The Who's Best Basslines (1965-1968) 

Fantastic as always! Your research and playing is impeccable and phenomenal! :)

The bass on the real me on the quodrophenia album is amazing

Where he went on live at Leeds is phenomenal... good work dude!

Entwistle got his edgy sound by turning up the treble levels on his amp.

That was fun, very well done. Always loved the way the Ox played, with his innovative, melodic lines and his chunky "full treble, full bass" sound. One of my top ones is on the live version f "A Quick One" from the Rolling Stones' Rock-N-Roll Circus, with some of his most amazing runs.

While not a bass line per se, the beautiful bass obligato just before the vocals start in “Getting In Tune” brings a tear to my eye every time. Who’s Next is my favorite album. Tommy #2.

He also did all the brass parts for the who

I was waiting for this episode. The Ox is not a mere mortal.

RIP Gone 16 yrs today...never forgotten.. The world's best GREATEST coolest most accomplished lead bass player EVER.. Love you & miss you John E ... ..

Thunder fingers. RIP. True gentleman 👍🇬🇧🏆🔊🎼 THE WHO for ever.

As a livelong Who fan since I was a young teen and having watched almost everything on the Net about The Who and especially John Entwhistle you've absolutely set a new standard for commentary about SOME of The Who / John's bass work. There are lots of bands that are amazing and made contributions to bass guitar but on a timeline Entwhistle stands above all as an innovator, composer and bass guitarist. A man who 'changed the fuckin' instrument' for all that came after him according to Townsend. I really enjoyed how you captured not only John's sound but you worked hard to play like he played finger, pick and those melodic explanations of John's catalog and got it into a video that could have been an hour long and not been borning. Thank you.

What a treat to find this! He is one of my favorite bass players and one of the reasons why I play like I do

First time watching. Really impressed. Merci.

My 1st time to watch one of your videos. I was browsing on RU-vid when I stumbled across this particular video. The title 'The Who's best Basslines 1965-1968' immediately caught my attention. Pete said in one of his many interviews that John played bass like it was a regular guitar. Anyway, I have been a Who fanatic since 1965. I turned 15 that year & literally grew up with the Who's music. It is gratifying to see & hear your thoughts on bass playing. John was surely an innovator & master of his instrument. Thank you so much for your inciteful & interesting video displaying the world's best rock'n'roll band. " Long live Rock!! I need it every night!!" I'm looking forward to seeing more of your videos! Thank you!

THE OX!!! Saw THE WHO and his solo tours several times, miss ya John!

Substitute my fave Who of all. They were still young, raw, rocky and rude ... and the bass carries it.

Great job replicating the tones! John Entwistle was a genius on the bass. Like Pete said: "He changed the fucking instrument!"

Great as always! I liked a lot the impression of Boris the Spider haha.

man, I love this video. You are awesome!. You really get this stuff! The Who's music was so different. Most can't feel it. You nailed it!

This really opened my eyes to some of John's bass lines, particularly the early stuff. I'm a drummer so often focus in on Keith. That Legal Matter bass line is awesome.

Another of his claims to fame is that he's responsible for the concept of the stack. The Who's local music shop was Marshall's. Jim Marshall had just invented his famous amplifier. Entwistle suggested that instead of building one large amplifier, if he had two smaller cabinets, they would be easier to position in the back of a van. You could also easily navigate narrow passage ways with smaller cabinets. On the stage you simply 'stack' a cabinet on top of another. Jim Marshall took John's advice and the Marshall stack was born.

Thank you so much for this entire series. I have loved John and his playing ever since my mom introduced me to the Who. That's been... thirty years, now? Maybe a bit more. lol Call Me Lightning was first recorded as a demo by Pete in his home studio in 1964 [probably by himself and without John]. I believe the band recorded it in 1968, when the single came out, so my guess is it was recorded specifically for Magic Bus.

