John Entwistle!

[moogboy]

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i use the 2399 set myself, it is cheaper for me since i order from a dutch site, wich is in EU, and these strings are made in Germany

Hipshot X-tenders arent hard to install, they are just regular tuners with "something extra", as you know, John used x-tenders to, i think thats the coolest part of his Live at R.A.H. Solo

that part of R.A.H was really cool on the video. they duct taped a camera on to one of Johns Buzzards and took those really cool shots of the neck. it was that and the 'Wah' part where John did the thing with the Mid control that made me really get into bass and bass solos.

 

[moogboy]

My thoughts exactly. Used, obviously used... he must have been hurting for dinero in those days.

unfortunately, John did have a lot of money problems after the Who split and did their own thing. i bet that John only got 10% of the money that he made at each venue. so he probably didnt realize that the strings were being sold that expensive.

 

[moogboy]

Yes, I remember (thanks) they were called Maximas back then... that's correct. I've looked around and can't find a 5 string set. The Maximas were the same story, just made for 4 string basses. Honestly, my LaBellas work fine and I'm not spending $20 A STRING for any bass of mine.

if Maxima did a 5-string set, the metal players would swear by 'em. the fact that they tune down so much would make them the perfect candidates.

 

[Thunder_Fingers]

Well, they are pretty heavy feeling strings. But im not sure if im gonna make the hipshot take it to B, its just so i can throw it in the face of people who say "you have a wider range with 5ers" I think D is the most practical place for me to have it. maby C.

Oh, its not Maxima anymore, its Optima
And i think John got a good deal of the strings for free, after all he was a endorseer, but i guess he would have had to pay for some of them, as often as he changed strings..

 

[Thunder_Fingers]

unfortunately, John did have a lot of money problems after the Who split and did their own thing. i bet that John only got 10% of the money that he made at each venue. so he probably didnt realize that the strings were being sold that expensive.

Another Townshend Quote:
"Hey! John is out of money, we must go on a tour"

again from "a ox's tale"

 

[moogboy]

Well, they are pretty heavy feeling strings. But im not sure if im gonna make the hipshot take it to B, its just so i can throw it in the face of people who say "you have a wider range with 5ers" I think D is the most practical place for me to have it. maby C.

Oh, its not Maxima anymore, its Optima
And i think John got a good deal of the strings for free, after all he was a endorseer, but i guess he would have had to pay for some of them, as often as he changed strings..

the people who say that 5s have more range are just saying that. they know that you can only do so much with 5 extra notes.
i think that someone showed him the strings and he found out how good they were, and he contacted the company and then became an endorsee.

 

[moogboy]

Another Townshend Quote:
"Hey! John is out of money, we must go on a tour"

again from "a ox's tale"

heres a Rog:
our main ambition right now is to get out on the road with The 'Orrible 'Oo again.

that was from The Kids Are Alright.

 

[Thunder_Fingers]

the people who say that 5s have more range are just saying that. they know that you can only do so much with 5 extra notes.
i think that someone showed him the strings and he found out how good they were, and he contacted the company and then became an endorsee.

No, they actually sent him a set to try out, he strucked a low B or C while tuning up, and was sold.

 

[moogboy]

No, they actually sent him a set to try out, he strucked a low B or C while tuning up, and was sold.

really? cool, i havent been on Whotabs in a long time. i know that The Who had a lot of songs in C and D, so John tuned down for those songs and probably couldnt stand the flopping about since you couldnt get a good hit on a low C or D. then, our buddies at Maxima/Optima sent him a string set, and voila! John could detune!

 

[Thunder_Fingers]

I still wonder why he went back to Rotosound though..

 

[moogboy]

I still wonder why he went back to Rotosound though..

he probably decided to go back to the old sound, but that is not likely. maybe the Gold strings were blinding him?

 

[RAM]

The story I heard (or read...I don't remember the source) was that he never paid for his strings...not once. When Maxima started having financial difficulties they told John he'd have to start paying for his strings. Rotosound was all too happy to have him back and offered him free strings, which is why he switched.

