Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles (Full Isolated Guitar)

[@in2food]

From I Wanna Hold Your Hand to this in a a few short years is astounding.

[@Hyakudeaths]

Drugs

[@haysfordays]

Lots of folks took drugs. I wish i could have written this due to drugs. LOL @@Hyakudeaths

[@Hyakudeaths]

@@haysfordays natural talent + drugs

[@jonaslencinas]

​@@Hyakudeathsgimme

[@friendofp.24]

Everyone says acid but there's literally no evidence of the Beatles being habitual users. There's quotes of them praising it and quotes of them denouncing it. It gave them the awakening to experiment with their music but not much more than that. Acid isn't the key to selling millions of records and becoming stars, people.

[@letisia1908]

Is there anything that doesn't move me about John Lennon ? I no longer have words to express how much this man means to me... How much he has always touched me...

[@johnhaller7017]

It's just so sublime how in isolation, these abstract fills and arpeggios drift along like unruly tumbleweeds, appear and disappear in the mix and you recognize them when they show up. Unmistakable. John Lennon knew what he was doing here, despite his initial indecision(s). Masterful. Is it my favorite Beatles song? I have to say, Strawberry Fields Forever, comes mighty close. It's a subconscious thing welling up from John Lennon's past. His gift to us all.

[@GerryLyons-bh5yg]

So well put.

[@haysfordays]

It's magic. All of it.

[@thezidman]

You have a great way with words. I have a feeling this isn't one continuous recording but a splice up. Simply amazing playing. If you heard the song minus Lennon's guitar, you'd never imagine what he plays would add so much texture and feel, but it does.

[@frankiefender822]

SFF is one of my top Beatles songs along with Nowhere Man

[@haysfordays]

@@frankiefender822 100%. '65-'66 was the peak, imo. Desert Island songs.

[@sammyday3341]

Sixty years later and it’s still magical hearing the different instruments in Beatles songs.

[@soulvaccination8679]

We will never see anything like it again. Gift from the Angels.

[@stringtheoryguitars4952]

That’s not how that works, theologically speaking. But I get your point.

[@mhowardthomas]

can't just say that - please explain @@stringtheoryguitars4952

[@danielstoddart]

From a guitarist's perspective, even though the audio quality of this outtake is pretty bad, you can still hear how creative John's guitar work could be. A lot of melodic and harmonic ideas coming through here. John was technically not the best guitarist and not as good as George but he knew instinctively how to use it as a conduit for his own creativity when songwriting. It's also interesting to me that John chose to play this on the Epiphone Casino (a fully hollow guitar that is sometimes prone to feedback) rather than the more modern Fender Stratocasters that he and George had gotten during the Rubber Soul sessions.

[@mr_bassman6685]

Sometimes, you pick the guitar that sounds best for the song. The mellower Casino tone suits this song much better than the Strat twang, really.

[@andrewstricklin182]

Honestly, I find it refreshing in this day and age of all technical 1,000 note guitar solos to hear something like this. It really doesn't require all that to express yourself beautifully and with a beautiful simplicity and it's original too. John knew that full well, that's what really makes a true musicians musician. He's not playing all over everything, just serving the song.

[@thomaspappalardo7589]

Casino sounds better than a Strat any day of the week.

[@thomaspappalardo7589]

@@ericwalters5382 It’s considered a hollow body guitar - semi-hollow guitars have a central block of wood running through the body, whereas the Casino is essentially an acoustic guitar with electronics.

[@ericwalters5382]

​@@thomaspappalardo7589 & once again you are correct Sir. Sad considering I own a vintage Casino.

[@hw343434]

No other guitar player on earth would’ve come up with this for this song

[@turnsout5061]

100%

[@placebojesus5652]

Yeah this shit is so brilliant that it’s almost making me angry at my own comparative inadequacy lol.

[@DJcool-tr1tk]

I gotta give it to you, you’re right.

[@williamg.beaulieu1465]

He’s making the most out of the less he knows

[@lamonet]

Totally agree.