Thx for the video. Part of an important achievement of The Who that being the The Who's unique evolving sound. Lead vocalist, lead guitar, lead drums, lead bass....everyone is playing lead and no one is a follower. It's such a major difference to so many other band and it was something that kept building as the boys got better until the early 1970s when the Who dominated the new stadium rock space with the loudest performances in history as very few bands could fill the air with harmonics like the Who. John Entwistle was the mastermind of the harmonics of the Who. Pete wrote the songs but Pete leaned on John to turn them into rock wonders of room or club or stadium filling harmonics. There is so much innovation in Entwhistle's contributions as he incorporated synthesizers and new basses in the 1970s and 80s . Keith Moon did what Keith did but he couldn't have ever done it if there wasn't a John Entiwhisle to take over the responsibility for the songs' harmonics & beat. Such a special special British band. So unique and thus why no one ever succeeded in ripping off or copy catting The Who. As for you. Super stuff, I've enjoyed your video so much I'm now subscribed and going to watch them all. I do encourage you to continue your wonderful craft and keep studying Entwhistle as well as the other greats. You very good yourself and I say thanks one last time.

Outstanding contribution to The Who's rise to be one of the great bands. The mold was broken when he sadly passed away. They don't make them like The Ox anymore.

Very good playing and great commentary, a great listen!

I'd like to see one on Jack Bruce's unique approach to bass and his preference of short scale basses.

Awesome video. Thanks :)

Great job as usual. Looking forward to the 70s stuff.

Yay Entwistle is one of my hero bass players. Great choice of tracks and rockin play alongs. Going to use your video to improve my bass playing. Nicely filmed. Thanks man 👍

This channel is great for bass education.

Love it. Keep on with LOB! Great info and technique. Love the visual display. Excellent!

~ I really like seeing how you have dissected Entwistle's bass lines here. Very nice work! :-)

Awesome dude !! Fabulous job !

I wanna play bass!!! After 50 years as a guitarist ....... You opened my eyes (ears?) for the 4-string guitar.... Thanks

First episode I’ve heard and now I’m a subscriber. So many great bass guitarists, but in my opinion, John was/is the best. The Who are in my top three favorite bands. Everything John played was incredible. Please bring back more tunes by The Who! Great show!

Damn you nailed the bass on Call Me Lightning. Thanks again for doing such a great job with this series, you're killing it.

John said he was also influenced by the great Motown bassist James Jamerson. You can hear the influence. John definitely went on to forge his own unique signature sound..absolutely fabulous!

Recently got a bass - I've been a guitar player for years know. Bedroom player, but trying to get my act together lately. Using your videos to learn some bass chops AS WELL as getting a good learnin' on rock n' roll history. Love your channel and videos, thank you!

Great video! 👍🏻

In "An Ox's Tale," John differentiates himself as not a "bassist," but a bass guitar player. I always found his explanation interesting, as well as the fact that he used so much top end. For his style, and work with The Who, I can see how he needed to do that.

What a nice acquaintance! Brilliant read and played!

I like the good is gone and wearing disguises great bass riffs

I had the great luck to see John with his band in Cincinnati back in the 90's at a club called Annie's. Think of Bob's Country Bunker from the original Blues Brothers movie and you've got an idea of the place. Anyway, my friend and I worked our way up to the stage and I watched John play the entire set from about 8-10 feet, directly in front of his mic - the ultimate private lesson! At this time John was using two coffin sized rack cases for amps and effects. His cabinets were 8 2-12 on top of 8 1-15 folded horns. And, yes, my ears whistled for 3 days... John's bass that night was a red Status Buzzard with gold Maxima strings. To say the Ox was loud would be an epic understatement! Steve beat his drums like a madman and all I could hear were his cymbal crashes, his guitarist used 4 4-12 cabinets powered by 2 100wt heads and I only heard his high notes during solos! The entire stage was small with the drums being 15' away and the guitar amps being 20' away. I never heard the keyboards at all, period! I watched Entwhistle play for close to 3 hours, I've never witnessed such complete mastery of an instrument... I've seen Squire, Lee, and a number of other greats over the years and while each of them were fantastic, none of them possessed greater command of their instrument, true! While Entwhistle had a unique tonal perspective, what I was astounded by was the speed of his right hand, unbelievable! Entwhistle signed autographs and spoke with the audience for about an hour afterwards. I told him that his playing was the best I'd ever seen, he chuckled and politely thanked me. He asked if I played bass and I sheepishly admitted that I did and he laughed and said that he could spot bass players at his shows easily, they always pushed their way to the front and then just stared intensely at his hands for the whole show. I laughed and said he had me figured out, he stretched out his hand to shake mine and thanked me again for coming out. Great guy!

