The Beatles Through The Years: The Guitars This is how the guitar would have appeared when John first bought it in 1960. John with his Rickenbacker in Hamburg. In 1960 when The Beatles were playing in Hamburg, Germany John decided he wanted a really good guitar and chose the Rickenbacker 325. Lennon used this Rickenbacker from 1960 to '64 (It's last TV appearance occurring on the Beatles US TV Debut on The Ed Sullivan Show) Over the course of those four years John changed the knobs and had it painted (perhaps he'd done it himself?) black. This is thought to be The Beatles manager Brian Epstein's idea to give the band a better look. This is the Guitar most associated with Lennon's Early Beatles Rhythm sound. John Rehearsing for British TV show Ready Steady Go with the Rickenbacker After The Beatles took the USA by storm in early 1964, during their first visit, Rickenbacker, realising The Beatles' incredible marketing potential of their guitars, visited John in The Beatles suite in the Plaza Hotel in New York City to offer him their newest model.

The 12-string Rickenbacker 360 *record abruptly stops* Wait... what?! I hear all you Beatle guitar aficionados crying out. Well, let me tell you... John tried out the Rickenbacker 360 and apparently wasn't that into it and suggested FC Hall (the head of Rickenbacker) show it to George. (Which we'll get to in a second.) Hall then brought out the jetglo (black) 325, which looked shiny and new and perfect. Lennon said yes to this one and it was shipped to the Deauville Hotel in Miami in time for the second Ed Sullivan Show appearance, that was being broadcast from there. From then on it was Lennon's working guitar right up until the late '65 tours where it was retired. Eventually, this beauty ended up on display at The John Lennon Museum in Japan. (Yes, there's a John Lennon Museum in Japan.) 1962 - 1970 (John) 1962 - c.1968 (George) John later stripped the finish off this guitar and used it during his Bed-In for Peace in 1969.

But before it went to bed it was heavily used in Beatles concerts and recordings from 1962 to '65 Many of the guitars used by the Beatles were played by more than one member, and in 1962, Brian Epstein bought John & George matching acoustic Gibson J-160E guitars from a Liverpool music shop. They got mixed up many times, and the guitar thought to be Lennon's, but was actually Harrison's, was stolen during their 1963 Finsbury Park Christmas Show. (It has since been recovered and you can check out the story here ) Lennon's Jumbo at the Beatles Exhibit at the LBJ Library in Austin, TX in 2015. (Picture: TBTTY) However, they both used the guitar until John finally bought another one in 1964 to use in concert and recording. He had it re-finished by Dutch artists 'The Fool' in 1967 and planned to use it during the first satellite broadcast where the Beatles performed 'All You Need Is Love'. For whatever reason John decided to just sing and not play the guitar.

Later on, John stripped this finish off and had it sanded back to it's natural colour and used it (perhaps for the last time) during his & Yoko 's famous "Bed-In For Peace" and on 'Give Peace A Chance.' How it would have looked had John used it during the 'Our World' broadcast. Gibson are offering a faithful re-creation of the "Bed In" J-160E Now, George's guitar (which was actually Lennon's 'Jumbo'.....still with me here?) is believed by many to be "lost" as he gave it away sometime after the Sgt Pepper sessions. But the new smartphone app that Dhani Harrison put together showcasing George's guitar collection that is still part of the Harrison estate seems to showcase a certain 1962 Gibson J160e.......Maybe Harrison (who was an avid sharer of his instruments) didn't give this guitar away after all? L'Angelo Mysterioso, indeed! The J-160e as it appears in the App. How the guitar appeared when Lennon first acquired it in 1965.

Although he never used it live while with the Beatles, Paul put the Casino to work a lot in the Studio. John & George rehearse for The Beatles one and only live appearance on British TV's 'Top of the Pops' with their Casino's. Loving John's outfit here too! They were also the main guitars for their final world tour in 1966. Lennon during shooting of the 'Paperback Writer'/'Rain' promo 1966 The Epiphone Casino actually came into The Beatles' stable through their bass player Paul acquiring one in late 1964 (on the advice of John Mayall) so he could keep his hand in on the guitar work in the studio. Before Paul had it restrung left handed John played it and obviously liked it as a couple of months later he and George got one each (John's was the only one not to have a Bigsby tremelo arm. Presumably because he didn't use or like them) and used them on their last ever tour in 1966. Paul used his for his lead guitar work with the Beatles and continues to use his on tour to this day stating that if he could only have one Electric guitar it would be the Casino.

