomore year in high school, along with playing the snare drum and singing in the choir, Ament put an early fascination with the piano to bed, when he heard Dee Dee Ramone and went out and bought a bass guitar.
It’s funny how inspiration sometimes finds us. In Ament’s case, listening to bands like the Ramones, Devo, the Clash, The Who or even Santana or Cream were mind blowing for a teenager. And so it was that in between juggling academic commitments (particularly his love for graphic design) and sports, Ament practiced really hard developing his fretting technique and minor chord changes as a teenager. He would soon become an accomplished bass musician able to hold his own, in two of Seattle’s most important early alternative rock bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone. But it was in the fall of 1990, together with Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Dave Kruse (as Mookie Blaylock, but soon to be Pearl Jam) that Ament creativity and style as a musician truly blossomed.
In a career (with Pearl Jam) that expands over some twenty-five years now, Ament has created some of the most beloved basslines. The best thing about Ament’s unique style is his diversity. At any one moment, he can drive a song like Why Go or Jeremy with his bass loud and aggressive and the next, he’ll almost disappears in songs like All Those Yesterdays with an atmospheric bass sound. In order to achieve what he does, he uses a variety of guitars, which include the fretless bass, upright bass and twelve string bass.
“I have to be able to feel the bass. I’ve worked hard with our producers to make sure that when you play our records on your stereo, you can feel the bass. You might not necessarily be able to hear it all the time, but if you turn it up you can feel the movement in the low end—that it’s moving the song. And when it’s not there, it should be creating a dynamic” – Jeff Ament.
Every Pearl Jam fan has an opinion about what is Ament’s best bass work. Everyone always mentions Jeremy without fail as his most recognizable bassline. Interestingly, like Why Go (from the album Ten), it was originally written on an acoustic guitar and later switched to a twelve-string bass that left everyone in awe of Aments abilities as a songwriter. On the subject of Why Go, it is arguably one of Ament’s most perfect bass songs that I often turn up the bass control on my stereo, so I can just simply listen to Jeff’s chord changes.
From those early PJ records, I believe Ament probably outdoes himself on Vs. on songs like Rats, Leash, Glorified G and Go. On their experimental No Code, the underlying feeling or influence of Ament’s bass on Hail, Hail and In My Tree are sublime. But it is Present Tense from the same album that really speaks volumes about just how good Ament is as a bass player. His bass work elbs and flows with that song as it rises and falls throughout almost six minutes of bliss. At the tail end, I just love how he drives the rhythm section of the song and then suddenly disappears as the song subsides with an atmospheric touch of brilliance.
Moving on, it’s probably fair to say that much of their later albums aren’t talked about or appreciated as much as their early stuff. The same could be said about Ament’s bass work. But I beg to differ and would like to briefly point out that songs like Army Reserve, Inside Job, Amongst The Waves and In Hiding may not have blossomed into great songs, if not for Ament’s dynamic and characteristic input.
It is finally from the album Lightning Bolt that I am also reminded of Ament’s innovative genius. During the recording of the album, Ament tells a story how Eddie came into the studio one day with these stabbing chords that would become the song Getaway and he immediate heard this counter melody that would become the bassline of the song. Check out Ament’s Getaway bass instrumental here and check out the classic and beloved Jeremy bass here below. Enjoy!
Rearview Mirror 
You know, I remember you and I arguing about Jeff Ament some time ago! But, I have to say, I’ve come to realise I was wrong in underestimating his contribution to Pearl Jam.
Now that you’ve helped me reconsider – and I’ve also thought about it a lot more – I can’t say Ament hasn’t played a key role in a number of really great compositions. I’m thinking particularly of something like ‘WMA’ from the Vs album or ‘Rats’ or ‘Go’. But also things like ‘In My Tree’, ‘Jeremy’, and a bunch of others.
Once you really listen to his basslines, it changes everything. I though Riot Act was one of their weaker records, and now I listen to it in a completely different way. He truly makes every song better.
And one of the finest: Pedro Aznar. He played with Charly Garcia (the greatest musician of Latin America of the last 100 years), then with Pat Metheny. When he was still a nascent star, in a jazz festival in Rio de Janeiro, a journalist introduced Pedro to his idol Jaco Pastorius with this line: “Jaco, this is Pedro, the world’s best bassist.”
YouTube has cool videos of Pedro and of Jaco.
Jeff Ament is one of my favorite musicians of all time. The basslines throughout the Pearl Jam catalog are creative and interesting, and add so much value on the repeated listener and through all the deep tracks. His basslines shape the song you hear whether you realize it or not, and it just never fails to impress me. Interestingly, the 2 albums that I think highlight this best weren’t mentioned much by you in this post. I guess that is a testament to how much of his work (and the whole band’s work) is noteworthy. Vitalogy and Riot Act are brought to life by Jeff, in my opinion. And I mean, every damn track is better for the way he plays. I just love the ones where he is playing sort of a counter-melody. A lot of people don’t realize it is there at the first listen, and then once you do hear it you can’t stop listening. It becomes a whole new song.