Roger Waters' Minimalist Bass: How Simple Lines Defined Pink Floyd's Sound

While prog rock bassists like Yes’s Chris Squire were celebrated for busy, melodic runs and virtuosic fills, Roger Waters took the opposite approach. His bass lines on tracks like “Money” (a hypnotic 7/4 riff that barely changes) and “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” (a simple two-note funk pulse) are almost laughably repetitive by prog standards. But that repetition was the point.

Pink Floyd’s sound relies on slow builds, vast empty spaces, and gradual layering. A busy, Squire-style bass would have cluttered the mix and broken the tension. Waters locked into a pocket and stayed there, letting the drums, guitar