John and George had theirs sanded down and Lennon used his until 1971 when he complained during sessions for his Imagine album that it was getting harder to hold down a chord on it. George seemed to have stopped using his in 1967 Although he may have used it in his solo career but since he enjoyed using Fender guitars for their easy slide guitar capabilities. The Cavern Bass was Paul's first Hofner until they gave him a newer model. Macca with his original Hofner Bass in 1961. This was stolen during the 'Get Back' sessions in 1969 and has never been recovered. Whoever has this Bass. Give it back. In 1961 Stuart Sutcliffe was leaving the Beatles. He couldn't really play music and wasn't particularly interested in learning. Since Stuart had been the band's bass player, Paul was tasked by John and George with the responsibility of taking it up and being the Beatles' official bass player. So, with a pocket full of Deutsch Marks and dreams of being the next Paul McCartney (Wait a moment!), he went to a music shop in Hamburg where he saw a bass hanging up.

Though it wasn't what other rock musical artists were playing, it was just what McCartney wanted since he was left-handed. Right-handed guitars and basses were awkward to play due to the cut-away and knobs being on the top instead of the bottom. Macca plonked down the dosh (about 30 quid back then) and walked out of that music house holding the bass that he would make history with. Macca used the Bass until late 1963 when Hofner gave him their updated model (see below) and relegated it to Back up duty before having it re-finished and new pick-ups installed. It is last seen during the Let It Be film and it was during this time it was stolen. Paul rocking his original Hofner during the Revolution video in 1968. ********************************************************************** Paul with his new Bass, perhaps it's first outing? Paul shows Ed Sullivan the Hofner before the Beatles debut appearance on his show. Just after The Beatles had recorded their second album With The Beatles in 1963, Hofner gave Paul their new model of bass, possibly the most famous of all the guitars used by the Beatles. Macca started using it straight away, relegating his first one to back-up duty.

He stopped using it in the studio when Rickenbacker gave him their 4001 model in 1965, but continued to use it on tour until they stopped touring in 1966. Then, it was left alone for a couple of years, until he started using it again during the Let It Be sessions. After the Beatles split, he stopped using it during Wings and his 80's solo output, until Elvis Costello made him get it out for Flowers In The Dirt in 1989. Since then, Paul has used his Hofner on tour and in the studio to the point that is has become something you expect to see when you see Paul McCartney perform. Paul with the Hofner on it's last tour for 23 years. The 1969 Rooftop Gig would be the last time the Hofner would be played live for 20 years. That gig was also the last time The Beatles played together live.

********************************************************************** Played By: PAUL McCARTNEY Years Active: 1965 - c.1984 The Rickenbacker 4001 was given to Paul when he was at actor Burt Lancaster's house in California in 1965 Paul began using this Bass on 'Rubber Soul' When FC Hall of Rickenbacker gave John & George new Rickenbacker's in 1964 he also offered a right-handed model of the 4001 to Paul. Paul didn't like it for a few reasons: for one, it was heavier than the Hofner; not to mention, it was right-handed; and whereas Hall was prepared to gift John & George their guitars, he wanted money for the bass, because he thought Paul was carrying all the money. That was the last straw for Macca, who punched Hall in the face and walked out of the room screaming "I'm not paying for ANYTHING!"...... ....Just kidding. Although I have read that Hall DID want a small fee for Paul's bass.....

It wasn't until The Beatles were touring the USA in the summer of 1965 that Hall had built a left-handed Model of the Rickenbacker 4001. And after rock musical artists like The Byrds had started using Rickenbacker guitars because of The Beatles, Hall decided to give Paul this bass completely free of charge in Burt Lancaster's house. (Poor old Burt didn't get one though!) So, Paul set out to make his new bass famous and used it on studio albums, as well as on tour with Wings in the 70's, before retiring it in the mid 80's in favour of his Hofner. Will Macca ever play the Rickenbacker on tour again? My guess is probably not, since it's a heavy piece of equipment and Paul's getting older now. Besides, the Hofner serves all his needs stage wise. But still, it would be nice to see it on just a couple of songs; how about it, Macca? ********************************************************************** This Guitar was used on Beatles tours and records until Harrison got his Casino in 1965 George had two of these guitars.

The first one got smashed on the motorway, but George was using it as a backup by then. He acquired them in 1963 as George's guitar hero Chet Atkins was using one on his records when The Beatles were hitting it big in the UK. He used it until he started getting inundated with Guitars as The Beatles achieved worldwide fame and finally stopped using Gretsch guitars altogether in 1965. This is a classic guitar and has been used by many artists including Elvis..... Even the King of Rock & Roll liked the Country Gent. Harrison with his Country Gent in 1963 ********************************************************************** Years Active: 1964 - 1966, 1987 Jangle Pop was born when George started using this guitar in 1964. As stated above this was originally offered to John who passed on it. George started using this guitar immediately after returning from The Beatles first US visit, and it is seen in their first feature film A Hard Day's Night, and heard on the soundtrack album. Like John's Rickenbacker 325 and Paul's Hofner this guitar is one of the most famous instruments the Beatles played.

