Follow us
John Lennon: Guitarist
Way back in 2016, at the dawn of CultureSonar, I wrote about a favorite topic: John Lennon’s guitar playing. I recently stumbled across another cool analysis, and — now that The Beatles are back on the charts again — it seemed a good time to update the original article. Please do let us know what you think! — Al Cattabiani
As with any masterpiece, the Beatles’ music opens a new door with each visit. No matter how many times you hear the songs, there’s always something fresh to appreciate. In a recent round of bingeing on their catalog, it was John Lennon’s guitar playing that reintroduced itself. Paraphrasing Mr. Lennon himself, if George was The Beatles’ forgotten singer, John was their forgotten guitar player. And while at this point virtually nothing the band did can be considered overlooked, Lennon had a point. For example:
He was a monster rhythm guitarist. He totally drove the band, particularly in the early days.
Listen to his wildly inventive contributions on early gems like “All My Loving” and “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You.” If you yourself play guitar, just try copying what he did. It’s pretty tricky. More to the point, he came up with this stuff – crafting innovative parts that not only served the songs but propelled them.
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” is another prime example, as this cool YouTube analysis shows. There’s quite a lot to enjoy on this instrumental track. John, of course, is absolutely driving the song with his chunking rhythm. George mixes single-note fills and bits of complementary chord strumming in a master class in good taste and restraint. For his part, Paul is already asserting himself as a de facto music director. Ringo, as usual, finds just the right thing for the song…
Later, Lennon added raw power and avant-garde touches to tracks like Revolution and the 3-guitar volley on Abbey Road’s “The End.”
His sweet fills on tunes like “Get Back” gave them their personality. His delicate fingerpicking on “Julia” showcased his fine touch on acoustic guitar.
It’s obviously no secret that all four guys were sharp, road-tested, ceaselessly clever musicians. It’s worth an extra “cheers” to John Lennon for his understated yet exceptionally versatile talents on guitar.
Photo Credit: John Lennon in Paris by Harry Benson/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
I’ve read that he kept his D string flat because it created at the subconscious level of the listener a somewhat dysphoric, bluesy feeling. Brilliant they were. I’d enjoy reading a little essay on the indispensability of George Harrison’s guitar instincts to their success. It’s rather fashionable for people to diss Harrison, to say that a lot of other guys could have filled the lead guitar role as well as he did, which is silly. Anyone who wishes to see the Beatles at their roaring best should go to YouTube and watch their performance at the 1964 NME awards.
I recall reading he said it was so Aunt Mimi could tell him and George apart on the records…
That’s John’s Scouse humour in play. I doubt that most people, let alone Mimi, would have theat discerning a musical ear.
It was invisible, not forgotten, singer and guitar player.
When asked if he considered himself a good guitarist, Lennon answered [paraphrasing], “I dunno, ask Eric [Clapton], he says I’m good.”
I don’t think any of them were virtuosos on their instruments but IMO Ringo was the closest. They knew how to craft their songs so well as a group. While the focus is usually on the lead guitarist John know how to make the rhythm guitar stand out, particularly on songs like All My Loving and I Feel Fine. He also did some outstanding leads which have been mentioned except I haven’t seen praise for his guitar licks on The Ballad of John and Yoko.
His playing on “Ballad” is another fine example. He “played the song” perfectly.
John put a bit of this into his guitar work on BOJAY, just for old time’s sake. https://youtu.be/9kuxs8Ipgvw
I think,it would be hard to be in a rock band!But,I do know this….I thought that(the late)John Lennon was a;”pretty,good,”guitar player!And,I also know,that;Yoko Ono,Lennon was the love 💗 of his life!Year’s ago,I read about the Beatles in;Shout!The Beatle’s in their generation by a;Phillip Norman,who must’ve wrote in the 1980”s.(about early 1981).
I meant Geddy Lee also said these things.
Also there’s a great 3 part August 1971 online interview with George Martin from The Melody Maker Magazine on The Fifth Beatle Proboards site.
And he was asked if he took them seriously as musicians and song writers when he first started to produce them in 1962.
He said what he always said that he wasn’t impressed with Paul’s song Love Me Do but Paul wrote it when he was only 16 but he also wrote the much better very pretty acoustic guitar song I’ll Follow The Sun at this age too.
George Martin didn’t mention this song in the interview I’m sure because they didn’t present it to him then but years later he said that it was his favorite song on The Beatles underrated late 1964 album Beatles For Sale.
George said that not long after Love Me Do John with contributions from Paul wrote Please Please Me and he said it knocked him out and he rightly told them they had their first number 1 hit and he said that was the beginning of them.
He said similar things over the years including that everything they brought him from then on was pure gold.
He said that as musicians they were quite adequate and they could all play their guitars pretty well and they had an uninhibited sound.
He was also asked what he thought about Pete Best’s drumming and he said he didn’t like him and he told Brian Epstein that he wasn’t good enough to play on their records and that he could do whatever he wanted with him outside of the recording studio.
He said when he first heard Ringo Starr playing drums he was much better than Pete Best and that Ringo was rough,ruckus and really good.
