What's so special about John Entwistle?

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Just because you don't use rounds doesn't mean that universally Entwistle didn't revolutionize bass strings.....Doh!. I guess if you only do walking type bass lines like the over hyped James Jamerson and Carole Kaye then obviously Entwistle would not influence you. But the majority would class Entwistle as one of the greatest Bass Guitarist and innovators there has ever been.

Come on ...
It's useless to talk to me about JE .. my position is the same as of the OP .. to me JE is not a very exciting bass-player/musician; hence, I can't understand why he has so many fans ..
Concerning Mr. Jamerson and Ms. Kaye, I don't believe that what they usually recorded could be classified as walking bass lines but I'll try to gather more information about this ...

 

[Lowendtech]

I guess if you only do walking type bass lines like the over hyped James Jamerson and Carole Kaye

Oh boy. There's only several hundred hit songs attributed to each of them.

This thread has turned.

 

[Briton]

Come on ...
It's useless to talk to me about JE .. my position is the same as of the OP .. to me JE is not a very exciting bass-player/musician; hence, I can't understand why he has so many fans ..
Concerning Mr. Jamerson and Ms. Kaye, I don't believe that what they usually recorded could be classified as walking bass lines but I'll try to gather more information about this ...

So if John did not influence you why do you keep coming back to this thread to troll!

 

[Briton]

Oh boy. There's only several hundred hit songs attributed to each of them.

This thread has turned.

A hit song doesn't automatically mean that it has a great bass line.

 

[Lowendtech]

A hit song doesn't automatically mean that it has a great bass line.

It typically means it has the right bass line.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

So if John did not influence you why do you keep coming back to this thread to troll!

I'm not trolling, I'm simply not a fan .. just a musician ..

 

[Rob Martinez]

Mariah does, in fact, play guitar.

Cool! Show a video or a song where she plays guitar!!

Right on!

 

[Rnr..........4]

Here's a better question. What's so special about slap bass?

Entwistle is the man.

Silly thread title question.

 

[alembicguy]

He was just a man who was a bass player, what were you expecting?

 

[Gwyn ap Nudd]

Come on ...
It's useless to talk to me about JE .. my position is the same as of the OP .. to me JE is not a very exciting bass-player/musician; hence, I can't understand why he has so many fans ..
Concerning Mr. Jamerson and Ms. Kaye, I don't believe that what they usually recorded could be classified as walking bass lines but I'll try to gather more information about this ...

Saying Entwistle is not a very exciting bass player/musician is like saying Andres Segovia was a great rhythm guitarist.

 

[MichelD]

Super talented guy with a magic ear.

Townsend in one interview said he could never defy Entwistle. He could show him a complex musical passage once and Entwistle could repeat it immediately.

Townsend says the opposite was definitely not true.

 

[DJ Bebop]

What's so special about John Entwistle?

 

[lfmn16]

If your ears can't hear it, words can't explain it.

 

[NZBassman]

Super talented guy with a magic ear.

Townsend in one interview said he could never defy Entwistle. He could show him a complex musical passage once and Entwistle could repeat it immediately.

Townsend says the opposite was definitely not true.

Watched an interview with Entwistle once and he said he had a 'sixth' sense and could just feel where Pete was going and what he was playing
He sat in with Townsend's band once as Townsend was playing a new song..... the rest of Townsend's band wondered why Entwistle had already been shown the arrangement for the song

 

[jd56hawk]

I'm not the biggest rock fan out there, but I can see why people like John Paul Jones, John Deacon, Geezer Butler and the likes.

I can even see why people like Cliff Burton, although I think he's seriously overrated.

But I don't understand why John Entwistle is so highly regarded here on TalkBass and in the media. I listened to The Who's top songs on Spotify and watched a few videos on YouTube. Sure, he has that sort of tapping technique and a few fills on "My Generation," but is that it? I guess he did come before Jones et al., making him a pioneer?

I'm being serious here. I'm not trolling. What am I missing?

Shouldn't this be in the "Humor" section?
Seriously!

 

[dougjwray]

Maybe the reason some people don't "get" Entwistle is that he wasn't a conventional bassist, the same that Moon wasn't a conventional drummer. The styles of both really only worked in the Who... Which is a beautiful thing, if you like your music to be a bit different!

 

[buldog5151bass]

Just because you don't use rounds doesn't mean that universally Entwistle didn't revolutionize bass strings.....Doh!. I guess if you only do walking type bass lines like the over hyped James Jamerson and Carole Kaye then obviously Entwistle would not influence you. But the majority would class Entwistle as one of the greatest Bass Guitarist and innovators there has ever been.

If you think Jamerson and Kate only played walking bass lines, you haven't listened to a lot of their work.

 

[Rnr..........4]

Ok, not all slap is bad *ZZ Top, Thug* cough.

 

[5StringBlues]

Ok, not all slap is bad *ZZ Top, Thug* cough.

I've always wondered if that's actually Dusty. No reason for it not to be , but I've wondered.

 

[NoiseNinja]

And a more recent clip from 2020 where he takes a bass solo (not the best sound quality, but a pretty neat solo):


Not really a The Who fan either, but got to give credit where credit is due, and John Entwistle had serious chops and a fairly unique playing style, sort of slapping the strings with the tip of his fingers.