The Man Who Transformed Rock Bass Playing Forever
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- A pioneer of the electric bass guitar, let me take you through the life and bass style of one of the best bassists to have ever lived...John Entwistle.
Known as the bassist of The Who, Entwistle helped pave the way for all bassists to follow.
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0:00 Who?
1:18 Background
2:09 Bass...or Guitar?
2:25 Playing Style
4:20 Crazy Tone
4:50 Rotosound
5:17 His Basses
5:43 Live Reaction - The Who
7:05 Live Reaction - Original Band
7:30 Final Words
#bassguitar #thewho #johnentwistle #bassist - Hudba
Played bass like that, with the greatest live rock band of all time, and all the time looking like he's wondering if he's left the stove switched on at home.
I was going to to post the same thing:) But you sure said it a lot better than I would've:))
Played genius licks, while looking like he's waiting for a bus, in the rain.
😂😂 so true. He kinda looks bored all the time.
@@Thorsten_Kueppers And his wife (at the time) wondered why the TV cameras were hardly ever on him!
The Real Me blows my mind. Dude was just phenomenal. When I think of rock bass players, he and Geddy Lee are the epitome of the instrument, imo-
Quadrophenia is fanstastic
The Ox with Moonie, the most awesome rhythm section ever.
He was the glue that held The Who sound together. And he died before he got old! Thanks Ox. 🙏👍😊🎶
What's fascinating is that Entwistle and Moon were two of the most active, phrenetic rhythm players, and if you heard them in isolation you'd think they were part of a prog band. But somehow in the context of The Who's music, it's fluid and melodic rock & roll.
That's because of the artful songwriting and guitar work of Townsend. He knew his limits yet wrote songs that embraced the playing styles and techniques of his other band members. I give you..."Love Reign O'er Me" from "Quadrophenia". czcams.com/video/nOx31OiqV8w/video.html
Well stated. The fact that they blended it so well to almost simplify it as a melodic listening piece speaks volumes of their musicianship. I play drums and Keith Moon might sound easy to replicate at times and very difficult other times.....if you sit down at a drum kit and try to serve a song by The Who as well as Keith did both rythmically and melodically, you'll be in for a disappointment of yourself.
Townshend was also hyperactive in much of his strumming and cross picking! The whole band was just a steel reinforced concrete wall of rhythm's and notes on wheels coming at you at 600MpH!!🤪
Pete's songwriting, outside the box guitar style and Roger with an incredible voice able to see, feel, touch, and heal us all thru his lyrics made them what they are and were...four human beings that touched our very souls "Yearning To Be FREE".
@@TrumpIsGoingToPrison For someone promoting Trump For Prison (I more than agree), you sure are otherwise on the delusional side with the "Spiritual", "Healing", nonsense, and the "Yearning to be free" (Your mere personal attribution) fluff! Nothing the Who does/did was magical, just very effective, and all from plain old humans with some skill and understanding of what they wanted to convey, and a thing they made together that took on some unique form, for their combining each of their own input to form a whole, as do most musicians, craftsmen, creators of arts... even scientists in the pursuit of progress. IOW: Just plain old human behavior, and of the better, more comfortable free side of it, that just so happened to become something that stands out above much of similar nature for having unique characters at unique intensities.
Face it dude: They are all just a bunch of freaking freaks, but of the most desirable kind possible!😜🥳🥳🥳
He wasn’t called Thunderfingers for nothing, his playing was absolutely insane and it’s no doubt he changed how people played bass in the 1960s/70s because nobody else was playing stuff like that as well as going on to inspire countless rock and metal bassists (including myself since he’s one of my absolute favourite players and I also got a lot of stuff from him), not to mention being the first person to use metal growling in a song (chorus of “Boris the Spider”) so he definitely deserves his title of one of the absolute GOATs of bassists. RIP John
I agree in totality, except for one thing: his playing was not "insane". In my personal opinion (as a bass player myself) he was the MOST sane, in the sense that he kept his head and did his job while everyone around him was going insane. But yeah.....he was amazing!
I was a fan of Entwistle ever since he bluntly stated that the beatles made better records than us, but we blew them off the stage every night. A real musician knows where talent is on full display - live stage, not a studio where it can be played over and over dubbed into something it's not.
What's the point in trying to oppose these two bands? Pretending that the Beatles had no "real talent" is pathetic (and I'm not even a Beatles' fan).
Funny enough,many Led Zep fans feel as though the Who were the poor man's Led Zep wannabes..not all , but hey, Who's to argue against that?!
