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Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Beatles "I Feel Fine" Isolated Guitars

It's always fun to listen to hits of years past and dissect the parts, and today's song is no exception. It's "I Feel Fine" by The Beatles, a big hit for them from way back in 1964. This might have been the first example of feedback electric guitar (John Lennon's amplified Gibson acoustic J-160E) on record, but it was discovered accidentally when Lennon leaned his guitar up against the amp after a take. The band loved it and later edited it in to the beginning of the song.

John, who wrote and sang the song, claimed that the riff was based around a Bobby Parker song the band used to play live called "Watch Your Step." What you'll hear comes from the last of 8 basic track takes. Here's what to listen for (it starts at 0:05):

1. John plays the main riff on his Gibson while George Harrison sometimes doubles, and other times plays rhythm on his Gretsch Tennessean.

2. As was the production norm of the day, the parts of the two guitars aren't really defined. They both drift from playing the riff to playing the chords at different times. Today the parts would be much more worked out with every lick in mind.

3. Georges rhythm is a little out of tune, especially in the beginning, but you don't it notice in the track.

4. Listen through to the end to hear the ending not on the record.

6 comments:

Brian Suicide said...

Wow. This is making me want to grab an empty padbook, search for as many similar videos as possible, close my eyes and open my ears, and just listen all day and night taking notes. If anything I'm going to give this a bunch of listens. This video gave me a lot of food for thought, especially on making something feel organic and real.Like stepping away from a path of perfection to find true soul, right?

Pulau Tidung said...

My favo song is heavy metal, but i like this one...thanks for share

Barry Hall said...

Rock historians point to this song as the first to use guitar feedback (that first note). Apparently it was originally a studio accident, as so many great musical innovations were!

Wisata Malang said...

great post guys, i am very helpfully

otaji said...

Fantatic about Rock n Roll music...keep your rock!!!

Hotel danau toba said...

I like slow rock music, like 1970-1990, easy listening...:)

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