The Beatles' instrumentation

The Beatles started out like most other rock and roll bands, employing a standard guitars/bass/drums instrumentation. As their touring days wound down, they became a full-time studio band. Their scope of experimentation grew, as did the palette of sounds. This article attempts to list the instruments used to achieve those results.

Not listed are instruments played by the Beatles’ session players such as cello, violin, saxophone, trumpet, French horn or the 41-piece orchestra heard on A Day in the Life.

Guitars

Both Lennon and Harrison used the Gibson J-160E, an acoustic guitar with an electric pickup at the base of the fretboard. The resonant character of the full acoustic body, combined with the electric pickup, meant that this guitar was susceptible to feedback, employed to great effect on the intro to "I Feel Fine." Lennon also used a Framus acoustic, which can be seen in the movie "Help!" and heard on Help! and You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. This twelve-string guitar accounted for audibly richer rhythm guitar parts on songs like these, in comparison to the six-string Gibsons. After Sgt. Pepper, Lennon moved on to a D-28 from C. F. Martin & Company while Harrison upgraded to a Gibson J-200 Jumbo.

Lennon primarily used a Rickenbacker 325 Capri from 1960 until 1964. He purchased the guitar in Hamburg in its original natural finish and used the guitar extensively throughout the Cavern Club performances. [ [http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/lennon325.html Lennon's 1958 325 Rickenbacker ] ] In early 1963 he sent the guitar off to be refinished in its more popular black finish. This is the way the guitar appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show performance in February 1964. Shortly after, he switched to a brand new Rickenbacker 325, a much more improved version of his 325 Capri. During the sessions for Help!, Lennon and Harrison acquired matching 1961 Stratocasters. Lennon's was used on Nowhere Man and sparingly on the Sgt Pepper album.

Harrison started off in the Cavern Club days playing a black Gretsch Duo Jet. The Duo Jet was refurbished many years later and featured on the cover and album Cloud Nine. Around 1962 he switched to a Gretsch Country Gentleman and a Gretsch Tennessean, both of which he played until around 1965. His first Tennessean was given away to a friend (Harrison was an avid sharer of instruments), and his second Tennessean fell off The Beatles' van in 1965 and was crushed by a lorry. In 1964 Harrison introduced the electric twelve-string guitar into mainstream pop. His Rickenbacker 360/12 twelve-string was a prototype. Only the second twelve-string guitar Rickenbacker ever made, it was delivered specially to him during their first visit to New York City. Harrison's use of the 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn of The Byrds to start using one too. Harrison used a Gibson SG around 1966; these can be seen in the promotional videos for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain," in addition to film of the recording session for "Hey Bulldog." He eventually gave this guitar to Pete Ham of Badfinger. Harrison's most prominent guitar from 1967 until early 1969 was a Fender Stratocaster. Obtained and used during the "Rubber Soul" sessions, it was originally Sonic Blue in color until Harrison gave it a psychedelic paint job, using, among other substances, his wife's sparkly green nail polish. This psychedelic Strat, dubbed "Rocky," is visible seen in the I Am The Walrus segment of Magical Mystery Tour (film), and in the "All You Need Is Love" broadcast. [ [http://www.thecanteen.com/lennon1.html lennon1 ] ] Around this time Harrison also used a 1957 Les Paul model, which was given to him by Eric Clapton and was once in the possession of, among other musicians, John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful. Originally a "gold top" model, the guitar was refinished with a dark red stain before it got to Harrison. The guitar can be seen in the "Revolution" promo video and the "Let It Be" film - in addition to a rosewood Telecaster specially flown to him by Fender.

Lennon and Harrison both purchased Epiphone Casinos in 1965 after Paul McCartney acquired one. They were used extensively in the recording of the Revolver album. Though they purchased the guitars in a sunburst finish, both Harrison and Lennon later stripped the finishes off the guitars claiming it allowed the guitars to "breathe" better. Lennon's stripped down Casino can be seen in video footage of the famous "Rooftop Concert". Lennon used an Epiphone Casino almost exclusively from 1966 until the group's break-up.

Paul McCartney's electric guitar parts (solos on Ticket to Ride, Taxman, Helter Skelter, Drive My Car, The End, Good Morning Good Morning [ [http://www.thecanteen.com/mccartney1.html mccartney1 ] ] to name a few) [ [http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/db1977.0200.beatles.html George Harrison Interview: Crawdaddy Magazine, February 1977 ] ] were chiefly performed on his own Epiphone Casino or sunburst Fender Esquire. For recordings with acoustic parts played by McCartney (Yesterday), he favoured a 1964 Epiphone Texan FT-79. [ [http://www.thecanteen.com/mccartney5.html mccartney5 ] ] In 1968, he started using a D-28 from C. F. Martin & Company.