[@dr.buzzvonjellar8862]

Great comments. Ask yourself when you’ve heard any guitar player put something like this down? I never have. It’s so abstract and yet so expressive and emotional. It perfectly reflects the song and expands the emotional feel while holding it all together. Pretty much completely original. John had some magic in him.

[@chinchirap]

Reminds me of daniel rossens guitar work, on grizzly bear and on his own

[@ExcitedAnacondaSnake-hg8ec]

You obviously haven’t heard a large chuck of music history John clearly draws from for inspiration on guitar. It’s not original, really

[@AccountantProphecy]

@@chinchirap Great point. Daniel Rossen is definitely an insanely unique guitar player

[@Hiwatt100W1]

This song, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of what the Beatles created. It is an incredible number- I remember when it came out in 1967; I was a kid about 11 years old and it just floored me. The film came out on the Ed Sullivan show and I was watching with my family (in those days, people would congregate on Sunday evenings any time the Beatles were going to be on). Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were presented as film- really the prototypical music video. My Aunt Min said "Oh those Beatles, they're just getting too way out..." Even at 11 years old I was knocked out. Still am to this day.

[@jaialaiwarrior]

Listening to this brings peace to my soul

[@picchaz]

John was such a brilliant rhythm guitar player. From his early days to that cool signature banjo strum to his later orchestral fingerpicking. So raw and so real with his soul in every chord and every note he ever played.

[@jdemarco]

What a great photo of John in the thumbnail!

[@NaaHva]

He looks sad. He missed Paul McCartney (1942-1966).

[@jdemarco]

@@NaaHva Possibly...

[@ok9908]

@@NaaHva No, just no.

[@Lukronius]

@@NaaHvaNever forget: the guy that supposedly replaced Paul wrote “Hey Jude”, “She’s Leaving Home”, “The Long and Winding Road”… They should have replaced Paul way sooner!! 😂😂

[@DJcool-tr1tk]

@@NaaHvaPaul isn’t dead, you are.

[@scuffedcovers]

The ending is so beautiful

[@chrisc5537]

How does someone imagine this from nothing, from a blank slate??? Genius!

[@shuddupeyaface]

The more I listen, the greater the wonder. Almost an echo of a life better lived. Stunning x

[@ejret]

as a guitarplayer john was very underrated.to create such a rich,moody and complex guitar track is something very few can do.and john did this on many songs.

[@peanutm9346]

Yes the Beatles were also under-rated

[@zapotc]

God, I love this early take of the song with this guitar part. Absolutely beautiful.

[@ingridfong-daley5899]

The bend on that initial lick reminds me of "Soul to Squeeze" by RHCP--i never noticed til hearing it isolated, but it's stark. Basing your style on a Beatles sound is always a sound decision, even decades later... Thanks John.

[@littledaddi3]

very reminiscent indeed - good catch!

[@cristianrego4276]

It reminds me a little of some stuff from Radiohead, it's beautiful, thanks for this

[@LeadenMarshmallow]

They are known to have also used Epiphone Casinos a lot. It works for this kind of arpeggiating thing very well

[@lobofobia2028]

Radiohead es la banda más beatle después de The Beatles!

[@user-dnf83n0s8sg9u]

@@lobofobia2028Lotta different artists can occupy that slot though. Radiohead are good but lots of people make catchy music

[@featheredraven]

0:26 sounds like intro to My Iron Lung

[@isaiha_77]

@@featheredravendawg i was looking for this comment i heard the first 3 notes and i was like nah no way

[@chicklets4ever51]

I've always loved this guitar part in Strawberry Fields, but I always thought it was George! I think that, in the face of John's brilliance as a songwriter and singer, people tend to forget what a great guitarist he was. The way he plays the arpeggios, with the bass notes driving the progression with their hypnotic twang, is one of the main highlights of the song. John has always been one of my very favorite rock n rollers. There are very few as great as him.

[@ひろまる-n7p]

何とも情緒あふれる名演。 この才能は羨ましい限り。

[@MegaMrErick]

Exacto

[@shinzontheta]

Something incredibly modern about this that i cant place.....this hits like a freight truck. Thank you.

