Bass on sister disco?

[BeenDown139]

I'm thinking of giving "sister disco" from the "who are you" album a go on the bass while i've still got the hands to pull it off.  Does anyone know what bass John Entwistle used when they recorded the original version of that song?

i couldn't really find anything that said definitely which bass he was playing when they recorded that album.  Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

[senmen]

Hi there,
definitely Alembic Spider through his custom Stramp powered rig back
then. 
Take a search for the Sister Disco vid on YT for the 1979 Shepperton Studio
rehearsals. 
Cheers
Oliver (Spyderman)

[BeenDown139]

thanx, that's what i thought.

IMHO this is the who at their pinnacle - JE playing an alembic bass, moony on the drums, over-wrought pretentious song-writing, theatrical performance, loud as.... heck.  doesn't get any better than that.

i figure if i'm gonna blow my hands out learning a song, this might as well be it!

[senmen]

Indeed!
One of the very best times of the WHO. 
And btw during my long years playing the WHO stuff with my former Who Tribute band WHO ARE YOU,
we never played Sister Disco unfortunately. 

Cheers
Oliver (Spyderman)

[adriaan]

That video, being from 1979, has Kenney Jones on drums.

[gearhed289]

IMHO this is the who at their pinnacle - JE playing an alembic bass, moony on the drums, over-wrought pretentious song-writing, theatrical performance, loud as.... heck.  doesn't get any better than that.

Seems it up pretty well!

[BeenDown139]

That video, being from 1979, has Kenney Jones on drums.

loved kenney on the drums, but the studio version with keith is the shizola.

been listening to it closely the last few days to get the bass/drum part imprinted on my brain.  John's sound is just outstanding and the interplay with the drums is insane.

[senmen]

The most tricky thing of the song is the small arpeggio bass part.
It is very simple but very tricky to sound right as it is a combination of plucking
with hammer on pull offs. 
Try it!

Greetz
Oliver (Spyderman)

[BeenDown139]

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The most tricky thing of the song is the small arpeggio bass part.
one of the multitude of things that attracted me to this bass part.

[BeenDown139]

since it's the great March blizzard of 2021 here in the mile high city and i'm basically on lockdown, this song has finally bubbled to the top of the to-do list.  Making headway on it, gonna be snowed in again tomorrow.  So if i don't blow my back out or give myself a heart attack shoveling a path from my back door to the garage, i expect to make significant progress.  I still have my trusty early 90's Korg Pandora phrase trainer to get me through the tough parts.  I've probably learned hundreds of songs using my trusty little red box. Sometimes it's only when you slow one of JE's bass lines down to about half speed do you realize what a flat out monster that guy was on bass.  I can only hope to come (reasonaby) close.