 

[moogboy]

The story I heard (or read...I don't remember the source) was that he never paid for his strings...not once. When Maxima started having financial difficulties they told John he'd have to start paying for his strings. Rotosound was all too happy to have him back and offered him free strings, which is why he switched.

he paid for his strings in the early days. that does hold weight though, that he didnt want to pay for his strings.

 

[sgtbass]

Sorry I'm late to the tribute party.

I never did see John play live, as he passed away on the tour where I was going to see The Who for the first time.

I felt a great, indescribable loss at this news, which I had felt eight months prior when George Harrison passed away. Both were--and remain--musical heroes to me. They contributed to the soundtrack of my teenage life, when I first heard their music, and continue to do so today.

I had lost interest in music during my latter college years and in my drive to enter the "real world." As a result, I missed a lot of music I had been interested in--including John's Thunderfingers anthology. As a Who fan, I promised myself I'd listen to John's solo work someday...

I'm sorry that it took John's passing to remind me of what I'd missed. Smash Your Head Against the Wall is a phenomenal album and I only wished I'd discovered it and his other solo work earlier rather than let myself get sidetracked by life.

As a writer, The Who's music--especially the concept of the "rock opera"--always intrigued me because of the blending of rock music and story. And while Pete Townshend was the brainchild behind the stories of Tommy and Quadrophenia, John's contributions cannot be overlooked. With "Cousin Kevin" and "Uncle Ernie," John didn't just create songs, he created characters. This songwriting trait of his appears throughout his career in "Boris the Spider," "Whiskey Man," "Silas Stingy," "I've Been Away," "My Wife," "905," "Trick of the Light," "My Size," "You're Mine," "Ted End," "Big Black Cadillac," and "Bogeyman."

His brass playing and arranging enriched Tommy and Quadrophenia as well. But it was his bass playing on "The Real Me" that awed me and attuned my ears to the bass guitar in a way no song had done previously.

So with John's passing, and the melancholy that accompanied it, I discovered that I was inspired to revisit a lost dream of mine: to learn how to play music. After a few bumps in the road with a couple of less-than-dedicated teachers, I am now learning from an instructor who enjoys finding the potential in his students.

I have no delusions about my ever becoming a great bassist--I am in my thirties and have a full-time job. But I do enjoy learning music and hope to be able to competently play many of John's songs. John's music inspires me as a writer as well as a bass student--not to emulate him, but to find my own voice on the instrument just as he did.

One final thing to share on this already long-winded tribute. In December of 2002, a homeless black kitten made my acquaintance by jumping into my car, curling up on the seat and purring before I knew what was happening. After a couple of weeks of getting to know the "black and hairy, very small" critter with gangly limbs and tail, I named him Spider in honor of John's signature song ("Boris" didn't really suit him...). Spider has since lived up to his name by swatting a fly out of air, killing it in one stroke...

Thank you for reading.

 

[Dr. Eagle]

Another Townshend Quote:
"Hey! John is out of money, we must go on a tour"

again from "a ox's tale"

A rough quote from John at his show here in the Sacramento area...

"Here is a song from when I was a success... well a financial success anyway... My Wife".

The venue where I saw him is a small bar (remember the one that burned down in Rhode Island and killed all those people when Great White played there? Its just about the same size and shape) that might be able to fit in a few hundred people.

He actually made the arrangement only a few weeks before hitting town and it was a "cold call" from an agent that got him the gig. I think I remember the club owner saying he wanted to be paid $6,000. Sounds like good money until you start thinking about the entourage he had and the expense of driving a large group like that across the country.

 

[Dr. Eagle]

again from "a ox's tale"

Isn't that DVD the shiznit????????

I really like it.

 

[Thunder_Fingers]

Its a very nice DVD, i just wish it had more on his playing and how he developed that, but i have the "Master Class" DVD, thoughit doesent explain much that either..