[@mattsguitarstuff7564]

Hauntingly beautiful -- I love the way John does little slides on the bass notes. SFF is my all-time favorite Beatles track.

[@oldboygarage]

a small piece of Beatles music can make dying a peaceful painless experience. We didn't need to meet them to experience them. We can experience them through recordings.

[@drutgat2]

Fantastically imaginative, and completely unique playing. Typically John. Many thanks for uploading this.

[@Hiwatt100W1]

I've been playing guitar and cello for many many years. The guitar track on this number is sublime.

[@elmolewis9123]

These tracks are like puzzle pieces. It's not until they are all together do you hear the masterpiece.

[@Mo_Taser]

Great comment.

[@robertcooper5604]

People would say that’s sloppy playing if they heard just that. The beauty of musical recordings and bands

[@grxengine6188]

Thing about tracking songs in a studio is that the slight imperfections are truly where the magic is. This is clearly a case of that. Gives a song its understated personality that people can feel.

[@nosferatu2]

It’s not sloppy at all

[@RobBob555]

You have to remember the guitar pickup and recording technology at the time wasn't what it is today, ply, no doubt the tape has suffered the ravages of time .hence it sounds a bit " wobbly"

[@genepoole1771]

It's a lot of good things, but it really is sloppy.@@nosferatu2

[@nosferatu2]

@@genepoole1771 you’re just one of those obnoxious guitar nerds

[@Notalloldpeople]

Hearing this just makes me appreciate the song even more, if that were possible. I really feel like he is sat on his own just riffing away with the guide vocal track in his cans and feeling his mood in Spain when he worked out most of the lyrics and structure. Geoff Emerick was more of a Paul fan (classical tastes) but when he heard the first take of this it nearly knocked him over..a few weeks later the firsts run through of a day in the life put him out for the count.

[@nikthomas-le7915]

Perfect in it's imperfections 🤘🥰🤘

[@KhalDrogo76]

I had to scour Boston and Cambridge MA back in the day for bootleg Beatle CDs to hear these type of tracks...and I sure found them. It was like chasing down the Holy Grail...especially the SFForever tracks with the legendary slow version/fast version merge even tho different keys, etc. This reminds me of that magic, running home to put the CD on and hearing these outtakes, hearing their talking...the Beatles could (can) transport you to another world , let me take you as I'm going too.....

[@ruppertale3319]

Mystery Train! Second Coming! I had to drive to Harvard Square from Maine to score Unsurpassed Masters and Ultra Rare Trax in the late 80s.

[@KhalDrogo76]

@@ruppertale3319 YES!! Unsurpassed Masters vol 1, 2, 3,4...so good!!

[@KhalDrogo76]

@ruppertale3319 went to both places, 2nd coming was my favorite they had choice CDs. There was another one...Nuggets? They had them too. The good old days!

[@paulpennington-mv7rt]

When broken down this way, the changes stand out and its relativity to the song is obscured. As a writer i am still amazed how parts equal a whole... and the strange turns i have made getting there. 🎼

[@greenlightwilly]

I remember when this was released in the US - DJ's were off their nut. 'What IS this stuff?' As a teenager I also was mystified by it. Was quite a shift from their previous work (Michelle, Norwegian Wood etc) and frankly just too much for the general public to swallow. But now, so many years later, it has achieved the status of 'iconic'. So beautiful and haunting. One of their high-water marks that proved them to be masterful artists of the subconscious.

[@RobertWalsh-vp5ui]

beautiful

[@stevebalmer4328]

Brilliant!

[@MilesColtrane.]

This is truly incredible

[@crxmdx9199]

My favorite Beatles song!! LOVE IT!!

[@JagAss-ls7ie]

I just can't get enough of studying about this piece.

[@kelvendyson1508]

Love the Sgt. Pepper look here!! Looks very distinguished!!

