Beatles guitar solos by John Lennon

Thanks a lot for the reply, Ron. Looking forward to read from you.
Regards,
J.M

 

You're welcome. There's LOTS of folks here with a wealth of information. Hope you enjoy the discussions. Ron

 

Exactly! They are heavily digitally manipulated with instruments, percussion, and/or solos scrubbed off one track and moved to another.

The fact the MOGG bass guitar track for "Run For You Life" has some high end cruddiness tells me something was removed. The bass was overdubbed, just not alone. There's still "air" around the bass guitar so you know it's an actual overdub whereas the fake bass guitar tracks just sound like filtered bass frequencies with no "air" .

On "You Won't See Me" the bass was also overdubbed but that overdub also included some extra harmony vocals. For Rock Band they digitally stripped out the extra harmony vocals and recombined it with the main vocal tracks.

 

You Won't See Me bass guitar track features hi hat overdub also.

Run For Your Life bass track features leakage of John's original vocal. But nothing has been removed from the bass track.

Ondra

 

Just dropped on this great thread...

Regarding Long Tall Sally there was a long discussion of the solo track issue on rec.music.beatles many years ago which explained why the tracks were switched for the solo. I think it had something to do with having the solo on the opposite channel to the lead vocal, or something like that. Anyway, seeing Lennon mime the part on a video posted in this thread is pretty convincing.

With Yer Blues there are two guitar tracks from the band track recording. During the solos one track has a mostly single guitar line, which sounds a bit like a blues harmonica. The other track has the solos. Later the first solo had a second overdubbed, with the first surviving however. It's generally agreed that Lennon played the overdubbed solo. So it's the assignment of the first two tracks which remains to be answered.

I find it more difficult to believe that Lennon played the fluid, lyric single-line part. He just wasn't a single-note guitarist. However, the original first solo has all the hallmarks of Lennon's chunky, party-trick style, mostly holding the B and G strings up around the 12th fret, moving up and down a few frets. A lot of it is really messy. Now, if the original first solo was Lennon's then so was the "searing" second solo.

All Too Much is another track of interest. Harrison says he played organ, not lead, and McCartney played bass, almost certainly live. That leaves Lennon for the lead, which includes feedback, which points to Lennon doing the intro as well. The part has typical Lennon gestures, but I don't recall a thread discussing the song.

 

It certainly sounds angry enough to be Lennon. But he'd have had to borrow a guitar to do it, since his didn't have a vibrato tailpiece.

 

About 'It's All Too Much':

George Harrison on a Billboard interview 1999 said this: 'But, now, I don't think I was playing the guitar feedback; as I say, I was playing the organ, so I think that was probably Paul that did that. But it was, like, manufactured, meaning that it wasn't like an accident or anything; it was part of the arrangement.'

Since the basic track takes were Hammond organ, lead guitar, bass and drums and the overdubs were percussion, lead and backing vocals, and handclaps, trumpets and a bass clarinet, my guess is George on Organ, Paul on Guitar, Ringo on Drums and John on Bass. Not a complicated bassline so my bet is John on it.

 

I'd guess that McCartney would have claimed the part in MANY YEARS FROM NOW had it been his. Then again, both he and Lennon seem to forget Harrison's songs. On another site someone claims that the opening is Harrison saying "To Jorma" not Lennon saying "To you moth[er]", referring to the guitarist of Jefferson Airplane. I can't find any Google connection between Harrison and Jorma Kaukonen. Elsewhere someone says Harrison didn't meet Jorma until much later.

The bass line is mostly a repeated G, but there elements which are typically McCartney figures and which I think were beyond Lennon (think about his leaden playing on the band track of Let It Be), including the bass solo at about 2:15 which is quite nuanced. The band track is so messy in general that it's hard to make a call on the quality of the bass part. That said, I'd expect to hear McCartney playing around a bit more towards the end of an eight minute take.

The lead part is largely typically Lennon, a fixed worked-out basic part, mostly played at a single position, with right-hand flicked triplets and the like. It's a better guitar sound than Lennon usually gets, which could be down the guitar or the De Lane studios where they recorded. Lennon did a concert performance of feedback with Ono in March 1969--26 minutes of it. The lines at the 16 minute mark are interesting.

 

Wow, and that was half a decade before "Metal Machine Music"!

 

And here it is:




http://paulontheruntour.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/john-lennon-yoko-ono-cambridge-1969.html

 

What up, Ian.

 

You can hear on the 5.1 mix of "Long Tall Sally" that they manually switched the signals on the guitars in the studio when they did the live take. John takes the first solo, they are clearly different guitar tones too... very different.

And on the Chuck Berry songs... the versions we have on tape (BBC; Star Club etc) John is definitely handling leads (not on "Roll Over, Beethoven") ... But it is quite amazing HOW much lead John plays in the BBC recordings... it's clear, not just from style, but also from the guitar tones. - The other thing, is John's sloppiness is a lot different from George's sloppiness. George tends to hit notes clearly, but hits bad notes, and has some a lot of hesitation sometimes when he's not particularly "inspired" to come up with something, where John when he's sloppy, tends to keep going and play through, but does things like drop strings or hit blocks of notes (when not intended)... more raw.

John did talk a bit about taking solos in the early years... (I can't dig out the quote right now... but I'll try to find it at some point)... but even so, as someone was mentioning about Paul taking claim for a solo above, I know after playing so many sessions in the manor the Beatles did (creating in the studio) that when I go back to something from years ago, I don't always remember if it was me or someone else... I just had that happen where I had to ask if I was the bass player on someone's song... they tell me I was, but I really have no memory of doing it... although it does sound like my style. But that's the thing, as much style as any one person may have, their influence also rubs off on those around them... I often feel that a good pair of ears is often more reliable than someone's memory (not always). And I've also come to the conclusion that we have to settle with the fact that are things that will always just be "possibilities" and we'll never be sure of the proper answer.

