John Lennon's Revolution Guitar Sound | Friday Fretworks

[@txandroid7443]

"John's mic is shet."

[@GarryBurgess]

I would have done anything for this information back in 1968.

[@usertubeification]

I don't think your Logic plugins would run...

[@phakeknews3409]

Sorry but you have no 'Logic' then....

[@NATIVESUNSETS65]

There were stories from the nineties that they sliced the speakers with a razor blade and mixed it with feedback /overdrive . My buddy a guitarist was thinking about trying the razor blade but better judgement prevailed.

[@michaelwertzy9808]

Duck, you're sick! Are you a Scout leader?! SHADDUP!

[@jodysanders1111]

@Deborah Dionizio it would have been the only subject I would have passed. Priceless comment,I might add.

[@toddfleury7324]

I’ve got the old strings part covered.

[@charlie-obrien]

Me too. Do you think 6 months gives them enough "maturing"?

[@cattycorner8]

lol well that's a start

[@frankgalligan9111]

John was never given enough credit for his electric guitar playing.

[@Roystothecoolkid]

@Rosen Bar John said his playing on all my loving was his best work

[@djc5897]

Innovating especially creating the first ever recorded guitar feed back on I feel fine but apparently he was self conscious of his guitar playing and admitted in an interview he isnt the most spectacular player but it gets the job done

[@FranciscaBrandao]

@@djc5897 he wasn't very confident either on his playing or singing but he was indeed a great guitar player and a very very underestimated one

[@pierredevaughn]

Facts 💯

[@johnnymoondogs1816]

Hes the greatest rhythm guitar player ever

[@dakotaslim]

When that song hit the radio in '68 it sounded like something that had no logical musical progenitor. In that sense it was like a lot of Beatles songs. Their music progressed exponentially while others were only capable of laying one musical brick on top of another. They basically reinvented the art form with each album. That guitar tone still gives me chills.

[@wmg1958]

Excellent description of what it was like at the time to hear a new Beatles release. I concur

[@0000song0000]

And the yelling !!!! :)

[@charlie-obrien]

That guitar sound and the lyrics were the Scream that the world felt like in 1968.

[@kimsullivan5576]

@@charlie-obrien What is so eerie is that his guitar sounds like a startling machine-gun. His assassin took place 13 years later by a gun.

[@echandonut]

People also forget that Yoko invent black metal vocal style

[@WaterShowsProd]

John Lennon was always fondest of whatever the last thing they'd recorded was, but there's a story that after they finished Revolution he played it over and over for his friends, because he loved the sound of the guitar.

[@delinseurn]

Simple: make a time machine and go back in time and tell yourself

[@designdefense]

This is perfect. You didn’t recreate it. You resurrected it

[@ACTUALLYRICH]

Kris.C yes he did sir.

[@avbugflames]

it was never dead

[@efrazable]

@Stick Diaz the original is more open, has a bit more honk, maybe due to the low-output vintage pickups?

[@benwise6517]

@W B Whatever. You think you can do better?

[@lastofthe4horsemen279]

I don't believe resurrected is the word to describe it . Revolution is aseminal track in the history of music.It has been studied by generations of musicians. But he has done a great job here and i am impressed with the amount of work he put into playing John's song which did not die with him the night he was murdered .

[@nigelvernon4431]

Wow, as an age old Beatle devotee, that's the closest I've ever heard to anyone nailing that sound, I'm stunned! Great video as always, thanks again.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

gmt124 Thank you so much 🙂

[@Ptpop]

True. Do you know if John played with a capo during this song?

[@BeatlesCentricUniverse]

No capo. In the video it's played in the "A" position. The tape was manipulated.

[@variousthings6470]

@@BeatlesCentricUniverse KZbin user "MyTwangyGuitar" used to have a cover of this song online (both John and George's parts) and before he deleted it he linked to some text files with comments on how the song was probably played and how one can accurately recreate the sound. I'm not sure how accurate his advice was, but it was very thorough and detailed, so quite persuasive! I'll have to dig out my saved copy of his files to check, but IIRC he said that in order to recreate it accurately one should tune all strings sharp by a certain amount because to his ears there are telltale open strings which suggest that it was not played with a capo. IIRC his comments also explained that the video version is misleading as it does not match what was played on the record. I'll try and dig out my saved copy of his comments and post them here, see if anyone finds then useful - or can debunk his claims...