Also in the December 1963 London Times music critic William Mann pointed out the unusual inventive complex chords they were writing in some of their early songs and he called John Lennon and Paul McCartney the 2 most outstanding song composers of 1963.
And also in the December 1963 London Times classical music critic Richard Buckle called John Lennon and Paul McCartney the 2 greatest song composers since Beethoven after they wrote music for a play Mods And Rockers.
And there’s an excellent extensive 11 year music analysis of all 200 Beatles songs by University of Pennsylvania ( 1 of the best ivy league universities in America) graduate musicologist Alan Pollack called Notes On Series.
And he also explains that even in some of their very early songs like John’s great 1962 song Ask Me Why, Paul’s 1962 song P.S. I Love You and his great 1963 song All My Loving they have inventive complex unusual chords and arrangements.
He said in an interview in the online series that people tend to underrate their early catalog in respect to their chord anomalies.
So a lot of their early music they were writing and playing wasn’t simple even though most of their lyrics were then.
John Lennon said in 1 of his last radio interviews that in their early years their music was more important than the lyrics.
This article is an example of why often I adopt a contrarian opinion of the Beatles. I’ve been beaten over the head my entire life with “The Beatles are unequivocally the Gods of rock and pop” as the eleventh commandment. They haven’t gotten enough praise since they broke up FIFTY TWO years ago that the writer felt the need to manufacture a new angle on their greatness? I don’t think there’s anything at all that’s truly great about Lennon’s guitar playing. Writing? Absolutely, brilliant! But guitar playing—even rhythm guitar playing? Sorry but I don’t think it’s exceptional.
Here in this 1977 interview with Eric Clapton he says that there was always this game( meaning guitar) between John and George and he said partly because John was a pretty good guitar player himself. Eric was referring to John’s Beatles years but Eric also played live with John as a member of his 1969 John Lennon Plastic Ono Band.
http://www.superseventies.com/ssericclapton.html
In this 2013 interview with Eric Clapton he says John Lennon was a great musician,amazing composer and friend.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/music/news/John-Lennon-does-not-need-any-definition-Eric-Clapton/articleshow/20241104.cms
The Beatles have nothing to do with these posts. They are independent people who love to communicate about them so don’t be angry at The Beatles. They themselves could not understand all the fuss. They knew they were a great band together and didn’t think it ranked in importance with world issues although they had a tremendous influence. Face it, they opened the door for all kinds of musical and cultural experiences. It was really ho-hum before them.
Paul McCartney was always a virtuoso musician especially on bass guitar but he always could play any instrument in his hands great even one like the bass that he got stuck with playing and initially hated playing because John and George didn’t want to play it.
Bass player and piano player Dennis Alstrand had a great site from the 1990’s The Evolution Of Rock Bass Playing McCartney Style where many famous successful bass players such as Sting,Will Lee, Billy Sheehan, Stanley Clark, and John Lennon and George Martin all said what a great melodic influential bass guitar player Paul always was including in his Beatles years.
Geddy Lee also said these people in a YouTube video interview. And John Stirratt also said the same kind of things in a 2010 online interview.
In his great book The Beatles And Their Revolutionary Bass Player, Dennis Alstrand explains that even in June 1961 when The Beatles backed Tony Sheridan in Hamburg Germany Paul’s bass playing was already first rate.
I meant that The Beatles recording technology of the early -late 1960’s was really limited and primitive.
George Martin always said the very clearly obvious that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were incredibly talented people and that they both were extraordinarily talented song writers and great singers.
He also said that he had never worked with anyone else as brilliant as The Beatles and he produced many other music artists after them but he never had the same success as he did when he worked with them neither did Brian Epstein.
In his autobiography All You Need Is Ears George Martin said, There’s no doubt that Lennon and McCartney were good musicians and he said they had good musical brains which is where music originates it has nothing to do with your fingers.
He then said as it turns out they could all play their instruments very well and that Paul McCartney is an excellent music-all arounder probably the best bass guitar player ever a brilliant guitarist, a first rate drummer,and a competent piano player.
He also said that in their early years he tried to learn to play the guitar to have a better musical communication with them but he couldn’t learn to play it so he gave it up.
But he said that both John and Paul learned to play the piano far more quickly than he was able to master their instrument.
Also as I and other people have rightly pointed out it’s really amazing that The Beatles sounded as great as they did playing live with the very limited primitive sound systems they had back then feedback monitors hadn’t even been invented yet.
But they still played and sang great and in sync with each other anyway but by the time they wrote,recorded and played live their first album Please Please Me amazingly in just 1 day in February 1963 they already had played 1000’s of hours in the sleazy strip clubs in Hamburg Germany 8 hours a night from 1960-1962.
And they had to take speed pills to stay awake to do it and they also played successfully live in their local Liverpool Cavern Club for several years.
And this was before they played live around the world from 1963-1966. Also it’s really amazing that they sounded as great as they did on their records too their recording studio was built in the 1930’s and the early -mid 1960’s recording technology was also very limiting and primitive and their recording studio was infancy not that comfortable that looked like a big factory warehouse.