The Beatles Spent years playing clubs in Germany, Spent years playing clubs in Germany, often 6 nights a week, 2 or 3Spent years playing clubs in Germany, often 6 nights a week, 2 or 3 shows a day. They were an accomplished live band.
@@216trixie Paul McCartney did great live..no worries.
I became a bass player because of John. While in high school in the 70’s, a friend played the record Live at Leads for me. When I heard the bass, I thought that’s for me. Immediately started taking lessons, but I always found time to learn all the songs on Live at Leads, and eventually could play the entire album non stop.
Johns style and sound was the biggest musical inspiration of my life.
Ahh. We share similar stories. At the time Entwistle was not my biggest influence. It was more along the lines of the players in Chicago and BS&T, Jack Bruce and Stanley Clarke et al; BUT, once I got seriously into playing with hard rock bands I realized how much Entwistle influenced my playing and my attention to TONE. I can play fast and jazzy with best of them, but still love doing the job 'Entwistle' style.
John Entwistle, John Paul Jones & Geezer Butler are the Holy Trinity of bass guitar. The OX takes it to a whole other level. So precise.
And Jack Bruce.
And Geddy Lee!
And Chris Squire
And Jaco Pastorius
And Anthony Jackson
And
p.s. How I really hate these comparisons.....
Geddy Lee of Rush and Flea of RHCP are superior bass guitar players.
‘John changed the bass’ Pete Townshend. Nuff sed
I live for the rare moment when you have a bass player that not only do you want to actually hear in the mix, but that you want to crank it up.
Imagine being so good that you are Geddy Lee's favorite bassist 😮😮😮😮😮😮
I grew up an absolute Entwistle freak but try as I may, I couldn't get 1/10th the sound he could. And he did make it look so easy. I saw The Who in the 70s and I was about 10 rows back, standing directly in front of the Ox. They were in the middle of some tune (it was a while ago so memories fade) and he was just moving along at a leisurely pace. Then he looked off to the side at someone off-stage, kind of chuckled and grinned, and ran off this riff that was unhuman. I mean, hands aren't supposed to function like that. He gave a slight nod to whoever it was he was having this back and forth with and then returned to playing like a mortal. When I was a kid I wore Quadrophenia down to a blank disc (okay, I exaggerate, but not by much). The rhythm section alone is enough to land that album in the top-10 all-time greatest recordings.
Keith and John, what a pair. I'm a Beatlemaniac, and I still like some Stones stuff, though not as much as when I was young. The Animals and The Kinks were up there for me as well but The Who was always #2 for me behind the Beatles when it came to British bands. Pound-for-pound their lineup can't be beat. I'm blessed I got to see them in their prime. I think that flash-pod that went off prior to Won't Get Fooled Again, the one so close to me I felt the heat, may have done some level of level of damage to my eyes and my ears did ring for a bit, but what a show. RIP Ox. Too bad you couldn't handle your vices the way you could that bass. As the man said early on in the video, he was the best, hands down.
Quadrophenia is my favorite album of all time followed by the Beatles White album
What amazes me about Entwistle is he was at his best as a bass guitarist up to the day he passed away. He got better and better as he aged. Never coasted and said I’m good enough now, I’ll just go on cruise control.
John used to bi-amp his bases. Take a look at the plug on the isolated film. He split the bass between upper and lower strings, then ran them through different amps/effects. The E & A strings would have less distortion and high end, while D & G had loads of effects/distortion and the treble was through the roof. This allowed him to thunder low and play six-string high. Straight bass did not allow him to do enough. The only other person I ever heard do this was Chris Squire of YES.
I learned bass by watching videos of John and his solo band after I got bored of guitar. I’m able to play a decent amount of some of his solos, I can’t pluck as fast going in one direction but instead using the “up up down down” technique. I’ll never be able to play the way John did, but I’ve gotten many compliments on my playing and I owe it all to John and those videos of him. Changed my adolescence forever, rip legend.
"John changed the bass" ~ Pete Townshend 🫡
I miss John so much I can't go & see The Who again without him. John stood at the back so he could keep turning his bass back up after Roger told him to turn it down. They say he transferred his trumpet playing fingers onto his bass. No other bass player can be compared John he was unique. The Who would not of been The Who without John on lead bass. When It Thunders Think Of John
I saw him live a number of times. He's so great and his songs are also formidable. Success Story, Dangerous, The Quiet One
Greetings from Canada. Man, I loved that... I always knew he was terrific, but thank you for so much detail. No wonder he was The Ox who pulled the cart. Peace, love and bellbottoms.
Seen the Who one time only in 82, to this day I've never seen another bassist in the same area code as the Ox....