George stopped using it when he got another 360 from a Minneapolis Radion Station in 1965 and used this on tour but both guitars were retired after The Beatles touring life came to an end in 1966. In 1987 George dusted it off and used it on his album Cloud Nine and it is still part of his estate today and featured prominently (but was never played) during his memorial Concert For George in 2002. The second 360 was stolen in 1969 along with Paul's first Hofner. Anyone who thinks they may have this guitar, please don't put it up for auction. Instead, contact Olivia or Dhani Harrison and return this piece of history to where it belongs: The George Harrison Estate. It never hurts to do the right thing. Lennon with the 360/12. This guitar was originally offered to him but he didn't like it. He looks to be having second thoughts about it here though....

********************************************************************** The Beatles: 50 Facts for the 50th Anniversary | Ed Sullivan Show The Beatles: 50 Facts for the 50th Anniversary The Beatles: 50 Facts for the 50th Anniversary 1. John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a Liverpool church fair where Lennon’s band The Quarrymen were playing. Paul would join the group shortly thereafter. 2. Though not widely known, Stuart Sutcliffe was an original member of The Beatles, playing bass in the group’s early years. John Lennon and Stuart were art school friends and after he sold one of his paintings was encouraged to buy a musical instrument: either bass or drums as the band was in need of both. 3. John Lennon met his first wife, Cynthia, at art school in Liverpool. They married on August 23rd, 1962. John was 21 and Cynthia 22. 4. The band’s manager, Brian Epstein, insisted that Lennon’s marriage and subsequent child be kept secret so as not to dissuade the band’s growing legion of female fans. 5. The group’s first professional recordings were as the backing band for singer Tony Sheridan. 6.

The version of “Love Me Do” heard on The Beatles first album, Please, Please Me, features session drummer Andy White, not Ringo Starr. George Martin wasn’t happy with original drummer Pete Best during the band’s first session and booked White as a back-up. The version featuring Starr was released as a single in the UK, however. A version featuring Pete Best from the band’s test session can be heard on the Anthology 1 compilation. 7. Producer George Martin insisted the group record and release the song “How Do You Do It” by Mitch Murray as their first single. While they did record the song, Martin eventually went with their original composition “Love Me Do,” a bold move in a time where most recording artists were expected to sing songs written by professional songwriters. 8. “How Do You Do It” was eventually recorded and released by another Liverpool band, Gerry & the Pacemakers. It reached #1 in the UK. 9. “I Wanna Be Your Man,” the second single for The Rolling Stones, was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and wound up being a hit for The Stones. The Beatles would release the song on their 1963 album With The Beatles. 10.

Just a month prior to The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show the group sold 1 million copies of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” their first US single. 11. On February 9, 1964, The Beatles played a set of 5 songs on The Ed Sullivan Show: “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” 12. After their Ed Sullivan Show performance, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” would go on to sell another 2 million copies. 13. There were 0 reported crimes in New York City that night of February 9, 1964. 14. At the time, Ringo Starr was 23, as was the slightly younger John Lennon. Paul McCartney was 21, and George Harrison, the youngest, was a mere 20 years old. 15. That evening 73 million people watched The Beatles on Ed Sullivan which was over 23 million households. This was equal to the 45% of the US population. 60% of televisions were watching The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show that evening.

16. Over 50,000 requests for seats were submitted. The CBS Theater held 700 that night. 17. The title for “A Hard Day’s Night” came from an off-hand remark by Ringo Starr, who was known for his odd sayings, sometimes known as Ringoisms. 18. George Harrison met his future wife Patty on the set of “A Hard Day’s Night” where she was cast as an extra. 19. Some of the dialog in the film was taken from actual interviews The Beatles gave, especially the parade of questions the group receives from various partygoers in the film. 20. “Yesterday,” one of The Beatles most popular songs, originally had the working title “Scrambled Eggs.” 21. In the summer of 1964, a legendary get-together with Bob Dylan took place in New York City. Dylan offered The Beatles marijuana, turning them onto the drug for the first time. 22. The meeting between Dylan and The Beatles would have a profound impact on both artists. The Beatles album Rubber Soul featured many folk and acoustic arrangements while Dylan would ignite a firestorm of controversy by giving his first electric performance a few months later.