[@scamaropppi]

dapper is the word

[@wide_awake]

I’ve always wanted to learn this song…a bit challenging for me ☹️

[@gregorymason3913]

It's sort of an intermediate song. Try to just learn it in little segments until you put it all together. Here is a pretty accurate lesson that shows what's going on. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZqumHuYfaeCgq8si=2cpqBge3otQ5OkOS

[@wide_awake]

@@gregorymason3913 true, I think its more of the strumming, not so much the chords you know what I mean. Thanks for tips tho! I’ll def check it out!

[@Liam-xi3ss]

@@wide_awakeyeah it’s definitely the picking pattern

[@wide_awake]

@@Liam-xi3ss for sure

[@---wd3hp]

Apparently, so did John....

[@КотТрамвайкинъ]

Давно хотел найти трэк гитары этой песни. Большое спасибо! С любовью из России ❤

[@jamespriddy8275]

I learn something new in every assembling of the song. It a reverence.

[@Girlygirlykawaii9]

In 1967 .. their band role started getting crazy .. for example in 1968 .. in "hey jude" george is the bass player because paul is piano

[@hansvandermeulen5515]

Paul played lead guitar on some earlier songs like Tax Man and Ticket To Ride and others.

[@onderov]

Not on the recording. On the recording Paul overdubbed the bass later. There are even photos from this session with Paul overdubbing the bass on Fender Jazz Bass. George only "played" the bass during the promo video shooting.

[@Girlygirlykawaii9]

@@onderov its a rickenbacker bass .. not a fender ... plus the hofner could do alot better than the rickenbacker but since their instrumets changed in 67 with new ones

[@onderov]

@@Girlygirlykawaii9 Photos taken on 1 August 1968 (Hey Jude overdubs session) show Paul with Fender Jazz Bass, not Rickenbacker. That's what my post is about.

[@Cap683]

It is really confusing regarding who is playing guitar or bass and which brand of instruments they are. It was until recently that I learned that Fender basses were used quite a bit on the (White Album) and albums that followed. You get a picture in your mind of McCartney with a Hofner or Rickenbacker only to discover that it is a Fender or not be Paul at all. When I learned that Paul played the lead on “Tax Man” I was stunned.

[@kieronjones5460]

Very interesting, thanks for posting this.

[@markkroll8884]

Mind blowing to say the least..

[@Teajonmustard]

This is super impressive

[@markkroll8884]

Pure genius at 2:25

[@bristolfashion4421]

fabulous thanks

[@haysfordays]

You can hear similar stuff in Sun King!

[@stringtheoryguitars4952]

John Lennon is the very definition of a genius

[@letisia1908]

You're so right !

[@tasallp]

You can hear the future of pop music in this. So many echoes of bands that were to come

[@drvee1983]

He was always the most comfortable with his Epiphone Casino as his electric. They all had them ( except Ringo ). It's a practice session and didn't need all the bells and whistles.

[@gustavopardiplaz4301]

Increible

[@turnsout5061]

Awesome.

[@strothermartin5368]

John said until his dying day he was going to record this song the way he wanted.

[@gutgolf74]

John never knew what he wanted, apart from a pool.

[@strothermartin5368]

@@gutgolf74 He said George Martin messed it up.

[@marcchrys]

It sounds pretty damn good to me! John was always complaining about or dissing his recordings

[@ffcorona]

@@marcchrys He also didn't like the sound of his own voice. He asked Geoge Martin if he could change it with reverb, echo, or anything else.

[@therealfronzilla]

​@@strothermartin5368if it wasn't for Martin's production ability, this song wouldn't sound like the masterpiece it is.

[@davemartinez614]

I love this, it's a bit unfinished in my opnion. I feel like he could have cleaned up the guitar work a bit, just the fits and starts. I love it though, somehow it fits perfectly into the chaos of the full track.

[@rockturtleneck]

Lennon was a great guitarist, totally underrated if that's possible.

[@gutgolf74]

If you look for an underrated guitarist in the Beatles, that's McCartney.

[@jamesfetherston1190]

@@gutgolf74 I think people are familiar with Paul’s musical ability.