I realy like his "My Wife" quote from R.A.H.
"I Wish i got a few thousands quid everytime i anounced this!... Oh i have! My wife!"

sgtbass:
I think, no mather that it was townshend who wrote quadrophenia, Johns bass lines on that album stands almost as high as the songs on that album, and IMO, its the best album ever made.
John have actually made me want to learn to play Horn or trumpet or a brass instrument of somekind.

 

[moogboy]

Sorry I'm late to the tribute party.

I never did see John play live, as he passed away on the tour where I was going to see The Who for the first time.

I felt a great, indescribable loss at this news, which I had felt eight months prior when George Harrison passed away. Both were--and remain--musical heroes to me. They contributed to the soundtrack of my teenage life, when I first heard their music, and continue to do so today.

I had lost interest in music during my latter college years and in my drive to enter the "real world." As a result, I missed a lot of music I had been interested in--including John's Thunderfingers anthology. As a Who fan, I promised myself I'd listen to John's solo work someday...

I'm sorry that it took John's passing to remind me of what I'd missed. Smash Your Head Against the Wall is a phenomenal album and I only wished I'd discovered it and his other solo work earlier rather than let myself get sidetracked by life.

As a writer, The Who's music--especially the concept of the "rock opera"--always intrigued me because of the blending of rock music and story. And while Pete Townshend was the brainchild behind the stories of Tommy and Quadrophenia, John's contributions cannot be overlooked. With "Cousin Kevin" and "Uncle Ernie," John didn't just create songs, he created characters. This songwriting trait of his appears throughout his career in "Boris the Spider," "Whiskey Man," "Silas Stingy," "I've Been Away," "My Wife," "905," "Trick of the Light," "My Size," "You're Mine," "Ted End," "Big Black Cadillac," and "Bogeyman."

His brass playing and arranging enriched Tommy and Quadrophenia as well. But it was his bass playing on "The Real Me" that awed me and attuned my ears to the bass guitar in a way no song had done previously.

So with John's passing, and the melancholy that accompanied it, I discovered that I was inspired to revisit a lost dream of mine: to learn how to play music. After a few bumps in the road with a couple of less-than-dedicated teachers, I am now learning from an instructor who enjoys finding the potential in his students.

I have no delusions about my ever becoming a great bassist--I am in my thirties and have a full-time job. But I do enjoy learning music and hope to be able to competently play many of John's songs. John's music inspires me as a writer as well as a bass student--not to emulate him, but to find my own voice on the instrument just as he did.

One final thing to share on this already long-winded tribute. In December of 2002, a homeless black kitten made my acquaintance by jumping into my car, curling up on the seat and purring before I knew what was happening. After a couple of weeks of getting to know the "black and hairy, very small" critter with gangly limbs and tail, I named him Spider in honor of John's signature song ("Boris" didn't really suit him...). Spider has since lived up to his name by swatting a fly out of air, killing it in one stroke...

Thank you for reading.

that was beautiful. that cat is so cool, i like how he keeps his namesake. i feel so bad for you not being able to see John live. i have never seen John play in person, and i wont ever be able to. i am working on several bass-related dreams, one of them being to learn Wont Get Fooled Again and The Real Me. the others involve different artists and all of them have some of Johns style show through in some way.

 

[moogboy]

A rough quote from John at his show here in the Sacramento area...

"Here is a song from when I was a success... well a financial success anyway... My Wife".

The venue where I saw him is a small bar (remember the one that burned down in Rhode Island and killed all those people when Great White played there? Its just about the same size and shape) that might be able to fit in a few hundred people.

He actually made the arrangement only a few weeks before hitting town and it was a "cold call" from an agent that got him the gig. I think I remember the club owner saying he wanted to be paid $6,000. Sounds like good money until you start thinking about the entourage he had and the expense of driving a large group like that across the country.

those are the kind of gigs that i want to be able to do. its nice because you get to really and truly interact with your audience.

 

[moogboy]

Isn't that DVD the shiznit????????

I really like it.

that dvd IS awesome. i loved hearing the story of that guy sitting on one of Johns Sunn amps and then during Wont Get Fooled Again, he flew off the amps backwards after the whole band started going all out during Rogers scream.