[@Rightsideup]

Wtg

[@motogriso1]

I miss John’s voice. Damn, it drives me mad that his life was so cut short.

[@robertgosselin14]

John Lennon. The name itself itself inspires awe. He was something else wasn't he ...

[@bencheshire]

Musically yes he was to be admired.

[@FuzzyDancingBear]

@@bencheshire Musically indeed

[@johnwhite9825]

@@fshoaps Very much so, Fin.

[@vainestlamb5917]

he was kinda terrible lmao

[@vainestlamb5917]

Like as a person

[@uncletrick1]

I don’t play the guitar. I have no idea why I’m watching this at 5:30 a.m., but it was very interesting!

[@ms9625]

Stop doing cocaine

[@EthanJamesMOJO]

@@ms9625 cocaine ruin yo brain, yuh

[@TheSadMusician]

Same

[@gpiano88]

@Owen Harris If that 'riff' is a joke, you must be the punchline bro.

[@internetjimtem2000]

Cocaine saved my life

[@patbrennan6572]

imagine if lennon had todays technology.

[@fluffydelberg]

it's gonna be more crazy

[@sleepymarauder4178]

He would be the king of burns and sarcastic remark. That man had a wicked sense of humor.

[@djrnl2705]

I think he is a producer now. A DJ a mentor or an executive in his record label. A HERO

[@djrnl2705]

I think he is a producer now. A DJ a mentor or an executive in his record label. A HERO

[@edwardturello2782]

Imagine

[@briangregory6303]

John was badass.

[@UninstalledGamer]

Not gonna lie. Whenever I was on my headphones and had my PC on full volume I always shit myself hearing that loud earpiercing sound of John Lennon’s guitar in revolution.

[@mashikawa1995]

Same Thing. Ya Know What's Embarrassing? When Its New year, and I Pick Revolution and Forget to Lower the Volume.. and John's Is Just 0:00 till 0:58. GREAT.

[@meghnasaha4349]

With that scream too

[@alic-c]

Me after he plays after distortion: My God he's done it. Him: Getting in to that ball park now Me: Christ Almighty

[@zoomonkeydotcom2005]

Geezus on a bike . He’s nailed it !

[@jaex9617]

This comment is significantly underrated.

[@alic-c]

@@jaex9617 that is the best compliment I have ever been given

[@jaex9617]

@@alic-c You are most welcome.

[@alic-c]

@@jaex9617 you are most kind

[@nachopagani]

God I loved your video! Just perfect And of course it’s the most accurate “Revolution” guitar tone I ever heard.

[@gioknows]

When you watch a video like this one and it shows you what the Beatles did on their recordings your respect for them grows even more.

[@ssPeto]

Years ago (many!) my mother bought a 45 for my brother. Side A was Hey Jude. I thought it was pretty good. Being a curious child, I flipped it over and heard Revolution for the first time. I proclaimed it to be the better song. My family thought I was crazy. It took a few more years to prove that they were right but that was ok because I had more fun than they did. :)

[@BeatlesCentricUniverse]

ssPeto I have the same story. We got the 45 for Hey Jude when I was a kid. I always thought Revolution on the B side was better too lol.

[@LennyJohnson5]

You were right all along!

[@stevenattanasso2003]

As soon as You mentioned 45 ( rpm ) the (many!) reference became redundant .....

