Mccartney as a guitarist

Caffeine_Vampire

I rather like the old boy in a band environment.  There were some tasty exchanges in Wings and again in more recent times with Rusty Anderson.

darthed1981

McCartney is an excellent guitarist.  Also a brilliant bassist.

Humourously, once John Lennon, being a cock as per usual, was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, he said "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles"... referring to Paul.

Thing is, I doubt Paul would have said anything.

Legend, actually in the literal sense of the word for once.

lustycourtier

darthed1981 said:

McCartney is an excellent guitarist.  Also a brilliant bassist.

Humourously, once John Lennon, being a cock as per usual, was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, he said "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles"... referring to Paul.

Thing is, I doubt Paul would have said anything.

Legend, actually in the literal sense of the word for once.

John never said that about Ringo. It’s a myth that never goes away 

darthed1981

lustycourtier said:

darthed1981 said:

McCartney is an excellent guitarist.  Also a brilliant bassist.

Humourously, once John Lennon, being a cock as per usual, was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, he said "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles"... referring to Paul.

Thing is, I doubt Paul would have said anything.

Legend, actually in the literal sense of the word for once.

John never said that about Ringo. It’s a myth that never goes away 

See I've always considered it apocryphal if for no other reason than Ringo is a very different kind of drummer to Paul, and John was a good enough musician to recognise that himself.

I've seen it quoted so many places but a lot of Beatles myths are quashed in the better books I know that.

Anyone got a recommendation for the BEST Beatles book?

Caffeine_Vampire

darthed1981 said:

lustycourtier said:

darthed1981 said:

McCartney is an excellent guitarist.  Also a brilliant bassist.

Humourously, once John Lennon, being a cock as per usual, was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, he said "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles"... referring to Paul.

Thing is, I doubt Paul would have said anything.

Legend, actually in the literal sense of the word for once.

John never said that about Ringo. It’s a myth that never goes away 

See I've always considered it apocryphal if for no other reason than Ringo is a very different kind of drummer to Paul, and John was a good enough musician to recognise that himself.

I've seen it quoted so many places but a lot of Beatles myths are quashed in the better books I know that.

Anyone got a recommendation for the BEST Beatles book?

I'm about to lay out big bucks for Mark Lewisohn's All These Years Ago the expanded edition  vol 1. Hopi g he lives long enough for vol's 2 and 3. I'm also desperately waiting for the new edition of Recording the Beatles.

jdgm

He played the 'Taxman' solo...which sounded completely amazing in 1966.

roberty

lustycourtier said:

darthed1981 said:

McCartney is an excellent guitarist.  Also a brilliant bassist.

Humourously, once John Lennon, being a cock as per usual, was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, he said "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles"... referring to Paul.

Thing is, I doubt Paul would have said anything.

Legend, actually in the literal sense of the word for once.

John never said that about Ringo. It’s a myth that never goes away 

It was Jasper Carrott who said it I think. It's a good joke but I happen to rate Ringo's drumming

https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/beatles/did-john-lennon-say-ringo-wasnt-even-best-drummer/ ;

BlueStrat

Yes, a Jasper Carrot ‘joke’. 

Ringo’s drumming fits the song perfectly, and still sounds great today. 

More than can be said for Jasper

Redlester

Fabulous guitar player. Superb melodic and harmonic sense (natch), highly aggressive in a very good way when he digs in. Plays perfect parts to fit with songs. And has a lovely way with an acoustic. 

Don't want to de-rail this thread by going into how great a bass player he is- almost goes without saying. But if you want to know just how truly special he is, check out live footage of him playing Silly Love Songs. Put aside whether you actually like the song or not (it is a love-hate one I know). But when you see him singing while playing *that* baseline flawlessly, then you know he is a complete natural. 

Funkfingers

darthed1981 said:

Anyone got a recommendation for the BEST Beatles book?

I cannot say whether it is *The Best* but The Beatles - All These Years by Mark Lewisohn tells how the band came together and how, if events had taken some slightly different turns, they might never have been known outside the Liverpool club scene.