The song Sister Disco on the Who’s last album Who Are You is a master class on musicianship.
Entwistle plays chords, leads and mimics the synthesizer and is all over the place from the opening bars yet is invisible, complimentary and totally serves the song❤
I love "can you see the real me" off quadrophenia, just between the songs "am the sea", his bass rules right here
every member of the who was the lead in their glory days.its why there music was so explosive.
Saw John 4 times with The Who and once when he toured solo. All 5 show where great
I was coming of age when I discovered my love of the who, as a drummer, I was of course blown away be the unique sound of Keith Moon but was equally thrilled with the style and talent of John on base and all for lads were all playing lead, you had a lead drummer, lead bass, lead guitar and a great lead signer with Pete also a lead singer, they were leading the way to a master stage shows as well as studio recordings better than anyone with Tommy, the first rock opera, the first of two, then later Queen got in on that concept but the Who were leaders of the rock back than, Zeppelin came along and took first place in popularity, and some blues feel, but the Who wrote and played the highest quality music at that time. Most just heard there hits on the radio, or listened to Tommy, but man, that's when being in a band really meant something special. Then accounts and lawyers started running and owning but business and it went to visuals as a priority over music and shows, then Rap came out int the 90's, was forced on the public with only three companies owning all the radio out lest and creativity of music went straight to hell. For a few years, country music was better than the crap on pop radio, then Brittney and boy bands and stamped out drum machines and auto tune and click tracks ripped the soul out of music, no more rock, mo more blues, just computerized digital copy of what worked last week. Eventually, real humans will be back making music for humans the only problem is, kids don't play instruments anymore, the copy and paste old music instead and that is so sad. Yes, I'm old, but I'm glad I lived when music lived, I was born at a most perfect time in America.
Sitting front row at an Eagles concert for 6 bucks general admission as well as 100 or more other shows of my music heroes, I saw them all, when it was all about the sound the songs and the memories. Saw the Who in 76 in Miami, first laser show for me, dead center, 40ft. from the stage, they were great. Music with high end audio gear will always be my favorite art to consume and enjoy. All my neighbors listen to Steely Dan, weather they want to or not. Stanly Clark,, John Mcvie, Bootsy Collins are other favorites, too may to mention but John Entwistle will always hold the top spot for my list. He was not just the bottom end for the songs, he often was the most dominant driving force of the songs and most people have no clue that's what making the song sound so good, and that's the fist thing about playing bass and drums, not being noticed or standing out, just a necessary feel to the song, the Who did things very differently with Kieth and John, but it worked for them and us, perfectly.
Tldr
I loved his songs too. They often stood in contrast to Pete Townsend's. Just look at My Wife, Boris the Spider or The Quiet One. He had this great sense of humor.
It's amazing the sound they got with him, Pete and Keith and then Roger on top with his impassioned screams. They were a force to be reckoned with and always worth a great listen.
You're right...he makes it looks so easy. Great vid....✌️🤟❤️
Trick Of The Light
905
A true bass legend and one of the pioneers in bass sound as well as technique and vision of the electric bass. All respect and may his soul rest in peace.
I sure miss John Entwistle and I am so glad I got to see him play !
John was the best. I saw him twice with the WHO, but I also saw him play a solo gig at Shank hall in Milwaukee back in ‘96. It was far and away the loudest show I have ever experienced. Amazing.
I loved his sound !!... Who's Next, greatest bass ever , off the charts .
There are Heroes and then there are Legends. Heroes Get Remembered, but Legends Never Die. John is, was, and will FOREVER be...A LEGEND. We shall NOT see or hear his like again.
Thanks so much for this terrific salute to John.
So very well told and illustrated, he was to so many the very best bass guitarist and sadly taken from us and rock, far too soon. RIP John.
Great video dude! I’m a huge fan of Entwistle and his work but I have to say that, despite all the mind boggling innovations he made with his basses and effects over the years, in my opinion his greatest ever tone was captured on Live at Leeds when he was simply playing his Frankenstein P bass into a wall of cranked Hiwatt stacks. Sometimes the old ways are the best!
I totally agree.
Another unrated bass player from the earlier days of rock and southern rock was Berry Oakley of the Allman Brothers Band. I'd love to see an in depth video on Berry Oakley. I have a video coming out by the summer on the Allman Brothers Band.
And that's why they call him The Ox. His tone was impeccable. My favorite bass guitarist of all time. No one played like him before, nor after.
Exactly! He transformed HIS bass guitar playing; just like Jim Hendrix transformed HIS electric guitar playing. When they both died they took their 'transformation' with them.