Bass guitars

McCartney custom ordered a left-handed Höfner model 500/1 "violin" bass during one of the group's early residences in Hamburg. This model, with two pickups very close to the neck and almost touching each other, was replaced in 1963 by a newer model, whose pickups were spaced much broader apart, in a more conventional manner. McCartney continued to use his early model until the "Let It Be" sessions, when it was stolen from Twickenham Film Studios; he continues to use his second Hofner today. In 1965 he switched to a Rickenbacker model 4001S, most likely during the recording of Rubber Soul (It's seen in pictures from those sessions) [The Beatles Anthology] , but certainly by the recording of "Paperback Writer". It would be the principal choice for the remainder of The Beatles' career. He briefly used a left-handed Fender Jazz Bass during sesions for The Beatles (album) and again for Abbey Road [ [http://www.fender.com/artists/ :: Fender.com :: ] ] . He returned to the Höfner during rehearsals and recording of Let It Be.

George Harrison and John Lennon both played a Fender Bass VI on some songs which McCartney played piano, such as Hey Jude.

Harrison also played a right-handed Fender Jazz Bass on a couple songs from Abbey Road.

Keyboards

All four Beatles contributed keyboard parts to their vast catalogue, supplemented by George Martin, Mal Evans, John Oedry, Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston.

* Hohner Pianet N and CH models
* Steinway Vertegrand Upright Piano
* Baldwin Combo Harpsichord
* Baldwin Satin Ebony Grand
* Bechstein D-280 Concert Grand Piano
* Blüthner Grand Piano
* Challen Piano
* Schiedmayer Celeste
* Mannborg Harmonium
* Moog Synthesizer III
* Fender Rhodes Suitcase
* Clavioline
* Hammond RT-3 Organ with Leslie Model 122 Cabinet
* Lowery Organ
* Mellotron MK II [Babiuk, Andy (2002)"Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments, from Stage to Studio".Backbeat Books ISBN 0-879-30662-9]
* Vox Continental organ(s?) used on "I'm Down" and others
* Unidentified harpsichord(s?) used on "All You Need Is Love", "Fixing a Hole", "Piggies"
* Unidentified clavichord used on "For No One"

Microphones

Although microphone usage varied somewhat according to the requirements of each song, the group's recordings at Abbey Road most often employed Neumann U47 or U67 microphones for electric guitars and one or more Neumann U48s for vocals. Early in their recording career the drums usually were recorded with only two microphones: one overhead (an AKG D19 or STC 4038) and one for the bass drum (such as an AKG D20). Later, more microphones were used on the drums. The AKG C28 is visible in the "Let It Be" film. Available studio documentation and interviews with their former recording engineers indicate that this microphone was not used for recording in the studio. [ [http://www.eqmag.com/story.asp?storycode=12030 Shooting to Thrill ] ]

With the group's encouragement, recording engineer Geoff Emerick experimented with microphone placement and equalization. [ [http://www.earcandymag.com/herethereeverywhere-book.htm Book Review: "HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE-My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles" By Geoff Emerick, Howard Massey ] ] Many of his techniques were unusual for the time but have since become commonplace, such as "close miking" (physically placing the microphone in very close proximity of a sound source) of acoustic instruments or deliberately overloading the signal to produce distortion. For example, he obtained the biting string sound that characterises "Eleanor Rigby" by miking the instruments extremely closely — Emerick has related that the string players would instinctively back away from the microphones at the start of each take, and he would go back into the studio and move the microphones closer again. [Emerick, Geoff, with Howard Massey (2006). "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles." ISBN 1-59240-179-1.] The recording of George Harrison's acoustic guitar in Here Comes the Sun was another incidence of close miking.

Drums

Ringo Starr bought a set of Premier drums in 1960, but in June 1963 made the switch to a two-tom Ludwig set. The American-made drums were newly available in England, but the clincher for Starr was the Black Oyster Pearl finish of the Ludwig kit. He had several similar kits, including two that he kept at Abbey Road. For the "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road" sessions, he obtained a natural-tone, three-tom Ludwig set, used on the "rooftop concert" and in his drum solo in "The End." Starr experimented with various muffling techniques. He used Ludwig and Remo drum heads. He started his career playing Paiste cymbals, but switched to Zildjian. He has used Paiste occasionally, most likely due to their easier availability in Europe. [ [http://web2.airmail.net/gshultz/drumhist.html Ringo Starr Drumming History ] ]

Miscellaneous

George Harrison owned many Indian instruments, including tambouras, a swarmandel (or Indian harp) and at least three sitars. All the Beatles kept pianos, guitars and other instruments at their homes to work on songs and demos. Most of these pieces never made their way into the studio with the well-known exceptions of John Lennon's Mellotron and Harrison's Moog synthesizer. Both George and John were given Coral electric sitars. Other instruments were recorder, harmonica, banjo, trumpet, saxophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, kazoo (made out of comb and paper), assorted percussion (congas, bongos, Arabian loose-skin bongo, African drum, timpani, anvil, package case, maracas, tambourine, finger-cymbals, güiro).

The Beatles as a Four Piece Live and in the Studio, 1961–1966

+ Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best in August 1962

The Beatles as a Five Piece

+ Chas Newby (December 1960 only), deputising for Sutcliffe++ Tommy Moore (January-June 1960), Norman Chapman (July 1960), Pete Best (August 1960-)

Notes