What Beatles songs did George Harrison play bass on?

That is what you're hanging your hat on?

 

My point is he doesn't simply state that he doesn't think he didn't play bass, he states that he didn't think he was on the track at all.

Coupled with the fact that plenty of people seem to think it is *not* his bass playing...

 

Which other Beatles track does Paul even hint at not being on?
Anyway, we seriously have done all this before several times. See the first two pages of THIS very thread you're reading now, and these:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=4838066&postcount=148
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=4838091&postcount=149

 

I think he does play the bass.

OK, we're in desperate need of George Martin's complete production notes getting published.
Deluxe edition would be coming with the complete session tapes.

Ondra

 

Not even then. He has made mistakes and omissions- his notes are not infallible . We need to hear the session tapes.

 

With that information (if it is correct), it seems the session started out with Paul on bass....at some point they had the argument, and Paul leaves. That would account for his uncertainty ("I'm not sure but I think...") about whether he ended up on the master take.

It would certainly be a lot easier for John & George to finish a song that already had the bass on it instead of having to overdub it and then running into issues such as not being able to (or wanting to) sing backing vocals and playing bass at the same time.

 

No, because the rest of Paul's quote which you cherry-picked says "one of the few tracks I DIDN'T PLAY ON" Not " I didn't sing on". The information is not correct anyway, as the bass and drums are NOT on the same track.

 

I just noticed that Taxman also has a similar setup where the backing is hard left, but the bass is left of center a bit. So now I'm really confused.

 

So Track 1 was recorded with just drums and nothing else? That doesn't seem like their usual practice at all at that time.

 

You can hear the low mids of the kit all through the track on the right channel very quietly (tom fills are the most clear), the kick and bass are louder and are not so easy to separate but you can hear them both - the matrix processing would make them less distinct...

Maybe it's as you say and they mixed on 3,4,5 & 6 but given that it sounds like Paul on bass to me I'm thinking the Spreader is a possibility, despite the non regular use.

 

Can we file a Freedom of Information Act request to hear them?

 

Answering my own question here, this might be a possible scenario:

1. The session starts with Paul on bass and Track 1 is set up, as usual, with the drums and bass. The Beatles record a take or 2.
2. At some point, an argument ensues.
3. Paul gets upset and leaves Abbey Road.
4. George, John & Ringo decide to continue without him.
5. Track 1 is just the drums now because Paul is gone and they didn't change the settings in the control room (possibly hoping Paul would come back soon?)
6. An acceptable backing track is recorded. John and George are both on guitar, Ringo on drums.
7. They decide to keep going and complete the song without Paul. We know She Said She Said was the last song recorded and was finished in one session, possible deadlines are looming?
8. George does the lead guitar overdub and John the one-note organ stabs.
9. George overdubs the Burns Nu-Sonic bass
10. At some point during steps 8 & 9, John and George manage to overdub backing vocals while juggling instrumental overdubs.
11. Or, as was suggested 4 years ago earlier in the thread, there was an internal bounce-down at some point to free up an extra track, either for bass or backing vocals.

 

I mean his own production notes as published in Recording The Beatles book. These are VERY thorough and not a single mistake. Far from omissions, he even marked down the exact guitars used.
These excerpts are taken from his biography book called Playback. I have no idea how many more are published in that book.
You've seen more that are incorrect or omissions in them?

Ondra

 

That's not how The Beatles recorded. They played as an ensemble and particular sounds were routed to specific tracks. They never recorded just bass and drums then guitars, they generally played all instruments and sang the vocals live until 1964 when they began not doing all the backing vocals and maybe lead guitar on an otherwise full band take, then from 1965 increasingly all vocals were left for overdubs, and from 1966, also bass. So there wasn't anything unusual here.

 

His production notes for, as an example, I Want to Hold Your Hand, make no mention of the overdubbed vocal, only handclaps. Those kind of omissions.

 

No, that's not how it worked. Track 1, track 2, etc refer to the multitrack physically, not the temporal process of recording. The Beatles could and sometimes did record onto all four (later eight) tracks at the same time.

If you read 'track 1, drums and bass, track 2 guitars, track 3 vocals,' that in itself doesn't mean they recorded each track separately one after the other. They were likely to have recorded track 3, vocals, later, but not necessarily.
For example in 1963 every song they recorded had live vocals, lead and backing.
A Hard Days Night, Can't Buy Me Love and others in 1964 had vocals recorded live with the instruments, though they also had later overdubs, an increasingly common practice.
By the time of Revolver, they would still do a live lead vocal but increasingly redo it later. In 1969 of course they got back to full band and vocals.

 

I am aware of how they recorded at Abbey Road. Most of the time, Track 1 was where the drums, bass, and sometimes guitars, all at the same time, were recorded on. You are claiming the bass and drums are not on the same track. There is no guitar in the left channel with the drums. If the bass isn't on Track 1, the process of elimination means that only the drums are on Track 1.

 

That's not necessarily how they did every track. This particular one is problematical because Paul does not play on it, as he says. So it's not a regular session. So anything goes.

 

Haven't seen the one for I Want To Hold Your Hand. Thanks!
I was talking about the ones from Help sessions which are VERY detailed and, as I said, he even mentions the exact guitars used.
BTW, these Help sessions production notes are on display at the moment in your hometown! Have you seen them?

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/beatles-story-puts-george-martin-8643567

Ondra

 

Well isn't this fun? Nice back and forth... no childish gameS. Nik is right. Without hearing the session tapes it's impossible to discern who plays what and ezactly what is captured on each track. Notes are sometimes wrong, details long-forgotten or mistaken. Maybe there was only ONE guitar on the basic take? Maybe Paul played guitar then left after John praised George's bass playing? Questions unanswered.... for now Ron

 

Yes, nice to see. And of course he needed to keep notes from 1965 on as things began to get complicated, didn't they!

 

Here's another possible bass appearance by George; From the book "All the Songs" page 594...
Regarding Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight, "15 takes were recorded, Paul at the piano and guide vocal, George on his Fender bass 6-string, and Ringo on drums. In the bonus Anthology DVD, George Martin pointed out to George Harrison that he probably played bass. Bass and piano were recorded together on the same track. Since Paul was at the piano, George was probably on bass. George Harrison did not remember. Ok, it might be me then, or John. But John was still recovering (from an auto accident), so no doubt George played bass."

There's enough probably's, did not remember's, and might be's in that quote to keep this thread afloat for another 3 or 4 pages.

 

Do you remember the notes for The Night Before?
We know that Paul and George played the guitar solo in octave. I just wonder if Martin's notes specific who played the lower and who the higher octave and which guitars they used. Well, Paul's must have been
his Casino, but what about George.
And do you remember all the songs being displayed? The Night Before is definitely one of those NOT included in Recording The Beatles Book.

Ondra

 

There is even a photo from that session. George wearing sun glasses playing Fender Jazz Bass (not Fender VI), that photo is from the session.
I'm sure forum member Ern can provide the photo.

Ondra

 

Same characteristic on

"Taxman"
"I'm Only Sleeping"
"Yellow Submarine"
"She Said She Said"
"Good Day Sunshine"
"For No One"
"Got To Get You Into My Life"

All have bass and drums on the same track (in the case of "Yellow Submarine", after a reduction mix) except "For No One" which is tambourine and bass together on track 1.

Perhaps Geoff's attempt to give increased bass on these stereo mixes involved the Spreader/shuffler, which would allow him to reduce the vertical component of the bass frequencies by narrowing the stereo pair (with bass guitar on the left) below 700Hz. This would make them less likely to cause problems in disc cutting without needing to cut the bass level (or at least, not by as much as without the shuffler).