The bass line that the Ox laid down in the Real Me is still the sickest one I've ever heard. I began to play the bass a few years ago because there was one in the home, as both of my sons and I play a variety of instruments. I used 3 fingers simply because I didn't know any better. It works very well for me. I can't, nor will I ever attempt to, play the Real Me.
I think I remember an interview where Townsend said he (Townsend) was a rhythm guitar player and Entwistle played lead.
He used harmonics on stage in a way that no one else could begin to play. Made a stadium resonate like Tesla on bass. When he passed, Pete said the sound became hollow, no matter how great the bassist might be.
Two things made The Who great and different than all the bands back then was the writing of Pete and everyone in the band thought they were the lead instrument.
Haha lead vocals, lead guitar, lead bass and lead drums.. definition of The Who
THUNDERFINGERS! RIGHT ON BROTHER!!
LIVE AT LEEDS 💪👍👊😁
He was simply the best of bass....
Well done, a great retrospective for one of my favourite ever bass players. I met him in London at a Bass Class - astonishing technique, easily the loudest Bass guitarist on Earth too. And what was especially nice was he was very willing to talk to young bassplayers and a really lovely guy - very easy to talk to and a great sense of humour.
There is a pretty cool solo he does in "5:15" during the 2002 concert at Royal Albert Hall. The vid used to be on YOuTube, but I haven't checked lately.
Don’t forget Jack Bruce a brilliant bass player.
John Entwistle was my inspiration for many years, along with Chris Squire and Geddy Lee. I'm quite surprised how my style of playing is influenced by John so many years after his death. The absolute master of rock bass in my opinion!
This man should be in the Guinness Book of World Records a Bass androck icon
my favourite bass player of all time. He was lead and rhythm for the Who. As soon as he died, you could hear the huge gap in the sound that no one else really filled. Early days he mostly played slab bodied Precisions.
His bass line on Eminence Front is excellent.
When Lemmy says you're the best, dude, you're the f****** best. And, Lemmy was damn good!
John was the only trained musician on the group. Included on French horn also in some of the songs.
Saw John many times and his playing gave me chills, he was the greatest.
I’m a huge Who and Entwistle fan. Geddy Lee was how I was convinced to play bass in high school, but they have some similarities.
I understand his bass collection was sizeable enough to fill a warehouse. He and Chris Squire set the bar for prog bass playing.
Andrew It is so refreshing to see a YT'er that doesn't treat this subject like you just discovered John just yesterday...I have to admit, you know your rock!
Pete Townsend said that the Who was a band with a lead singer, a lead drummer, and a lead bassist. Pete just played guitar.
I don't know about this. Chris Squire's bass playing was so unique and powerful, in many Yes songs, Squire's bass was almost the lead instrument.
Andrew, when you feel like listen to a pretty decent bass guitarist, check this album "Cei ce ne-au dat nume". It's by a Romanian band back in the late 60s.
The bass player: Josef Kappl
Cheers,
Liviu.
I saw him with Pete, Roger and Zac Starkey.
I've been a Who fan for decades. Personally I preferred them over most British bands, Deep Purple close second. Band members with true talent.
I got reasonably close to his 80s live tone in an amp sim and i cannot begin to explain the unholy joy it gives me to just play an open e with that amount of fizz on the tone. A giant of a player and influence
Absolutely the best bass player. Boris the Spider is a classic.
I studied at a music school and once we covered My Generation. Three bass players who traded solos, very fun
He played bass like it was a lead. Keith Moon was amazing drummer who also would get ahead of Pete... Three amazing musicians trying to show each other who's in charge.
There's Entwhistle, Squire, and everybody else. Dave Holland is also worth checking out (on the jazz side). There's a DVD of the Miles Davis group from a 1969 European tour and what Holland does on an upright is worthy of The Ox.
Absolutely my favorite bassist , and has been since I first heard him….. lost him too soon
He was a lead bass player and he was the reason Round wound strings got made . Carol Kaye a master , Entwistle blew my mind .
Thank for your tribute to the OX! And loving his talent! He was one of kind! RIP OX!
Entwistle is the #2 electric bass player in my personal Top 5. Live and in studio he laid down the low end with a musical "moving" bass line. Never showing off for the sake of it, or fighting with the drum line. I'm a bass player of 35 years and always use D'Addario round-wound mediums.Someone told me once that my playing reminded them of Entwistle. 'Nuff said.
The Beatles and Paul McCartney were my first influences on bass,followed very close by the Who and John Entwistle. I have proudly been referred to as the Ox at some our live gigs.
Great Vid!
Thank you.
You should've mentioned his live rig, "Little Manhattan". Tri-amped.