R.I.P. and Long Live ThunderFingers

amazing video your playing is really cool. long live the ox!!

Screw short and sweet. Hey thx man, showing some love for Thunderfingers. Great playing. No joke, you got it. Not easy to get Johns sound right.

I just discovered your channel and I'm hooked, watching a lot!

Your playing on Substitute was fantastic....and the rest of course 👍👍👍👍👍

Imagine a band with John Entwistle on bass and Keith Moon on drums! Ha ha! The Who were the business. No doubt in my mind they paved the way for Led Zeppelin. Thanks for this video

oh John Entwistle!!! I was really waiting for this one :)

Subscribed! Good show! Great playing!! Great tone!!!

Outstanding work.

Great video, enjoyed all the history. New Who in the making here.

Just stumbled onto your channel. Great playing and very meticulous analysis!

this was a treat!

I've watched all your videos now. Kudos to you. These are what youtube videos should be. Well done.

Thank you so muvh for this video, it's very interesting. And your playing is good as well.

Love me some good bass. John Entwistle was the first bass player to catch my ear and now |I understand why.

Awesome!!! just discovered you by fluke.. just finished watching Thunderfingers part one.. totally hooked in.. subscriber now!!! cheers!!!

Keep continhue man 😀 You see i like The WHO very much and Johns baseplay in particular👌👋

Really enjoying your sense of the low end..good taste..thanks for these vids.

John Enteistle is awesome, another great video, thanks!

This videos are so great! Don't make them shorter please, this is like a documentary series of bass, all the information you gave was really interesting. Will you do an episode on the great James Jamerson?

there are many rock and roll bass players that stand out. John Entwistle will always "stood out".

That was great!!!

Very good structure of this exploration! Sound aspects, music historic relation, nice song examples 5/5 stars

I can clearly see from your left hand technique your a self taught player but none the less you sound great! You clearly listened to these records and though there are some things missing people can still learn lots. Ive been playing over 30 yrs and Id refrence your video and recommend it to other people starting out along with listening to the records. I saw your other video on McCartney also and enjoyed it. This is good for any kid that is starting out without getting into alot of theoretical details.

great choices m8 as a huge who fan I know how important John was to the who sound,4 guys all so different, it shouldn't have worked but here we are 52 years later still talking about them, and still going to their big gigs at 73 and 72 wow of all the British bands of the 60s the who the Beatles and the Stones are the holy trinities of British rock music the who being my favourite by a mile

Nice work my man. For the record, the Marshall cabs of so much fame are 4 X 12 cabs, not 2 X 12 as you mentioned. Kinda crucial. Kinda became the signature of any rock band’s backline who wanted to push it just a little further, just over the top. Two 4 X 12 cabs stacked is a full stack, and that just screams, “I am a true rock and roller, respect me and my taste in gear, and fear me and my power which could bruise your very soul!” Yep. That’s what it screams.

John was a great player, a talented lyricist, and a lovely man. I'm especially amazed by the incredible progression of his playing, and the amazing collection of instruments he amassed over the years, and made famous on fantastic studio albums and even crazier live recordings (the tone he gets from the Frankenstein P-Bass on Live at Leeds is among the best ever). The early Rickenbackers and Danelectros, the slab white P-Bass, the Fenderbirds, the Alembics...he played everything, and he always sounded great. Later in his career, the life he led at his Cotswolds mansion, among suits of armor, giant fish, firearms and skeletons in the cupboards, was the stuff of legend. A note, however: he often played with a pick, and I'm quite sure he used one for My Generation (which you could have done on a Jazz Bass, like the original!)