23. The blistering guitar solo featured on the George Harrison penned “Taxman,” which kicks off the album Revolver, was actually played by Paul McCartney. 24. One of the many recording innovations that were used on Revolver was the first notable use of a “backwards” guitar solo. This can be heard prominently on “I’m Only Sleeping.” The technique was discovered by accident when an engineer loaded a tape in backwards. George Harrison then carefully wrote out his guitar solo so that he would be able to record it playing it in reverse. The solo was then played-back backwards, giving it a strange, ethereal effect. 25. A real life Eleanor Rigby did live in Liverpool, however this was unknown to any of The Beatles. In an even more astounding coincidence, her gravestone lies in the cemetery next to the church where John and Paul first met. 26. John Lennon met his future second wife, Yoko Ono, at the Indica Gallery, London, during one of her exhibitions. Yoko Ono supposedly had never heard of The Beatles. 27. Though Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band is considered to be one of the first concept albums, a close observation reveals that the conceit of Sgt.

Pepper mostly dissipates after “With a Little Help From My Friends.” John Lennon was reported in interviews saying that none of his contributions to the album were based around the Sgt. Pepper theme. 28. The song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” though widely thought to be a reference to the drug LSD, was said by John Lennon to be inspired by a drawing his son Julian brought home from school. 29. According to a recent interview with Julian Lennon, the “Lucy” drawing is currently owned by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmore. 30. Shortly after John and Cynthia Lennon divorced, Paul paid an unexpected visit to check in on Cynthia and young Julian. On the way home, Paul would come up with the idea for “Hey Jude.” 31. The prominent guitar solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was played by George Harrison’s friend Eric Clapton. He was brought in during the difficult sessions for The White Album in the hopes that an outsider would force the band members to act more professional. 32. Harrison returned the favor by recording guitar for Clapton’s band Cream on the song “Badge” under the pseudonym L’Angelo Misterioso. 33.

Harrison again employed this method when he brought in keyboardist Billy Preston during the “Get Back” sessions, which later morphed into the album Let It Be. Billy Preston was the only non-Beatle to receive a performance credit on a proper Beatles release. 34. The song “Dear Prudence” was written by John Lennon while on The Beatles meditation retreat in India. The Prudence mentioned in the song is the sister of actress Mia Farrow. While many of the guests at the retreat would socialize with each other, Prudence Farrow often spent intense hours meditating alone in her bungalow. 35. During the sessions for The White Album, Ringo Starr briefly quit the band. As a result, Paul McCartney can be heard playing drums on “Back in the USSR” and “Dear Prudence.” 36. John Lennon learned the finger-picking guitar style used on “Dear Prudence” from folk singer Donovan, who was also attending the retreat. 37. The song “Helter Skelter” was written in response to a statement made by The Who’s Pete Townshend commenting on how loud a recent recording of theirs was (believed to be the song “I Can See For Miles”).

The Beatles recorded the track very intensely, which led to Ringo Starr’s infamous cry at the end of the recording: “I got blisters on me fingers!” 38. During what was known at the time as the Get Back sessions, George Harrison also quit the band briefly after becoming frustrated by the ceaseless tension amongst the group. 39. The Beatles infamous Apple Rooftop concert was the result of a compromise to get George to rejoin the band. The Get Back concept originally was to include a series of live performances shot for a television film. This was nixed due to Harrison’s objections and the decision was made to shoot a performance outside, on top of The Beatles corporate headquarters. This would be the band’s final concert. 40. The Beatles essentially washed their hands of the Get Back sessions and instead focused on recording Abbey Road. After The Beatles rejected two different mixes of an album, John Lennon handed the session tapes over to producer Phil Spector, who remixed it, adding orchestrations that were not there before. This resulted in the album Let It Be. 41. Not all of The Beatles agreed on the final product that was Let It Be.

While John Lennon was pleased with the results, Paul McCartney in particular was not happy with the alterations. In 2003, a remix of the album, Let It Be…Naked was released, stripping away much of the Phil Spector post-production. 42. “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” The Beatles 1969 single, is an autobiographical account of John Lennon’s marriage to Yoko Ono and subsequent honeymoon. The lyrics reference their wedding in Gibraltar, Spain as well as their “Bed-In” protests against the Vietnam War. The song was hastily recorded with just Lennon and McCartney while the other members were unavailable. 43. Despite being the last album The Beatles released, Let It Be was actually recorded before Abbey Road. This would be the group’s final effort as a band. 44. The Beatles originally thought of shooting the cover for the album that became Abbey Road at Mount Everest. Instead they decided to shoot the iconic album cover right outside their studio. 45. Abbey Road concludes with a medley of songs that takes up the bulk of its second side: “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “Sun King,” “Mean Mr.

Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window,” “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” and “The End.” These were essentially scraps of songs that the band never got a chance to finish writing. 46. “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” was inspired by The Beatles enthusiasts who would hang around the band member’s homes and offices. Paul McCartney in particular was subject to various break-ins by fans searching for souvenirs. 47. The final track on Abbey Road, “Her Majesty,” was originally supposed to be slotted between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” on the album’s closing medley, but McCartney decided he didn’t like the song and ordered it cut. Under instructions not to throw away anything The Beatles recorded, the studio engineer spliced it on to the end of the reel after several seconds of blank tape. McCartney liked it much better that way and so it remained there for the commercial release. 48. The character of Pam in the song “Mean Mr. Mustard” (“His sister Pam works in the shop”) was originally called Shirley.

John Lennon changed it so the song would fit better with the subsequent track, “Polythene Pam.” 49. “The End” features the only drum solo recorded by Ringo Starr as a member of The Beatles. 50. “The End” also features a climatic jam with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison all providing guitar solos. Related Posts: Paul McCartney's Beatles era guitar playing explored | Guitar & Bass Features | By Guitar-Bass.net Paul McCartney – Six-String Original As if being pop’s most famous bassist and one half of the most successful songwriting partnership of all time wasn’t enough, Paul McCartney also contributed memorable guitar parts to many Beatles recordings. Alan Clayson investigates… In July, 1965, The Beatles released their second movie, Help! During the sequence for the McCartney-penned country-rocker Another Girl, the band swap instruments, with John Lennon miming the drums, Ringo Starr playing John’s acoustic and George Harrison grappling with Paul’s Hofner 500/1. Paul’s ‘instrument’ is a model in a bikini.

Intentional or not, this light-hearted crossing of the group’s instrumental demarcation lines was a celluloid caricature of what was increasingly taking place behind closed doors during The Beatles’ studio sessions. Harrison mimes the lead guitar parts for Another Girl on John’s Rickenbacker, but Paul played them in the studio, as he also did on the extraordinary Ticket To Ride, recorded on the same day. Paul’s guitar playing would be similarly prominent on Revolver the following year, with possibly his greatest piece of electric lead work of all lighting up George’s album opener, Taxman. Having proven themselves proportionally as sound an investment for EMI as Elvis Presley for RCA, the Fab Four had been granted unlimited time at the company’s Abbey Road complex. Therefore, McCartney’s ministrations weren’t corner-cutting strategies dictated by the studio clock, but by his perfectionism and, to a lesser degree, an insistence on ‘written’ parts.

At the console, engineer Norman Smith witnessed how McCartney – and Lennon – were now treating Harrison and Starr as mere tools for their masterworks, noting that “George would have done two or three takes that seemed perfectly all right, but Paul wouldn’t like it, and he’d start quoting American records, telling George to play it like such-and-such a song. “We’d try again, and then Paul would take over and do it himself on the left-handed guitar he always brought with him. Later, I found out that George had been hating Paul’s guts for this, but didn’t let it show. It says a lot for George that he took so much stick from Paul.” Smith’s successor, Geoff Emerick, was present when McCartney replaced a Harrison solo that took seven hours to record on the title theme of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Was it ever thus? When he joined The Quarry Men in 1958, George had been in the year below Paul at Liverpool Institute High School For Boys, and three years below John at primary school. Nevertheless, his fretboard skills were the most advanced in The Quarry Men – “though that isn’t saying very much,” qualified Paul, “as we were raw beginners ourselves”.

Very much the junior partner in The Beatles, too, “George, being younger and not writing songs then, didn’t have the same communication with them,” concluded Cynthia, the first Mrs Lennon, “but John and Paul couldn’t stop playing together.” Neither was George’s a particularly musical family – as Paul’s very much was. Indeed, in the McCartney living room, there stood an upright piano. Whilst it suffered the investigative pounding of the infant Paul’s plump fists, it also tinkled beneath the self-taught hands of his father, who’d once led his own Jim Mac’s Jazz Band. After this ensemble broke up, circa 1927, Jim continued to play for his own amusement – and compose, too. He was also the principal accompanist on piano – or a Spanish guitar, a Framus of indeterminate vintage – during those ‘musical evenings’ that were a frequent occurrence in many households before television became a fixture.

