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Giants of Bass – John Entwistle

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‘An Ox’s Tale’ was written to demonstrate the extravagant and improvisational style of bass playing that John Entwistle became renowned for through his work with The Who. As you’ll hear, the track was heavily inspired by classic Entwistle basslines such as ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and ‘The Real Me’.

In keeping with John’s ‘lead bass’ style of playing, this line features the use of minor pentatonic and blues scales and frequent use of the upper register of the instrument. It’s also played aggressively, with a distorted bass tone, and contains very little repetition.

If you enjoy working through this piece, you might also find the following courses useful (Access to ALL of our courses is included in the subscription cost):

Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to get the PDF transcription and the audio files for this piece (available to subscribers only).

This course is 50 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. 'An Ox's Tale'

This video is a full demonstration of ‘An Ox’s Tale’, performed on a Sire V7 Marcus Miller Signature bass strung with stainless steel Rotosound strings.

2. Course Overview

This video gives a brief overview of this difficult piece and the technical challenges that it presents. I’ll also be offering advice on finding a suitable tone.

3. A Section

The intro section of this piece is played in the upper register and is an example of Entwistle’s ‘lead bass’ style of playing. This lesson covers bars 1-8 in the transcription.

4. B Section

The bass part in this section – which acts as a ‘verse’ – leaves room for a vocal part, adding in adventurous bass licks every second bar. This lesson covers bars 9-16.

5. C Section

The bass part in this section (which could be considered the ‘chorus’) is considerably more active and spans the whole fingerboard. This lesson covers bars 17-24.

6. D Section

This section is similar to the B section but in keeping with Entwistle’s improvisational playing style, all of the licks are different. This lesson covers bars 25-32 in the transcription.

7. E Section

There are many variations on the established line in this second ‘chorus’ section. This lesson covers bars 33-48 in the accompanying transcription.

8. F Section

This section is a middle 8 and features a more active chord progression. The bass plays another highly melodic line here. This lesson covers bars 49-56 in the transcription.

9. H Section

The closing ‘chorus’ sections of the piece feature even more variations on the established line. This lesson covers bars 65-81 in the accompanying transcription.