 

As I mentioned above, it was widely assumed (and I had no reason to disbelieve it before) that John played the first solo on Long Tall Sally in the studio. The odd thing is that it was live, one take song and to mix BOTH solos (the second is clearly George) on the same channel was not the norm in 1964. Not saying it wasn't done... just a strange mixing decision and one that raises an eye. I STILL don't think John played most of the leads on Chuck Berry songs early on. It's quite clearly George on the BBC versions of Johnny B. Goode, Too Much Monkey Business, I Got To Find My Baby (John on harp) and Memphis. It may well be John on lead on Sweet little Sixteen. Though, that may be the exception. One would think the BBC announcers would make mention of John playing lead, if that was the case, or John himself boasting about it.

PS Just wondering. Where have you heard a 5.1 mix of the studio version of Long Tall Sally? The Anthology DVD mix? I can't recall. Ron

 

Yes, Anthology. And yes it's an odd choice to manually have switched channels for the song, but it is the only case where they switch solos on a studio recording in that time period. My personal opinion is that it was done for the same reason they did a lot of their more 'odd' recording choices and that was to make the final mono mix better. It's easier to have the lead instrument on a separate channel, so it can be balanced better in the mixing stages, if need be.

I disagree about the Berry songs though, "Too Much Monkey Business" is a similar solo to John's "Long Tall Sally" & "You Can't Do That" solos, in fact it's the same sort of solo he always plays when it's not a direct copy of a pre-written line.

John is not playing lead guitar on "I Got to Find My Baby" or "Roll Over, Beethoven". I do believe and have always thought it was John on the other songs mentioned. It's the Rickenbacher sound and in line with his style in every case... And just comparing the guitar tone (and style) to those songs vs. "I Got to Find My Baby" & "Roll Over Beethoven" is clear indication. At least in my mind.

I'm not sure why the BBC announcers would mention John playing lead. John & George both played guitar, there is often a very thin line between lead and rhythm guitar.

I'm not trying to be argumentative or degrading or anything, so please don't take it that way, I always completely respect your posts and you make a lot of great posts with excellent well researched thoughts... I am just stating my own opinion and I am home with the flu right now, so I'm probably not putting my thoughts together that clearly anyway...

 

Yes, I reckon it's Lennon taking the solo on "Too Much Monkey Business". Shame Apple didn't pick the best BBC version for the official set.

 

John played the Leslie'd lead on Yer Blues in addition to the riff. He plays the solo on I Want You and, to my ears, he does all those bits at the fade out of Come Together; stylistycally and tonally, they sound just like the solo on I Want You. He also does some of the lead parts during the fade on You Never Give Me Your Money.

 

No way, the leads on the fade out of Come Together are George's.

 

No leslie in Yer Blues.

John plays the middle eight solo in Come Together, both parts.
The outro is George on his Les Paul, bridge pickup. The highest notes are almost unplayable on Casino with its 16th fret neck/body joint.

Ondra

 

On Yer Blues I was referring to the two solos towards the end of the song...the first is John and the second is George. Nowhere that I've checked , can I find find how John got that watery tone for his lead; it is, to my eras, similar to the sound George gets on the single version of the Let It Be solo where the guitar almost sounds like a keyboard. In no live performances of Yer Blues, does Lennon get that specific sound. Even though I can't find any documentation of a Leslie speaker being used for YB, I assumed-due to the sound-that this was the case for John's solo.

Your information concerning CT and the Casino is very interesting; I hear what you're saying about the guitar with relation to the parts being playable (or not) but the playing style sounds much more like John than George to me.

..but more than anything, I have to ask...where have you read that it's John doing the middle solo?? I've never even heard that one argued before and best to my memory, neither Recording Sessions or Recording The Beatles are specific on it.

 

The "watery" tone sounds very much like a slide to me.

 

It's definitely not a slide; it's the same stiffly played repetitious riff John is playing on the Rock and Roll Circus and Toronto performances..but there are definitely no effects on his guitar on those. It sounds totally different on the studio version on the White Album. Maybe it's not through a Leslie speaker..but the effect is similar..maybe a phase shifter of some sort .

 

yes agree that John sings there, and fantastic that you pinpoint the notes; hats off! however, the guitar solo immediately following that in the ending has been mis-attributed in these comments to John; it is Paul playing.

 

ticket to ride
sgt pepper
it's all too much
back in the ussr
the night before
and your bird *
paperback writer
you never give me your money (end)
helter skelter
the end (1st)

* played by Paul and George together. this was the 1st time I can remember harmony leads (way before freebird or hotel california). what's funny is that someone, I think it was Joe Walsh, thought George had done this himself in one go and worked for months to replicate it; then found out it was the two of them together!

 

John was on fuzz guitar and Paul on piano on the live basic track. So the lead guitar outro would have to be overdubbed if Paul played it. But it is not the case. Rockband isolated track reveals that the lead guitar track is a live track as there is a leakage of drums onto the guitar's amp microphone so it must be John. Plus the backing track extended into a jam between drums and the lead guitar as heard on bootleg.

Ondra

 

Just want to add that both Paul and George played the solo on The Night Before according to Lennon's quote from February 1965 interview, just octave apart.

Ondra