From being a fascinated listener whenever Dad was seated at the eighty-eights, Paul progressed at his own speed on the instrument, acquiring the rudiments of harmony, and adding to a repertoire that embraced tunes from cross-legged primary school assemblies and – then quite a new idea – traditional songs from Singing Together and other BBC Home Service radio broadcasts to schools. On graduating to the Institute, Paul became as well-known for his musical skills as the school bully and football captain were in their chosen spheres. However, an attempt to master a second-hand trumpet his father had given him was, let’s say, an incomplete success, put off as he was by the unpredictable harmonics, which jarred his teeth. “Guitars hadn’t come in yet,” he’d recall, “trumpeters were the big heroes then” – especially Eddie Calvert from Preston, in the same neck of the woods. If well into his 30s, he’d shown what was possible by scoring a 1954 No 1 with the sentimental Oh Mein Papa, recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Yet Paul “couldn’t sing with a trumpet, and I wanted to sing”.

Moreover, like all but the most serious-minded adolescents of the 1950s, he’d be thrilled by Rock Around The Clock whenever it intruded upon the airwaves as 1955 drew to a close. “The first time I really ever felt a tingle up my spine,” he gasped, “was when I saw Bill Haley and The Comets on the telly. Then he came to the Liverpool Empire.” “The ticket was 24 shillings, and I was the only one of my mates who could go, as no-one else had been able to save up that amount – but I was single-minded about it. I knew there was something going on here.” Described by Melody Maker as looking like a “genial butcher”, Haley was a disappointment at the Empire, although he paved the way for more genuine US articles, notably Elvis Presley.

In a then-unimaginable future, McCartney was to own the double bass thrummed on Heartbreak Hotel, but in 1956 he was just one of countless British youths who’d been so instantly ‘gone’ on the King’s 78rpm UK chart unveiling that all he could think was that its maker was surely the greatest man ever to walk the planet. It was the same when Paul discovered Little Richard. In a succinct foreword to Richard’s 1984 biography, he’d recollect, “The first song I ever sang in public was Long Tall Sally in a Butlin’s holiday camp talent competition when I was 14.” Of more insidious impact was Buddy Holly.

While Paul was unable to attend the bespectacled Texan’s show with his Crickets when their sole European tour reached Liverpool in March 1958, he’d studied Holly’s fingers as they fretted chords and picked solos with unflappable ease on ITV’s Sunday Night At The London Palladium that same month, and his early efforts at composition became less of a sideline after constant replays of Buddy and his boys’ Chirping Crickets, a maiden LP consisting mostly of self-penned songs, tailored to lead singer Holly’s elastic adenoids. Crucially, these demonstrated that rock ’n’ roll could be simultaneously forceful and romantic, and that it could evolve without getting too complex. Arguably, it was from this realisation that McCartney and Lennon were to evolve into one of the most outrageously successful songwriting partnerships of all time – although the main audience for their efforts then was the McCartneys’ domestic tape recorder. On these, Paul played either Jim’s Spanish model or a Zenith Model 17 acoustic six-string, having exchanged the trumpet for it at Rushworth and Dreaper in the city centre.

“The story goes that he couldn’t play it because he was left-handed,” recalled Jonathan Rushworth, great-great grandson of the music store’s founder, “so he had to turn the strings round the other way.” Once he had done so, Paul noticed that the highest string was too loose in the wider notch designed for the lowest one, until the insertion of a bit of matchstick. With the addition of a magnetic pickup near the bridge, it served as an ‘electric guitar’ from his first date as a Quarry Man – where, crippled by nerves, he made such a hash of an instrumental number that “it wiped me out as a lead guitar player that night” – until The Beatles’ first season in Hamburg with drummer Pete Best (superseded in 1962 by Starr) and, on a newly-purchased Hofner ‘President’ bass, Stuart Sutcliffe. As one rhythm guitarist too many in this line-up, Paul was strumming a sunburst six-string Rosetti Solid 7 semi-acoustic.

“It was really just a good-looking piece of wood,” he sighed, “It had a nice paint job, but it was a disastrous, cheap guitar.” After Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg, an attempt was made to turn the Rosetti into a makeshift bass by restringing it with wires from a piano, but, with Stuart’s return, Paul was happy to scrap this idea. “Bass was the instrument you got lumbered with,” he said. “You didn’t know a famous bass player. They were background people, so none of us was prepared to spend money on something like that.” Instead, he continued with the Rosetti, despite damage sustained when it was dropped, and then a hollow-bodied Hofner Club 40 loaned to him by Lennon, who’d bought the Rickenbacker Model 1996 that he’d still be plucking at the height of world-wide Beatlemania. Yet, no matter how contrasting McCartney and Lennon’s chord shapes could be, Paul found himself too often just singing and gyrating around with an unplugged guitar, or impersonating Little Richard at a given club’s worn-out piano.

