Showing posts with label guitars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guitars. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

George Harrison's Guitar Style

There are many little-known Beatles facts concerning George Harrison's evolution as a guitarist. Harrison owned a cheap acoustic, as did most Liverpool youth interested in the skiffle craze, but his first electric guitar was a Grazioso. Few people know that, like Lennon, Harrison formed a skiffle group in his youth. Harrison's group was called The Rebels.

Harrison joined Lennon's Quarreymen as that band's youngest member--someone who could play better than McCartney or Lennon in the late 1950s. As the years passed and the Quarreymen/Beatles played Hamburg, the long hours onstage helped shape Harrison's playing. It is reported by some that he also received tips on playing lead guitar from Tony Sheridan, for whom the Beatles recorded while in Hamburg.

As the Beatles became more famous, Harrison was regarded as competent, although he is not known for being a virtuoso in the vein of Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton. He was influenced in his youth by the music of Carl Perkins and Chet Atkins. He played Gretsch guitars in the early days of the Beatles (as did Atkins), using both a Tennessean and a Country Gentleman. He moved on to a Rickenbacker twelve string shortly before the making of A Hard Day's Night, and the sound was so distinctive that it heavily influenced David Crosby and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds.

Beginning with All Things Must Pass, Harrison became more and more enthusiastic about the slide guitar, which he used heavily until his death in 2001. The slide guitar is evident on all his solo recordings to a greater or lesser degree, and he also used the slide during his days with The Traveling Wilburys.

Harrison also became an accomplished player on acoustic guitar, playing acoustic or classical guitar on several tracks for the Beatles and his solo records. Most memorable of his acoustic work perhaps are the songs "Here Comes the Sun" and "My Sweet Lord." For both songs (and many others), he used a Gibson Hummingbird, although he also used a Martin D-28 frequently, as did the other Beatles.

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

John Lennon's Guitars

In 1957, John purchased an acoustic Gallotone Champion, which he used in his early days with the Quarrymen. It is this guitar that is seen in the famous photo of him playing in a checkered shirt at the parish fair where he met Paul McCartney.

By 1959, John was moving from the Liverpool skiffle craze to mainstream rock and roll. With the help of his Aunt Mimi, he bought a Hofner Club 40 electric guitar, which he used at Liverpool’s Casbah Club and in the clubs he first played in Hamburg. He later gave the instrument to Paul, who restrung it in order to play left-handed.

The guitar most associated with John is the iconic Rickenbacker 323 Capri electric. The body was originally honey-colored, although it was painted black in 1962. The tremelo bar, bridge, and knobs were swapped. The wiring was redone in 1963, and the instrument was used in virtually every performance until 1964. It is now owned by Lennon’s son Sean.

In 1962, John and George both purchased the acoustic/electric Gibson J-160E, which can be seen in the black and white video of “Love Me Do” and in A Hard Day’s Night. John and George used their two guitars interchangeably, and George’s was stolen sometime in late 1963. John replaced the stolen guitar in 1964 and moved the pick-up from the neck to the bottom of the sound hole. He commissioned an artist to paint the body in psychedelic fashion in 1967 but later had it stripped to a natural wood finish, on which he doodled pictures of himself and Yoko.

In 1964, John bought a Rickenbacker 323 Jetglo, which is what he used on The Ed Sullivan Show. Later he also purchased a Rickenbacker 325-12, a 12 string electric, which was similar to the Jetgo except that the tailpiece and headstock were naturally manufactured for twelve strings. John used this guitar primarily for studio sessions (mainly for Beatles for Sale).

John’s Epiphone Casino (ES-335) has an interesting history. John got the Epiphone while recording Revolver. (George purchased one as well, and film footage of the Beatles’ Japanese concert at the Budokan shows both John and George playing this model, each with a sunburst finish.) John used the Epiphone for most concerts, occasionally swapping it for his Gibson J-160E (naturally in its electric mode). The Casino was also his guitar of choice for most Sgt. Pepper sessions. With the pick guard already removed, the guitar was sanded down to its bare wood finish in 1968, and a thin coat of lacquer was applied to the body. John can be seen playing the altered instrument in tapes of the Let It Be sessions, the “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” videos, and the rooftop concert.

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Monday, January 5, 2009

The Lost Chord of "A Hard Day's Night": Different Theories


There has been an ongoing debate for many years as to the name of the "lost" chord used to open "A Hard Day's Night." Recently, Professor Jason Brown of Dalhousie University advanced the theory that the "secret sauce {of the note] includes five piano notes apparently played by producer George Martin." Well, maybe.

For years, George Martin, a classically trained musician, claimed he had no idea what the note might be. He is indeed credited with playing the piano on the track (and also played an electric organ since George could not play the lead interlude fast enough), but even if there is a "piano backing" to the note, the electric guitar clearly carries the day and is most prominent in the overall sound effect.

I have believed for years that the mystery is easily solved. The note appears to be a D7 suspended. A D7 is made, but the third finger on the first string (high E) slides from the second fret to the third, creating a very mild dissonance. Played on an electric guitar, it sounds exactly like the opening note for the song (especially if one takes into account that George would have played it on his Rickenbacker 360 12-string).

The song was recorded on April 16, 1964 at Abbey Road and released as a single in the UK and USA on July 10 and July 13, 1964 respectively. Film director Richard Lester insisted to Lennon that they use another "Ringo-ism" as the title for the movie and the song, a malapropism (a hard day's night") that Lennon had already used in his book In His Own Write. Lennon agreed and delivered the song the following day. He said Paul only sang on some parts because he (Lennon) couldn't reach the notes.

Pic: Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0

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