McCartney is an insanely influencial bassist, he was one of the early players along with Entwhistle and Bruce to elevate bass playing to a more prominent role in rock music, the bass is the star of many Beatles songs, Paul was easly the most skilled Beatle and it was his bass playing that especially allowed for the band to cover such a great variety of musical styles.
Listen to Something or Hey Bulldog or Two of Us, that's some real rich melodicism going on there basswise. His basslines were actually quite intricate. He popularized the use of Rickenbackers, which were reknown for their distinctive, fuzzy and percussive tone.
It's easy to write him off because he's in the biggest band in the world and is more known for his work as a singer and songwriter. But he's just as influencial a bassist as he was a songwriter, especially on prog bassists like Chris Squire and Mike Rutherford.
UPDATE: Changed Levin's essential album to THRAK.
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