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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Alec Entwistle |
| Also known as | The Ox, Thunderfingers, The Quiet One, Big Johnny Twinkle |
| Born | 9 October 1944 (1944-10-09) Chiswick, Greater London, England, UK |
| Died | 27 June 2002 (2002-06-28) (aged 57) Paradise, Nevada, US |
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| Years active | 1961–2002 |
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John Alec Entwistle (9 October 1944 – 27 June 2002) was an English musician, singer, songwriter, composer, film and music producer. In a music career that spanned more than 40 years, Entwistle was best known as the original bass guitarist for the English rock band the Who. He was the only member of the band to have formal musical training. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who in 1990.
Entwistle’s instrumental approach used pentatonic lead lines, and a then-unusual treble-rich sound (“full treble, full volume”) created by roundwound RotoSound steel bass strings. He was nicknamed “The Ox” and “Thunderfingers,” the latter because his digits became a blur across the four-string fretboard. In 2011, he was voted as the greatest bass guitarist of all time in a Rolling Stone magazine reader’s poll., and in its special “100 Greatest Bass Players” issue in 2017, Bass Player Magazine named Entwisle at number seven. According to the Biography Channel, Entwistle is considered by many to be the best rock bass guitarist that ever lived, and is considered to have done for the bass what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar.
Entwistle’s playing technique incorporated fingerstyle, plectrum, tapping, and the use of harmonics. He changed his style between songs and even during songs to alter the sound he produced. His fingering technique involved plucking strings very forcefully to produce a trebly, twangy sound. He changed his thumb position from pick-up to the E string and occasionally even positioning his thumb near the pick-up. His plectrum technique involved holding the plectrum between his thumb and forefinger, with the rest of his fingers outstretched for balance.
The Who’s studio recordings seldom did justice to Entwistle’s playing, in part because he was better heard in concert, where he and Pete Townshend frequently exchanged roles, with Entwistle providing rapid melodic lines and Townshend anchoring the song with rhythmic chord work. At the same time, Townshend noted that Entwistle provided the true rhythmic timekeeping in the band, while Keith Moon, with his flourishes around the kit, was more like a keyboard player. In 1989, Entwistle pointed out that, by modern standards, “the Who haven’t got a proper bass player.”
Entwistle also developed what he called a “typewriter” approach to playing the bass. It involved positioning his right hand over the strings so all four fingers could be used to tap percussively on the strings, causing them to strike the fretboard with a distinctive twangy sound. This gave him the ability to play three or four strings at once, or to use several fingers on a single string. It allowed him to create passages that were both percussive and melodic. This method should not be confused with tapping or slapping, and in fact predates these techniques. Modern players such as Ryan Martinie of Mudvayne have used similar techniques. Entwistle can be seen using this technique in Mike Gordon’s film, Rising Low. Notable in his left-hand technique was his use of slides, positioning his left hand for octaves, and his use of the pentatonic when playing with the Who.
Entwistle was notorious for the extremely high volume at which he played bass, going so far as to rig pick-ups to each string on his instruments. This led to him developing hearing loss, similar to Townshend. Although not as public about his problems as Townshend, he reputedly had to rely on lip reading to understand speech in his later years. Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive claimed that towards the end of his life, Entwistle mostly played by feeling the rush of air from his giant amp stacks.
Entwistle identified his influences as a combination of his school training on French horn, trumpet, and piano (giving his fingers strength and dexterity). Musicians who influenced him included rock & roll guitarists Duane Eddy and Gene Vincent, and American soul and R&B bass guitarists such as James Jamerson. In turn, Entwistle has been a considerable influence on the playing styles and sounds used by generations of bass guitarists that have followed him, including Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Matt Freeman, Krist Novoselic, Cliff Burton, Ian Hill, Geddy Lee, Billy Sheehan, Victor Wooten, Tom Petersson, Sam Rivers, John Myung, and Chris Squire. Entwistle continues to top ‘best ever bass player’ polls in musicians magazines. In 2000, Guitar magazine named him “Bassist of the Millennium” in a readers’ poll. J. D. Considine ranked Entwistle No. 9 on his list of “Top 50 Bass Players”. He was named the second best rock bassist on Creem Magazine’s 1974 Reader Poll Results. In 2011, a Rolling Stone Magazine reader poll selected him as the No. 1 rock bass guitarist of all time.
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