[@bb1111116]

I agreed with you at the time. Hey Jude has two parts. The first part is a quiet, comforting ballad by Paul. It was OK but I didn’t think this part was that good. And the second part is a rock song that begins with “Better, better, better… Ooooooooh!, yeah, yeah, yeah! La la la la…, Hey Jude” which goes on for several minutes with Paul’s great singing. But the lyrics in the rock part are just “Hey Jude” over & over again. Overall it’s fine but not great imo. * Revolution is much tighter. It gets right into a distorted rock & roll energy which feels & sounds great. In the song Lennon has something to say about radicals, in how they are out of touch with mainstream society. Then Lennon adds optimism in that the world will get better without the violent revolution that the radicals want. There will be a different kind of revolution, “You better free your mind instead” & “Don’t you know it’s going to be, alright”. It’s a great song on many levels.

[@juliereminiec4937]

@Andrew Harper Julian Lennon's parents divorced in 1968.. Spousal abuse was the grounds

[@catface101]

9:32 "a fairly revolutionary technique" I see what you did there!

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Catface 😉

[@Vas0011]

Chris Buck just wanted to ask what chords did you use? You probably won’t get this anyway lol

[@aniquinstark4347]

Holy shit, that tone is *PERFECT* . You are an absolute master of guitar tone.

[@jefferystanfield3284]

The slight delay you added at the end of your video did the magic trick of truly making the tone as close as possible to the original. Great work !!!

[@rcknbob1]

Jeffery, I will second your comment. Until he put in the delay, I was saying to myself at each iteration, "Yeah, that's a little more like it." With the delay, I was "OMG! That's it!" And I was a guy who would listen to the White Album for like a weekend.

[@jodysanders1111]

Back in the day musicians went to great extent to create and achieve the classic tones and sounds we all know and love. For the most part,uneducated and experimental. It took alot of time,effort and gear to do so. That's what made them the classic artists we know today. Great job reproducing such a classic,iconic sound.

[@iseeolly9959]

Sounds exactly like the original! Well done sir! Brilliant stuff mate.

[@sixstringer98]

There's a way to get this tone using pedals! I've got a smashing pumpkins reissue op big muff thru an earthquaker devices bows boost pedal. Flip the tone switch on the big muff on and the tone switch on the bows to the treble setting, crank the sustain on the big muff and you've got the John Lennon direct-in tone

[@jmwra]

one of my favourite things about the beatles, is that despite being the greatest band of all time - everyone one of them was and still might be severly underrated at their respective instruments!!!

[@Incandescentiron]

Very cool. Thank you for the history lesson. You did a great job replicating the tone. Well done!

[@Gunslinger1875]

For years I have tried too get that sound , you did in what a day? God I need a drink. Oh, in my opinion you nailed it! BRILLIANT!

[@rogdenley6944]

Impressive as hell, as always. I love your low-key, modest manner and great playing. Thanks for this!

[@selwynkatz519]

Considering the live performance would've been remixed in the studio afterwards... eliminating some treble boost from the live sound...I would say you really nailed it as it would've sounded live. Very Well done Bro 👍.

[@greggallucci607]

In the old Beatles clip only the vocals are live. The instruments are directly dubbed from the studio version. The Hey Jude clip from the same era is presented in the same fashion for television broadcast. But yeah, extremely well done Bro.

[@andyznuff]

Dude, that's like 99.9% spot on! Awesome!

[@joepalooka2145]

Great video. You really nailed it. John was an excellent guitar player who came up with many unique sounds and licks.

[@isaacjohnson.]

Absolutely Brilliant! Sounds Ace! Chris, you did such a great job nailing the tone, but also love how well you dissected and explained how you set up the tone. Cheers for that!

[@CraigHollabaugh]

Chris, in Geoff Emerick's audiobook book "Here, There and Everywhere" track 74, Lennon commanded Emerick to make his guitar sound "dirtier". He specifically talks about the over driving the mixing board as you mentioned here. He was turning knobs expressly forbidden by studio management. If his manager saw what he was doing, he'd be fired. He says eventually got that dirty sound Lennon was looking for and it would be the sound that grunge bands later would seek out as well. Thanks for the breakdown, love the Fretworks. Thanks.

[@stevesoldwedel]

Just goes to show that there's a lot to be derived from flouting the brass.

