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5.25am
11 October 2009
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What's your favourite riff? Mine is from And Your Bird Can Sing . Classic. Or the bridge of Here Comes The Sun . Either way they're all classics, tell us which one melts your heart everytime you listen to it, which one makes you wish you could've heard it played live.
"Playing those mind games together, pushing the barriers, planting seeds. Playing the mind guerilla, chanting the Mantra, peace on earth."
"And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz!"
"I now declare this bridge open"
9.00am
The first one that came to my head was also And Your Bird Can Sing , other songs that come to mind are, I want you (she's so heavy), and Birthday
12.26pm
21 August 2009
Offline “Dear Prudence ” comes to mind for me. I think it's breathtakingly haunting, like something's coming on the far-off winds. Beautiful. On the contrary, I love the urgent whamming of guitar on the chorus of “I Me Mine “. It's a song I really head-bang to, haha!
Tongue, lose thy light. Moon, take thy flight… see ya, George!
4.55am
31 March 2008
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I Feel Fine for me. I can play it on my Rickenbacker – it's a good little loop to mess around with.
I think The Beatles' best riffs were around 65/66, particularly around the Revolver time – Rain , And Your Bird Can Sing , She Said.
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11.31am
Day Tripper and If I Needed Someone for me. Along with I Feel Fine & Ticket To Ride .
Have you seen the article in The Sunday Times in which Mark Edwards makes a case for George being the greatest rock guitarist of all time?
4.14am
I agree with the Ticket To Ride riff which is definitely one of the best. Personally I really like the riff of (well, in fact there are 2 of them in) Everbody's Got Somehting To Hide. The riff of the verse which is based on the bass strings of the guitar gives it a “rocky” feeling – reminding a little bit the one in Drive My Car . Another one that is absolutely great is the one in Back In The USSR , as well as the one in Lady Madonna .
6.03am
4 September 2009
Offline2.14am
14 December 2009
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The opening notes to “Day Tripper “. Ah, A MUST!!!! If you haven't already heard it….the stereo version (U.S. Yesterday …& Today) of “Day Tripper “. Bad Ass! One guitar on one speaker….distorted to all get out! The beginning of the rest comes in and rocks out 'till the end. Let me see if I can find a link/download to this version. I am hoping this one is right….. 
Joe, you might want to give this a listen, playboy….
Sunday's on the phone to Monday, Tuesday's on the phone to me.
2.49pm
14 October 2009
Offline Joe said:
I Feel Fine for me. I can play it on my Rickenbacker – it's a good little loop to mess around with.
I think The Beatles' best riffs were around 65/66, particularly around the Revolver time – Rain , And Your Bird Can Sing , She Said.
You have a Ricky Joe – which model? (you lucky so-and-so 
) I've always yearned for a 12 string but being left-handed rather makes things more difficult, not to mention I'd never be able to afford one!
Agree with you about I Feel Fine . Stunning.
"If we feel our heads starting to swell.....we just look at Ringo!"
3.27pm
31 March 2008
Offline It's a black 360 6-string, and I have a 120-watt Vox Valvetronix amp to go with it. Neither are the exact models that The Beatles used, but near enough to make me happy 
I'd wanted a Rickenbacker for ever, and about seven years ago I finally had enough money to afford one. They're stupidly expensive in the UK, but I imported one from the US and it came to around £950 including import duty (about £100 alone). Still a lot, but well worth it.
In honesty I don't play guitar an awful lot, it's a hobby thing. I do a bit of recording on my Mac using GarageBand, but it's been years since I played in a band (and even then I was on drums). It's nice to crank up the amp Now And Then and scare the neighbours though! The Valvetronix is a digital modelling amp which gives a range of sounds, and is programmable for more. It's possible to get quite convincing tones like those on the mid-60s recordings.
The following people thank Joe for this post:
IveJustSeenAFaceoCan buy me love! Please consider supporting the Beatles Bible on Amazon
Or buy my paperback/ebook! Riding So High – The Beatles and Drugs
Don't miss The Bowie Bible – now live!
6.58pm
Bman55 said:
What's your favourite riff? Mine is from And Your Bird Can Sing . Classic. Or the bridge of Here Comes The Sun . Either way they're all classics, tell us which one melts your heart everytime you listen to it, which one makes you wish you could've heard it played live.
Paul McCartney 's bass line on the song “Rain ” which Abbey Road used a speaker as a micrphone in front of the bass cabinet. This then went through heavy compression using the Altec vaccum tube Compressor.
John Senchak Beatlogist john@antihotmail.com
3.07pm
14 October 2009
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Paul McCartney 's bass line on the song “Rain ” which Abbey Road used a speaker as a micrphone in front of the bass cabinet. This then went through heavy compression using the Altec vaccum tube Compressor.
John Senchak Beatlogist john@antihotmail.com
I think you could count many of McCartney's bass lines around the 1966-1967 era. The one on With A Little Help ….. is superb too.
"If we feel our heads starting to swell.....we just look at Ringo!"
