Entwistle...Help me understand the appeal

[FrednBass]

That doesn't sound much like a bass at all, even a very trebly one.

EDIT: 2 seconds later, hear a second section, I stand corrected.

it is the bass.

 

[gnjpowell]

The (or one of the) inventor of Lead Bass. Crank the treble on the bass and the amp(s) up full. Use guitar amps for bass. All to help to cut through the mix. Also technique, harmonics, finger string-tapping, a true MASTER in every sense of the word. Check out his Bass Master Class DVD - excellent stuff! Yes, Live at Leeds, too bad the recording quality is so poor at times on this...

 

[FrednBass]

Oh, i forgot! Listen to "substitue" studio version.
There's a funny story about that song:
"When it got to the solo, because we were recording and mixing it virtually live, I thought, yeah, this should be a bass solo, so I turned my volume up and they couldn’t mix me out, so it ended up as a bass solo." - J.E.

 

[sigmafloyd]

Oh, i forgot! Listen to "substitue" studio version.
There's a funny story about that song:
"When it got to the solo, because we were recording and mixing it virtually live, I thought, yeah, this should be a bass solo, so I turned my volume up and they couldn’t mix me out, so it ended up as a bass solo." - J.E.

That's awesome.

 

[LowNotes1]

I've been a huge Entwistle fan ever since I first heard Live at Leeds. I can understand those who think his tone was harsh, but from everything I've read it was intentional. He wanted his bass to sound like the guitar parts by the Duane Eddy types, low notes but twangy. Plus, he was always fighting a volume war with Townshend, and I guess he figured more treble was more helpful to that end than more bass.

His manual dexterity was certainly impressive, but what amazed me more was how he kept time, considering that Townshend was a little loose in that regard, and Moon was nuts. Entwistle seemed to know exactly how and when to compensate and fill when the rest of the band seemed out of control. He played bass, but depending on the situation he seemed able to play it like a drummer, lead guitarist, or rhythm guitarist if need be.

He's also tough to copy note-for-note, because he improvised a lot, and I think he took pride in that also, feeling that was the reason no one else played quite like him. Think about it - who else did play like him?

 

[gumbynotpokey]

It has been observed that Keith played piano on drums, and John played drums on bass. If you listen to this rhythm section play (listen to each, then to their combined total result) you will hear the truth in that observation. John kept the time, and broke it into its parts -- the job of the drummer. But he did it with incredible brilliance structurally and tonally. Keith could be Keith in a bass atmosphere like that. And vice-versa.

Pete has said, since John's passing, that he has realized by playing with others on bass that John played guitar on bass. What he said in essence is that John's playing was so arpeggiated and utterly complex that the mids were filled. This, Pete pointed out, gave him the freedom to barely play -- super strong power chords with tons of space between them, super piercing and sparse leads, etc. Pete could play what and how he played due to John's work and style on bass. Pete wasn't bogged down.

From a band standpoint, all of that is enough.

From a bass standpoint, listen to The Real Me with headphones on. First reply to the OP was on target for sure.

John was a trombone player. He often played a horn line on the bass -- a very developed approach (as contrasted with root/3rd/5th).

What made him so great, so important? He played bass with brilliant musicality. No one before him was doing any of that. No one since has done it quite like that either (all due respect to Jack, Jaco, Geddy and Chris).

 

[FrednBass]

I think that the most important thing to keep in mind, is that John didn't had any bass players to look up to. The instrument was barely 10 years old when he made up his mind for playing the bass. He "invented" the bass as we know today... sure, others were very important too, but he was the first to treat it like a lead instrument, not just the bottom end for the guitarist. Paul McCartney did something similar, but he wasn't going for bass development, but for the music: he always played melodic lines, many of them doing guitar licks or even doing things that a pianist would to with his left hand.
John is mighty awsome, that's for sure, and opened the eyes of many young bass players that were looking for that special thing.