[@jamesgang6206]

Hilarious.. Against the rules and could get you fired for doing. But oh.. wait. It's the Beatles. Oh very well then. Just goes to show. Even EMI knew you can tell other bands and engineers don't ! But if it's the Beatles. You just stay the hell out of the way!!! They really were just pure genius and so far and away ahead of their time.

[@0000song0000]

What I have always loved about this is that years later, his son Sean (then 4) was asking John to make his guitar sound "louder" and John saying " I can't make it any louder".... :D lol

[@aniquinstark4347]

@@0000song0000 John knew the wisdom of cranking it up to 11, much like Lemmy would do later.

[@STSGuitar16]

You've got some tasty chops, my friend. I was just digging your noodling as you added each plug-in.

[@MitchSpeck]

I recorded this a while ago and hated the tone i had on my guitars. Your guidance helped me nail the recording. Thanks, this was huge!

[@riffdigger2133]

Always wondered how this great distortion with such a melodic blues riff(s) punched thru on the record. You just had to step back, when it first came out.

[@theelectrodefunhouse4651]

You’re the only one that absolutely nailed it

[@waynestackhouse4636]

I have to give you full credit for this recreation. Definitely, the best I've heard. Just, for a moment think of the genius that could CREATE such a magnificent sound that is recognized worldwide, even by children, who are mesmerized whenever a Beatles tune is playing. Thanks so much for keeping them alive,and well in our ears, and hearts.👍👍👍

[@karlf6439]

Fantastic, Chris. As a details guy myself, although they sang live to the instrumental backing tape on this performance, John's pickup selector is at least in the middle position if not the neck pickup.

[@charlie-obrien]

60 years down the road and we are still trying to unlock the Beatles mysteries. Chris, I love your channel and I have to say, what a magnificent job you did recreating John's sound.

[@victorhugo-wo2ci]

I think my favourite hobby is waiting around for 50th aniverssary releases, its so cool to see how they worked and how they would come up with a song out of pure gibberish sometimes

[@Gokubond_1984]

You keep saying it’s close when it’s pretty much exact. You did an amazing job! When you played your version and then the original I couldn’t even tell the difference.

[@jimfillingim1523]

I was 12 in 64 when the boys hit ed Sullivan's show and I graduated in 1970 about the time of the white album....ive been in a band constantly since I was 13 until about 2010....on the road professionally since 1977...and for my ears and sensibilities ... YOU NAILED Johnny moondogs sound on that recording. BRAVO MATE!!!!

[@sethb-h4127]

Love their performance of that song, especially when you can see George say “John’s mic’s shit”. Great job recreating it too :)

[@crazycat2969]

RIP all headphone users who started this video

[@grooverstone9553]

It ruined my ears but i enjoyed it

[@user-ey1ms7dj8i]

Aww my ears

[@vladimirkramnik7084]

Imposter

[@chuckandkonnie2415]

Very well done. Your attention to detail is great.

[@peterhatle8803]

this is one of my favorite tones i have ever heard on a track. thank you john

[@OdinOfficialEmcee]

This is so dead on you could take the original guitar lead away and replace it with this and no one would be any the wiser. Simply amazing

[@TheSteveGainesRockBand]

Very nice study. This is one of my favorite songs of all time and the guitar work is what makes it stand out, in my opinion.

[@pierredevaughn]

John’s riff at the end of the choruses in Revolution is my favorite guitar riff of all-time. Subtle, but sharp, rustic, rugged, and bad ass 💯

[@rustymacneil3227]

Chris , I got to this through listening to Revolution. Thanks I have been watching old episodes of Friday Fret works for last two years. You have now become another person on my bucket list to have a beer with and talk music .

[@jltrem]

8:41- Mention of possible double track. With the Fabs use of the ADT and it's literal invention because of them, it wouldn't be surprising.

[@ag358]

Very good, glad you're highlighting Lennon's great guitar work, it's often overshadowed by his powerful singing voice and his beautifully crafted songwriting. Loved your video. Thanks

[@TimTkachyk]

Great work! I suppose it could be argued that there’d be slightly less harsh distortion in the original, HOWEVER, if you listen to Revolution on a 45 record, it sounds damn near exactly like this! The 45 might even be harsher in the high end.

