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. For the White Album, 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. In early 1962 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 Rickenbacker 325c64 Miami, a newer model of the 325v58. 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. In 1964 he became the first guitarist to use a 12-string electric guitar, the Rickenbacker 365/12. His use of the 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn of The Byrds to start using one too. He used a Gibson SG on the songs "Paperback Writer" and "Hey Bulldog", as well as the Revolver sessions. Harrison's main guitar from 1967 until early 1969 was the Stratocaster. Harrison's Strat got a psychedelic paint job and became known as "Rocky", seen in the I Am The Walrus segment of Magical Mystery Tour (film).^[1] He also used a refinished Les Paul that Eric Clapton gave to him in 1968, the same guitar Clapton used for the While My Guitar Gently Weeps session. His Rosewood Telecaster can be seen in the Let It Be film.

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, Good Morning Good Morning^[2] to name a few)^[3] were chiefly performed on his own Epiphone Casino.

Bass guitars

McCartney custom ordered a left-handed Höfner model 500/1 "violin" bass during one of the group's early residences in Hamburg. In 1965 he switched to a Rickenbacker model 4001, beginning with the recording of "Paperback Writer", 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^[4]. He returned to the Höfner during rehearsals and recording of Let It Be.

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 L 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
• Hammond RT-3 Organ with Leslie Model 122 Cabinet
• Lowery Organ
• Mellotron M400^[5]

Microphones

A Neumann U87

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.^[6]

With the group's encouragement, recording engineer Geoff Emerick experimented with microphone placement and equalization.^[7] 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.^[8] 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 Ludwig. 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 kits, including two that he kept at Abbey Road. 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.^[9]

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.

Notes

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