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5.55pm
20 December 2010
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Does anyone know if the guitar solo in 'Slow Down ' is definitely John. I sounds more like George and is pretty complicated for John doing a solo like that in 1964.
The further one travels, the less one knows
5.58pm
19 September 2010
Offline According to This article, It`s John: /songs/slow-down/
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
7.32pm
1 December 2009
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This was addressed just a few weeks ago on the main “Slow Down ” page, and I said that I was intrigued and that I'd give a listen and offer my opinion. And I forgot, and now I'm even more curious; but it's too late and I'll be out of town until the new year! Damn.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
8.04pm
31 March 2008
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I don't know for sure that it's John, but it's pretty badly played. Ian MacDonald says it's him, whereas Walter Everett and others say it's George. I think I'll change it to George – it sounds more like him, although he was clearly having an off day.
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8.07pm
19 September 2010
Offline What does Lewisohn say?
*9*
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
8.49pm
19 September 2010
Offline It's Definitely George. If You Check Out The Version on Live At The BBC , It is way out Of John's Range of Skill. George just was off on the day they taped the EMI version.
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
8.49pm
31 March 2008
Offline Nothing about this.
Can 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!
8.50pm
19 September 2010
Offline 
Okay Then
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
10.03pm
20 December 2010
Offline I know the Lennon fans out there are not going to like this but George taught him how to play guitar back in 1958. At that time, john was using banjo strings on his guitar and did not know very many chords.
The further one travels, the less one knows
10.21pm
1 December 2009
Offline I don't think the Lennon fans among us (or McCartney, Harrison, Starr or Ono fans; or, uh, Beatles fans, for that matter) would deny that George's guitar skills were superior to John's. Or why we should necessarily like or dislike it.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
10.28pm
19 September 2010
Offline Sometimes People have problems with the truth about their heroes, especially when of a critical nature.
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
10.51pm
9 June 2010
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Inner Light said:
I know the Lennon fans out there are not going to like this, but George taught him how to play guitar back in 1958. At that time, John was using banjo strings on his guitar and did not know very many chords.
Er… don't you mean Paul?
If I seem to act unkind, it's only me, it's not my mind that is confusing things.
11.02pm
13 November 2009
Offline Yup, it was Paul who taught him his chords – Paul played it up side down and John had to figure out how to flip it.
Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!
12.17am
19 April 2010
Offline In terms of the solo – I am pretty sure it's George – sounds like George's style (esp. the BBC version).
In terms of who is the better player – as a guitar player myself, I look at it this way – George had a better mastery overall of the guitar – there's no question about it. When John was asked by Rolling Stone he said he didn't think he was that good a technical player – he never stressed his guitar abilities.
With that said, John was a better rhythm player than George. John's syncopated playing, his triplet rhythms and other imaginative chord voicings and reggae hits are very underrated – he called himself the invisible guitar player – but I'll tell you that it's John's driving rhythms that drove that band.
Let It Be really drives that point – on the rocking numbers John is like an engine at high RPMs.
"She looks more like him than I do."
12.55am
9 June 2010
Offline skye said:
Yup, it was Paul who taught him his chords – Paul played it up side down and John had to figure out how to flip it.
Wouldn't that make it easier? I mean, it would be like a mirror…
Oh, wait. No. It wouldn't.
I should know that. I've been playing for nearly a year.
EDIT: Wait . If Paul was playing a re-strung guitar, it would. Dang you, skye. You tricked me.
If I seem to act unkind, it's only me, it's not my mind that is confusing things.
12.57am
19 September 2010
Offline As a non-guitarist, I`m Confused
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
1.47am
13 November 2009
Offline OK, I don't play guitar either but this is how I *think* it works:
The chord is this like this (using three strings to make it easy on me)
______x_
__x_____
____x___
Paul plays this (his guitar is upside because he's left handed, but it's strung for someone who plays right)
___x____
_____x__
_x______
So John sees this and has to rotate it, not mirror it, becuase that will be a different sound.
Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!
2.25am
19 September 2010
Offline That helps alot, Thanks Skye
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
4.06pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Am very pleased they did this on the BBC so we get a taste of how they might have performed it live. The rhythm track is incredible, especially from the solo when the four really hit it, and Ringo’s drums are once again fantastic and forceful. And its played at such a ferocious pace. More proof (in my opinion) that just as a cover band the Beatles were miles ahead of their rivals.
As for the studio take John’s scream before the solo could be his most maniacal on record.
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8.06pm
15 May 2015
Offline The studio version has that Jerry Lee Lewis/Little Richard piano vamp, which I sorely miss in this live version. Also, in the studio version, John does that thing with his lips for which I know not the name — basically you forcefully blow air out your lips, creating a kind of blubbery sound (I wonder who first did that in pop singing?).
Speaking of that blubbery lips thing, the singer for the rock band “Crow” replicated that in their cover of “Slow Down ” (from their 1970 album Crow By Crow).
Forgive me father, for I must blaspheme — twice: Dave Wagner was a much more powerful singer than John, sort of a cross between Robert Plant and David Clayton-Thomas (of “Blood, Sweat and Tears” fame). And I like Crow’s version of “Slow Down ” much better than that of the Beatles. Crow slows the pace down to a steady, straight-ahead rock tempo, setting the mood for quite a different song. Look for the extended scream by Wagner at the end which sets out on an unearthly, protracted descant, fused with some kind of effect with an electric guitar chord.
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