The gang mentality explains why the pecking order was always John, Paul, George. 

The book also illustrates the lengths to which John and Paul strove to recruit Ringo. Maybe not the best drummer in the world but the RIGHT drummer for the group.

Tannin

Yep, to this day, Ringo still gets panned by people who ought to know better. Every* band needs a straight-ahead player who holds things together and gives the others freedom to do great things. Very often it's the bass player (think Bill Wyman), sometimes a guitarist (think Freddie Green), in the Beatles it was Ringo. Ringo's straight-ahead drumming is one of the reasons Paul was able to be such an amazing, creative bass player.   I've never really listened explicitly to Paul's guitar playing, but his ear for a melody is extraordinary and almost unique.  

* Except The Who, of course, who broke all the normal rules.

stickyfiddle

What Tannin said. Also Ringo is one of the most identifiable drummers as his lefty-on-righty-kit style led him to come up with beats most regular drummers wouldn't dream of 

prowla

He could play the ukulele too...

prowla

I really like Ringo's drumming; he fitted the band perfectly.

english_bob

Redlester said:

Fabulous guitar player. Superb melodic and harmonic sense (natch), highly aggressive in a very good way when he digs in. Plays perfect parts to fit with songs. And has a lovely way with an acoustic. 

Don't want to de-rail this thread by going into how great a bass player he is- almost goes without saying. But if you want to know just how truly special he is, check out live footage of him playing Silly Love Songs. Put aside whether you actually like the song or not (it is a love-hate one I know). But when you see him singing while playing *that* baseline flawlessly, then you know he is a complete natural. 

I helped my son learn that bassline. It's so much fun.

Probably my favourite Macca guitar moment is the solo in "Maybe I'm Amazed"- so good he plays it twice.

...or it might be Gilmour's solos on "No More Lonely Nights", but that's cheating.

chrisj1602

https://youtu.be/wJTjjAXDZSY

CaseOfAce

We added Twist and Shout to our set and our bass player was basically following the root notes etc using fingers.

I just couldn't work out why he hadn't bothered to learn the Macca bassline so I showed him my hack version of the part at the next rehearsal on bass (I'm no bass player).
His eyes just about popped out of his head... after he'd refrained from walloping me.

I said to him... the bass part is more interesting than the guitar chords and lines I'm playing on this song...
he's learnt it properly now. 

Oh - Macca still touring at 80. 
good god.
My dad struggles to walk down the garden path at that age these days.

earwighoney

stickyfiddle said:

Also Ringo is one of the most identifiable drummers as his lefty-on-righty-kit style led him to come up with beats most regular drummers wouldn't dream of 

Exactly.

I was never for or against Ringo as a drummer (I myself never gave it much thought) until I saw the documentary 'The Art of Drums' and they had a number of famous drummers including I think Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater who were singing his praises.

To provide a brief summary of why they were saying Ringo was so great (it's been a few years since I saw the documentary) was that he was effectively playing riffs (some very memorable ones eg Taxman etc) which made the Beatles songs incredibly catchy and memorable.  To undermine Ringo's abilities as a drummer isn't just undermining his ability as a musician but as a song writer, his drumming is integral to the Beatles composition.  There's a reason why loads of highly revered musicians like Dave Grohl etc cite Ringo as one of their all time favourite drummers, Ringo as a drummer was truly exceptional.

I'm not the biggest Beatles fan (or much of one come to think about it), but all 4 members were all phenomenal musicians and even greater band together.

I was channel surfing during the McCartney documentary and 'Live at Let Die' was on, an absolute banger (but being an 80's kid, I was introduced to it via GNR).

boogieman

McCartney proved he was a great guitarist with Blackbird. 

Ringo proved he was a great drummer with Come Together. 

I always thought the Beatles were one of those magical bands where the whole was much more than just the sum of its parts. See also Free. 

RocknRollDave

I like his solo on Start! off Sound Affects.

guitars4you

Not sure if true or not but I heard the story that when John and Paul were writing together, that sometimes Paul would pick up John's guitar and play it right handed, whilst John would pick up Paul's bass and play it left handed