[@mr.l4461]

I’m thinking of posting my own video of the revolution tone on TikTok. You gave me the inspiration Chris lol

[@anthonychiulli7736]

That song has the best riff of any Beatle song Sound was amazing.

[@rotad9967]

Have loved this guitar sound since I first heard this song in the 60's. Nice work with the replication! Also, the groove between the guitar and drums is amazing!!!

[@gearmeister]

So, it was an early experimental "cascading gain" effect with legendary P90's.... 😁 Great job, immediately subscribed!

[@americanpancakelive]

I keep finding myself coming back to your channel. Love what you are doing!

[@whiteymanngogh4489]

Just caught you on Pete Thorn's mini amp video. Glad I did, cheers!

[@RobMods]

Loved this video. Thanks for your efforts on this mate!

[@dsml3348]

In my opinion you nailed that tone!

[@AREUH50]

love that one, Lennon was also an incredible kinda blues composer

[@UkiMalefu]

well, you know, we all want to change the world

[@riffrobin474]

I just want to change my socks

[@tonybats]

My 15-year-old classmates in year 7 in 1966 were still savoring those 1963-65 Beatle songs when the newly released Revolver songs blasted the radio airwaves. When this song came about the first time, we were like, the equivalent of todays holy sh!, WTF! We have to adjust and retune our ear drums. It took a while and eventually we all came to love and embrace this magical magnificent song.

[@cameronlesley2428]

The song that got me into being a musician. A great video

[@CharlesHarris-cy6sl]

I MISS JOHN LENNON C LENNON😢

[@gary6449]

Just to add my $.02 - the importance of that full-on bridge P-90 pickup to this tone cannot be overstated..

[@charlie-obrien]

I have the same Casino and that guitar is Rock and Roll.

[@VanielDeeform]

Brilliant video and all the deep details Chris. I really feel this song is clearly massive influence/inspiration for that Glam Rock guitar sound and rhythm. I'm surprised people don't mention that more. It's such a distinctive sound. Excellent recreation of the tone here.

[@slappymckracken7935]

You NAILED the Moon Dog's tone on that classic track brother

[@keithshwalbe6981]

Thanks for putting in all the effort Chris. Very worthwhile, and you did a great job

[@DrewArmstrongMusic]

Another way to get this sound is to use Abbey Road’s own REDD17 console plugin. It’s voiced for the preamps used in the original desk the Beatles used and it gets you 90% of the way there. JHS also makes a pedal called the Color Box which is really good at replicating overdrive from a tube console.

[@ChrisBuckGuitar]

Drew Armstrong Ah, no way! I didn’t know there was an official Abbey Road plug-in. I’ll look into it! 🙂

[@DrewArmstrongMusic]

Buck And Evans also look at their J37 plugin! It emulates Abbey Road’s tape machines and has really cool sounding distortion. Not as good as the real thing obviously but it’s got some cool sounds.

[@arnaudthomas4081]

So much pleasure to learn following you! 💪🏾👌🏾

[@AfterFab]

Somehow, when set in the mix of the original track, Lennon's guitar sounds bigger and like it's breaking up even more than when isolated. Just a stellar sound.

[@GravyDaveNewson]

that's great. It's funny how our ears are all different, when I heard the track at the beginning my instant thought was it should sound brighter but you went to some trouble to avoid the brightness. keep up the great work :)

[@buddyburtonphotography]

I believe you pretty much hit it perfectly. John Lennon would be proud.

[@Motomaniac99]

That sound was one that motivated me to play guitar..

[@steveturner6770]

I can get fairly close with a Hudson Broadcast, but you've really nailed the tone here. Excellent.

[@JimRunarHansen]

Please do a full cover

[@hewgrebe4771]

Great work! Sounded just like Lennon without his band mates. Great song, too.

[@picoman1714]

HOLY CRAP!!! Man you completely got it. Just incredible work,, like WOW!