Improvisation almost all the time. The greatest rock lead bass.
I just got my bass guitar a few weeks ago. I'm having fun and watching all kinds of videos. My tenor guitar has Entwistle pick-ups on it. Maybe someday I'll get a bari guitar. I heard they are fun to play.
Saw him around 20 times live with the Who. Jaw dropping. No one else can live up to him. I tried… nowhere near!
Hey, Santa! Please, puh-leeZ get me the buzzard bass that Ox played!!!
I LOVE his Too Late the Hero album, alongside Joe Walsh and Joe Vitale!
Thank you 🦊
My favorite Entwistle bass is the famed Frankenstein. For years this bass had me confused as I thought I was looking at a ‘59 P with three tone burst and maple neck. These basses had a 10-hole anodized aluminum guard and it was the 13-hole green guard that gave away that this was not a ‘59. Then I noticed the absence of the walnut skunk stripe on back of this neck. Years later found out that this was a maple capped neck from a ‘66 British Export Hybrid slab-bodied Precision. He had three of these CBS anomaly basses (which eventually morphed into the Telecaster Bass by 1968) and one was smashed up but its neck salvaged. He simply mounted it onto a mid sixties Sunburst Precision body and with a mint green nitrate guard. Frankie was then complete! I’ve built a tribute to this bass out of American Vintage and Custom Shop parts…and it’s stunning! John had the body refinished to Fiesta Red sometime in the eighties - and eventually auctioned off after he passed. I absolutely love this guy and still miss him. PS: John can be seen using this gorgeous bass in the Stones’ R&R Circus video on A Quick One While He’s Away. Fantastic medley written by Pete! They were just the BEST!
He liked Duane Eddy , 50s rocker .
Check out the song " Rebel Rouser".
funny to find out that he was a direct accomplice with many of Keith Moon’s gags, but did so quietly and remained undetected. this led to Moon getting the full wrath of Roger’s fury, who was always punished equally for Moon’s practical jokes, even though he had nothing to do with them.
i never realized how good he was.
Thanks for sharing!!! I regret that I never got to see him in person. Was about to one year when he was playing with Christopher Cross at the Taste of Chicago, but I was shamed into choosing band rehearsal instead. I've always regretted that, especially because the band broke up just a few months later.
Monster, is the Thunderfingers.
The Mount Rushmore of bass would be...
Entwhistle, Lee, Squire, Jones...
Wonder if he ever experimented with a six-string bass? Jack Bruce certainly played one with the Graham Bond Organisation (he does a solo on it during Big Boss Man, in their Live At Klook's Kleek recording). And a few years before, pioneering electric bassist Jet Harris had used one for a while as his main instrument. Intriguing to think what The Ox might have conjured out of it - but I guess four strings were more than enough for him.
Bingo!! Well said!!!
As a bass guitar player, I love videos like this. Could you also make a similar video about Rinus Gerritsen from the Golden Earring? this bassist is the absolute number 1 bassist in the Netherlands. This man deserves the attention like you do with John in this video.
John and Rinus have also spent a lot of time together in the past during their tours abroad
John was one of a kind.
RIP
😎😎🙏🙏
I know in this piece was mainly three fingers but when he was at the Bridge pickup he used all four fingers may be thumb too. At his own song all five plus tapping.
Entwhisle…….genius 😊
The Ox cam chokes me up everytime.
Go and listen to Baba O’Riley from the Concert for New York in 2001. He absolutely dominated that bass riff on the main chords and added a ton of melodic notes in between. Add the context of the show with a bunch of traumatized first responders who grew up on The Who chanting “TEENAGE WASTELAND” and you had one hell of a powerful moment!
I love the Who and consider them one of the truly great rock bands of all time. It's hard to say who transformed the bass in rock without mentioning
Chris Squire of Yes, and Tony Levin with Peter Gabriel. Their sound, style, and techniques were legendary.
I would love to have one of those Sunn Coliseum heads!
I started bass because of the OX. Thankx for this video. One like and share of course.
Nice video. I own one of JE bases procured from the Sothebys auction back in 2003.. Wondering if you might if you might have some information. This baby is quite nice. A 66 fender precision refin., L80859. Do you have pictures of this pre refin? Just wondering.
Tom
He also had several excellent solo albums, like Smash Your Head against the Wall and Whistle Rhymes....check 'em out if you love the Ox!
John was unappreciated Bass player. John in my opinion was in the top 5 Bass player's in rock & roll. But hey , that's my opinion and I'm sticking too it. Love ❤️ The Who always have always will. Hey Who , still listening brothers ❤😊
Cool.