The sound, per se, was puny, yet harsh and atrociously distorted as The Beatles battled with amplifiers that were sent through speakers known to tear, explode and even catch fire because of power surges and the mismatch of British and German ohms. McCartney would recall that “If we had troubles with our overworked amplifiers – we had to plug two guitars into the same one – I’d just chuck it all in and start leaping all round the stage or rushing over to the piano and playing a few chords.” As far as the group as a whole was concerned, matters mended when Sutcliffe left during 1961’s dull and cool July, and The Beatles decided not to replace him, opting instead for the simpler expedient of transferring McCartney permanently to bass. Before the summer was out, he’d acquired the Hofner ‘violin’ model that was to be his trademark instrument after John, Paul, George and Ringo spearheaded the ‘British Invasion’ of world pop in 1964 – and the bass guitar was no longer “the instrument you got lumbered with”. Indeed, according to Donald Hirst, of Melbourne group The Spinning Wheels, “McCartney gave the bass credibility.

Before him, it was usually given to the fat boy, who stayed out of sight.” From 1965, however, it would be Harrison’s task to introduce Yesterday from the non-soundtrack side of the Help! album – “For Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks!” – which McCartney delivered to solely his own strumming of an Epiphone Texan FT-79 acoustic. No-one saw any purpose in taking on the road a string quartet like that hired for the session. Money was no object, it was only that any subtleties crammed into such a small spot were lost on what had become tribal gatherings rather than musical recitals. It was expedient, too, for Harrison to learn parrot-fashion McCartney’s lead lines to Ticket To Ride – which had emanated from a hollow-bodied Epiphone Casino, obtained on the recommendation of bluesman John Mayall, who’d noted it being twanged by the likes of Magic Sam and Otis Rush. Paul Unplugged Acoustic six-strings figured on Beatles discs for EMI from the beginning, namely P.S. I Love You, B-side of debut single Love Me Do.

McCartney’s first outing might have been on 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night LP’s I’ll Be Back finale. Purportedly, he, Harrison and Lennon all played acoustic six-strings on this track, and Paul was more prominent on I’ll Follow The Sun, from Beatles For Sale. The earliest all-acoustic Beatles opus was on the Help! album. Furthermore, the two-flute coda of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away was the first occasion when auxiliary musicians were hired for a Beatles session, predating Yesterday. On the next collection, Rubber Soul, Paul’s Epiphone Texan FT-79 was heard on I’m Looking Through You and Michelle. It was to feature, too, on Here, There And Everywhere (Revolver), The Fool On The Hill (Magical Mystery Tour) and All Together Now (Yellow Submarine). Yet McCartney was to truly come into his own as an acoustic guitarist during The White Album, on Rocky Racoon, I Will, Mother Nature’s Son and, most conspicuously, Blackbird (using a 1967 C.F. Martin D-28), on which the only other instrument was his tapping foot.

One reviewer compared him to Tom Paxton, but Blackbird betrayed more of the arpeggio style purportedly demonstrated to Paul (and John) the previous February by Donovan, a fellow seeker of nirvana at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s yoga-ashram in the Himalayas. Less directly, it was derived from that of Davey Graham, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, all-fingers-going denizens of Britain’s folk scene, who also influenced, among others, George Harrison and Jimmy Page. Other relevant Beatles selections worth mentioning are Two Of Us (with both Paul and John on acoustics) on Let It Be, and Her Majesty, the brief McCartney-only coda to Abbey Road, the subject decades later of an apparently impromptu performance during his slot at Party At The Palace, an extravaganza in London to commemorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Finally, prior to McCartney announcing his resignation from The Beatles in 1970, he spent much of the previous winter taping by multiple overdub an eponymous solo album in the privacy of his home. Overall, it captured a sketchy freshness, even a stark beauty at times.

Certainly, its acoustic emphasis was much at odds with more intense offerings of the day, whether Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Man, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie and other headbangingly `heavy’ outfits or the `pomp-rock’ of ELP and Yes, castigated for preferring technique to instinct – and McCartney couldn’t be accused of that. Enduring as one of Paul’s favourite guitars, his Casino was still being heard in concert and on disc at the turn of the century. He also still owns a single-pickup 1964 Fender Esquire from this period. Another famous Casino user was Dave Davies, whose Kinks had superimposed Indian sounds onto pop’s grid via 1965’s See My Friends with its plaintive vocal and droning guitars. Dave would recall an encounter in a London club, the Scotch Of St. James, when McCartney said: “You bastards! How dare you! I should have made that record”.