As noted in other comments, the time you put into your videos is admirable, not just in what you report, but in playing the songs as well. You obviously really appreciate the Who. There are a lot of great bass players you could feature, but if you could do a video on Phil Lesh I'd be very happy.

Lots of respect shown, lots of respect given back.

Just wanted to give mad props. You literally took me back to the most amazing band of all times AND I learned things about Entwistle that I didn’t know, making him even more amazing. Oh, where did you get that T, and are they available? Holy smokes on the video I just heart you you say “Wah Pedal‘ . I’m so old!

That's a great sounding bass guitar/micing technique. Very nice

heaven and hell is my favorite.

John Entwistle war ohne Zweifel der spektakulärste, fulminanteste, brillanteste und genialste Baßspieler der Welt. Und ist es bis heute! John Entwistle was without doubt the most spectacular, fulminant, brilliant and ingenious bass player in the world. And he is it till today!

The GOAT. No question.

SHUDA DONE LONG LIVE ROCK N THE REAL ME! MOST ROCK OF ALL THE WHO TUNES! 🎸🎹🎼🎶🎵〽〽〽〽

Enjoyed the video. One thing though. I'm not a bassist, and maybe I'm being picky, but Enwistle used a pick when he played My Generation. At least he did all the times I saw The Who play live.

Very nice

Was looking forward to seeing more from you, well put together as always. Any tips for the solo parts of My Generation?

If I remember this,John said he went through TWO Danelectro Longhorn basses [snapped ALL the strings on both],and finally ended up using a Fender Jazz Bass for the solo.

Great show, I can now appreciate what a bass does on my fave records... Your left hand rocks like a camshaft. Slow hand.?....no camshaft hand.

Used his rig at Southport Floral Hall, 2 Marshal stacks, 2 JTM 45s and a faded red Fender Jazz with 2 outputs. The tone control was removed and replaced with a jack socket, one output per pickup per amp and each amp had different tone settings. The solo on My Generation was done on a Danelectro, with the last set of strings he had and he used a plec and it was not wooly, it was sharp.

I like you, man. Keep on trucking.

Im an x- pro that is getting back on the horse, and have some neurological neck / hand issues to therapy work thru - along with the rust to scrape, im useing some of the mccartney stuff to have some fun between physical drills to build strength. I grew up on squire and lee and would love to see u go thru chris's catalog! Keep up the great work!! Love it

I liked this.

Got to cover some tunes from Tommy. Very bassy album, especially on tunes like Pinball Wizard and Acid Queen.

Not a bass player myself guitarist but I really enjoyed this the ox was an amazing musician. I'm a big who fan have been for 30 years and I've never noticed the wah on call me lightening but then I haven't heard it for probay over 20 years I think I was in detox the last time I heard it lol 🤘👍

Thanks for the details about how you have GuitarRig set up!

Great!

Terrific video. I'd suggest Dreaming From The Waist for a 70s tune and The Quiet One for an 80s song.

The man definitely influenced Chris Squire and Geddy Lee. Yep.

Even though these videos take a long time they're worth it, don't stop man great series you got here, only wish you had more subs

RIP Ox.

I know there's alot of great bass players. I was going through your lists of bass players. Great stuff. But I'm wondering why there isn't any Chris Squire and Jack Bruce reactions?

I thought Jeff Beck was the one who suggested to Jim Marshall that he split his 8x12 cabinet in half into the 4x12 cabs we take for granted today.

Excellent! If I may, here's a suggestion: Bruce Foxton's bass lines (The Jam). Love your channel.

meu baixista preferido de todos os tempos!

Entwistle > all. Forever.