[@christopherventer6391]

If you wanted to do this with hardware, Chandler makes a great REDD.47 mic pre/DI which is a reissue of the original desk (with additional features). Quite a bit more expensive, though!

[@andyfeldman2590]

The Chandler REDD.47 preamps REALLY nail the sound, but you need two of them, one into the other. I love my pair, and hooking them up the “correct” way gets you 99% there. The Chandlers, like the REDD.47 channels, use an EF86 tube, which is one of the “features” of the classic period of Vox AC15 amps. It’s simplistic to say that driving the two channels of the board or two of the Chandler preamps is like running an EF86-equipped AC15 into another EF86-equipped AC15, there’s something about that EF86 tube that is part of the Revolution magic. Excellent playing Chris.

[@christopherventer6391]

@@andyfeldman2590 Yep. Running just the right settings from one into another really gets you there. Especially if using NOS tubes. I have also gotten pretty close, though, by using a clean boost in front of one, or using another preamp besides the REDD to drive it.

[@ADRIAN-fb9xj]

That was Very Interesting. Loved that Guitar on the 45 we had as kids. Good work Young Fella.

[@Poppaneedsanap]

that is remarkably close! well done.

[@360monke8]

0:00 imagine that on max volume holy cow

[@OP941nine]

To a mere mortal Beatle listener like me...you nailed it!

[@goldenultra]

It's on the black box reloaded fx pedal called mic preamp preset works on hsh guitar. But if u have a Casino guitar lying about, then why not. But you nailed it, I also added delay but retro 60's delay. Though John Lennon played it lying down.

[@Putaspellonyou]

Pretty darn close. Nice job. I've been looking for a pedal to try to recreate this for about 20 years.

[@CNCTEMATIC]

JHS Colorbox, or the Crayon if you can find one.

[@paulyhoffmann]

Thx for the illustration. Very interesting. Never thought about the guitar work on that song until I watched this clip.

[@niketasdelgato4027]

9:33 A *revolution*-ary technique eh?

[@randomfocus1549]

I enjoyed the play through, couldn’t help but sing along. Thanks man!

[@happygolucky6331]

perfect I've always dug this Chuck Berry riff and the FUZZ tone I was thinking Blown speaker Ala The Kinks The fuzz tone on reeling in the years takes me to a similar just alot cleaner but has that early hendrix fuzz face sound

[@hypersmudge1]

Brilliant! The work pays off. Such a cool and identifiable tone. Good on ya!

[@georgeorr1042]

Wow. Had no idea it was direct. Still a very heavy track all these years later. Maybe the true precursor to heavy metal even more than Helter Skelter.

[@MrJett1971]

Heavy metal was percolating for about 3-4 years before The White Album came out. You Really Got Me by The Kinks (1964), the cover of You Keep Me Hangin’ On by Blue Cheer (recorded in 1967), Vanilla Fudge’s cover of Summertime Blues (1967), and even Hendrix in 1966-‘67 had a head start. It’s early heavy metal-esque for sure, but you could probably even go back even further to Los Saicos from Peru in 1964, for that matter, as a prototype for both punk and metal music...

[@seansinclair257]

Brilliant!

[@lennonist9746]

Generally the more fuzz or the more distortion, the less the edge of sound. but the sound on Revolution is not that case,which means distortion with full edge. Thant makes it much more aggressive than any other hard core tone. IMO. Yeah then again the Beatles!

[@Renanmromeo]

This is absolutely perfect!

[@mfallen4277]

Interesting. I always assumed it was played through a really small amp or just ran through a radio's speaker and then they compressed the guitar track in mastering. Great vid

[@aisle_of_view]

That's the sound! Spot on. Thanks for the hard work, it must have taken hours of tweaking and testing. In their "live" video at the 10 sec mark, George yells to Paul "John's mic is sh1t!". Another cool moment in Beatle history.

[@radiationsnowman]

WOW!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!! GREAT WORK!!!!

[@pedroriojas]

I been looking for that rich saturation of sound for years. Congratulations you have done very well.