Paul also lent an intrigued ear to The Yardbirds’ similar ventures into areas far removed from their R&B core through hits such as Heart Full Of Soul, Evil Hearted You, Still I’m Sad, Shapes Of Things and Over Under Sideways Down, all hybrids of instant familiarity and unpretentious musical innovation. Though, for example, a sitarist had been hired for Heart Full Of Soul, such ostentation was disregarded after Jeff Beck’s guitar tone exhaled what was in pop terms a more pungent breath of the Orient. Beck, Davies and perhaps other victims of the same passion – such as Dick Taylor of The Pretty Things and Ian ‘Tich’ Amey of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich – left their mark, however involuntarily, on McCartney’s lead guitar contributions (sometimes shared with Harrison and Lennon) to Taxman, Good Morning Good Morning (the final solo), Fixing A Hole and elsewhere on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and – on The White Album – Back In The USSR, Helter Skelter, Honey Pie and Martha My Dear, plus the medley that closes 1969’s Abbey Road.

Displaying eclecticism and unpredictability in compatible amounts, his solos and passagework were constructed to integrate with the melodic and lyrical intent of a piece. This approach seemed attractively unfussy to anyone attuned to the more obvious aesthetics of a song than a reaction largely to underlying chord sequences with high-velocity flash – as dispensed, for instance, by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck’s predecessor in The Yardbirds, on A Certain Girl, one of the outfit’s B-sides, in which his break has almost a separate life from the rest of the number. Clapton was among catalytic familiars who added icing to the cake of The White Album. During the making of this, too, some have speculated that Paul began holding in his heart the possibility that The Beatles would be recalled as just the entity in which he’d cut his teeth before going on to bigger and better things.

Indubitably, he was to rack up heftier sales and honours as an individual and as leader of Wings – most memorably with 1977’s Mull Of Kintyre overtaking She Loves You as the UK’s biggest-selling single – after the group was dissolved formally in the Chancery Division of the London High Court on 12 March 1971. However, most relevant to this discussion are his good, old-fashioned guitar-playing rearing up amid the fusion of down-tempo house and a vague strata of dub-reggae on 1993’s Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and 1998’s more free-form and slow-moving ambient-techno of Rushes by The Firemen. Before this teaming up with modern dance paladin Martin ‘Youth’ Glover, nevertheless, McCartney had released Choba B CCCP, a USSR-only album of 13 favourite non-originals,mainly from the annals of classic rock. If nothing else, Paul sounded as if he enjoyed revisiting them.

According to the appointed bass player, Nick Garvey, of The Motors, “I went to a rehearsal place in Woolwich where Macca ran through and recorded several things with me on bass, him on guitar and “live” vocals, Mickey Gallagher on piano and Terry Williams on drums. Macca played guitar like it was easy as hell.” Finally, on receiving his knighthood in 1997, McCartney commissioned the designing of a coat of arms. It was to embrace four shapes resembling beetles, two circles representing records, the title of his Ecce Cor Meum oratorio, a singing Liver bird – and, of course, a guitar. Author: Alan Clayson mccartney1 Paul McCartney's Guitars The Guitarist Although primarily known for his bass playing, Sir Paul McCartney started his rock and roll career on a six-string guitar. When he met John Lennon at the St.

Peter's Parish Fete on 6 July 1957, he impressed the leader of The Quarry Men by knocking out a dead-on version of "Twenty Flight Rock." McCartney was soon offered a job with the band and after a few practices debuted at the New Clubmoor Hall, Norris Green, Liverpool on 18 October 1957. "I kind of went in first of all as lead guitarist really," McCartney says in the Tony Bacon interview from The Bass Book, "because I wasn't bad on guitar. And when I wasn't on stage I was even better. But when I got up on stage at the very first gig I totally blew it -- I had never experienced these things called nerves before." After cocking up his solo on "Guitar Boogie Shuffle," he decided to "lean back" and play rhythm.

(Significantly, in an effort to impress Lennon after this disastrous outing, McCartney showed him a song he'd written, "I Lost My Little Girl," which prompted Lennon to show McCartney a few songs he'd written -- launching a formidable songwriting partnership.) Before long McCartney nominated his mate George Harrison for lead duties, and continued playing rhythm through the second Hamburg trip in early 1961, when he was called upon to replace struggling bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. From that point he would provide virtuoso bass accompaniment for The Beatles throughout their career. From his first solo album McCartney has stepped out from behind the bass and displayed his considerable talent playing six-string guitar, but few fans realized during the Beatles' recording years that McCartney was providing some of the tastiest guitar playing to be heard on those records, rivaling Lennon in spirit and Harrison in technique. His solos can be heard on, among other songs, "Taxman," "Drive My Car," "The End," "Good Morning, Good Morning" and "Helter Skelter." Now this musician, who brought a new spirit and prestige to bass guitar, is being appreciated belatedly for his six-string work.

Question: In the original Beatles line-up, who was the bass guitarist?
Answer: STUART SUTCLIFFE