4.04am
I think you could count many of McCartney's bass lines around the 1966-1967 era. The one on With A Little Help ….. is superb too.
I would have also have to include the bass line on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds . One of the better ones is the guitar intro to Helter Skelter where you can hear the Fairchild limiters clip the sound as it's peaking towards the limit. Those first couple of notes are played real loud in the studio It goes BAAAOOOOOOO, then the Fairchild tube limiter clips it off. This is when the main guitar comes in and it's over-driven and distorted . Another neat effect is the intro to Hard Days night where the guitar has tape delay on it. That sudden hard impact of the guitar strings with the delay effect is real powerful way to intro a song.
John Senchak Bealogist john@antihotmail.com
10.26am
26 January 2010
Offline Hi, Just discovered this site and joined straight away. For the guitar riff i'd say I Feel Fine . A great riff and tricky to play too. Also i agree with comments here about Pauls bass playing and would say the Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite bassline is the best i'v ever heard
Onward my friends, and glory for the thirty ninth!!
9.00pm
I'm partial to “I Feel Fine .” That riff just epitomizes the 1964 pop music sound, IMO.
7.08pm
5 February 2010
Offline Funny, I was just listening to one of the early Beatles albums yesterday, heard a little guitar lick that I've heard 1,000 times before and thought, “There are so many great, bite-size, unexpected fills on these albums.” Not even necessarily main riffs, like the opening of “Day Tripper ” or “I Feel Fine ” – I mean the stuff that George (or Paul or John, in later years) would just throw in there, bridging the gap back to a verse from a chorus, or underscoring a vocal line, or whatever.
Let's see if I can come up with a few intelligent examples:
I Need You : the high-voiced electric guitar chords at 1:03-04
Another Girl : the bluesy fills at 0:21-23, and 0:32-33
Drive My Car : the run at 0:18-19, and :30-32
Michelle : the ascending diminished chord on the acoustic guitar (listen close, it's underneath the more prominent guitar solo going on at the same time) at about 2:25-27. There's a very similar ascending bit in “Mother Nature's Son” at 2:34-37 (actually, that entire guitar obligato part from 2:16 on is just stunning, in my opinion)
Girl: the single-note acoustic guitar descant running under the vocal at 1:29-1:49
I'm Looking Through You: the unexpected electric guitar fills at 0:48 and 1:03
Taxman : I have always loved the “whine” on the very first electric guitar note at 1:32 – would love to know how to reproduce that
Here, There And Everywhere : the single-note electric guitar ascending/descending pattern at 1:02-1:08, not to mention the “weeping” high-voiced electric guitar chords that end the song at 2:14
Get the idea? 🙂 I could probably go on like this for pages if I had time to listen to all the albums.
These aren't so much the prominent licks of the song(s), I guess, but my ear expects them every time I hear the songs. They're subtle, and somehow they got lodged in my head, and I think they're just brilliant little riffs.
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Beatlebug, IveJustSeenAFaceoNot a bit like Cagney.
8.48pm
21 August 2009
Offline PeterWeatherby said:
These aren't so much the prominent licks of the song(s), I guess, but my ear expects them every time I hear the songs. They're subtle, and somehow they got lodged in my head, and I think they're just brilliant little riffs.
I took the liberty to go through every song to find the fills or riffs you mentioned- it's funny; we as frequent listeners, hee hee, hear them, but don't really hear the brilliance because, well, they're so small or insignificant. But in reality, they're excellent, we just overlook them.
I particularly love the guitar in all of Mother Nature's Son, accenting Paul's voice. Beautiful beyond words, has to be one of my favourite tunes.
And, to add to the list, how about the guitar picking and inflection of the high notes at the end of Cry Baby Cry at around 2:32, during Paul's little reminiscence, “can you take me back…” etc. Eerie and mysterious, almost. 
Tongue, lose thy light. Moon, take thy flight… see ya, George!
8.53pm
5 February 2010
Offline Alissa said:
And, to add to the list, how about the guitar picking and inflection of the high notes at the end of Cry Baby Cry at around 2:32, during Paul's little reminiscence, “can you take me back…” etc. Eerie and mysterious, almost.
I still haven't quite worked out exactly what chord that is. Not that I've been terribly motivated, or exhausted every attempt, but it's a tricky little bugger. There's a blue note in there somewhere in the high end, which I think is what gives it that “eerie” character you mentioned.
Not a bit like Cagney.
8.59am
27 February 2010
Offline I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon
11.31am
26 April 2010
Offline “I Want You (she’s so heavy)” although overshadowed by that rockin’ bass line!
“Happiness Is A Warm Gun “
“Helter Skelter “
“Revolution ” the distorted version
“Not Guilty “
“If I Needed Someone “
“Hey Bulldog “
“Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey”
“Long, Long, Long “
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps “
“Flying “
“And Your Bird Can Sing “
“She Said She Said “
“Dig A Pony “
Lord, the list goes on and on…
Oh that magic feeling…nowhere to go!
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