[@kwokkotkwokki9063]

Партия гитары Харрисона Леннона сами слова и мелодия. Харрисон опять на высоте!! Земляничные поляны навсегда...🎉

[@CaseyDarwin]

Shining example of why gear and fidelity are so much less important than song writing.

[@---wd3hp]

Wrong. This is a great song that this part is not reflective of by gear, fidelity or the less than skillfull instrument mastery or creativity of John in this iso. Luckily, it gets eaten up in the mix. There was no more intention to have the flaws of his musicianship highlighted anymore than if Yoko was bleating in the background.

[@CaseyDarwin]

@@---wd3hp I'm not saying they wouldn't have rather recorded it with better Fidelity. I'm saying the songwriting shines through brightly enough where that matters very little.

[@CaseyDarwin]

And it's funny to hear somebody talk about musicianship regarding a song that they weren't part of writing. Art is 100% subjective, especially to the artist. Are you saying he played it wrong? That's hilarious!!

[@---wd3hp]

@@CaseyDarwin I am saying you are talking clueless unintelligible gibberish.

[@fersinofranco6905]

I got the Feeling

[@RobHollanderMusic]

Thanks!

[@kungpao-wp2sq]

Reminds me so much of the playing of John Frusciante.

[@eastontanner6919]

I would say either George on guitar and the bass was overdubbed since I find it unlikely that Paul did bass and mellotron, or George on bass, which I think is probably what the lineup was, but no matter what, i think this is a great video

[@Rockstaralan]

It certainly is true that during these sessions, and those to follow for what became Sgt. Pepper, Paul would often stay behind at the studio after the other Beatles had gone, spending hours alone working out his bass parts and then overdubbing them onto the basic track. So, it's likely this song could've been no exception.

[@bobbystereo936]

Didn't George use Rocky on this track?

[@JoaoGabriel-lk9cv]

It’s John.

[@miketw10]

I'm sure I read that the mellotron intro was recorded separately and edited on

[@victorarena23]

this is John. i was never sure but after listening to this it's so sloppy there is no way in hell it's George@@JoaoGabriel-lk9cv

[@steveconn]

It's a bit like the climbing arpeggios later used on the choruses of Sexy Sadie, just following the vocal melody of Strawberry Fields.

[@paulocezarkosmack4667]

John plays the guitar

[@thomaspappalardo7589]

Hence the thumbnail

[@danielstoddart]

John was underrated on guitar. George was technically a better guitarist, but John could do a lot more than just play rhythm guitar. He actually came up with some of the best Beatles riffs and even took a few solos on the records. For him is was more of a creative outlet than virtuosity.

[@lizardman7364]

Thanks detective

[@rotomar]

Gonna learn how to play a guitar just to play strawberry fields someday

[@Swat-ed5bt]

❤❤❤ Love John ❤❤❤

[@orpheusband]

Donovan hadn't taught him how to properly finger pick yet.

[@stevemabus6178]

There is no such thing as properly finger pick

[@orpheusband]

​@@stevemabus6178 OK amateur.

[@simonsimon325]

I find this way more interesting than those simple travis patterns on songs like Dear Prudence and Julia. And this sounds like it's a pick rather than fingers.

[@fmahavishnu9807]

Now after 60 years, I feel that it was a stupid idea to label Lennon's, McCartney's and Harrison's work as "Lennon and McCartney" or "Northern Songs". Everybody should know the authentic authorship of all the Beatles songs. I mean all the details. I know such information is available on Wikipedia, but there should be a concise anthology of their creative work as a separate glossary, not just the faceless "Lennon/McCartney" label.

[@OscarOses-vh3us]

Súper tema Jhon Lennon la magia The Beatles

[@KellyAddington-j4t]

People always ask if you could go back in time where and when would you go to. I would want to go back and watch Lennon record or even demo one of his masterpieces like this. And then of course warn him about December 1980 😢

[@youiti2nz]

Mass ueder Mr

[@barrycohen311]

Does anyone know how people isolate these single instruments? AI or electronic filtering? Or perhaps they had access to the studio tapes?

[@ryanmckinnon6465]

AI applications, web or plugins

[@barrycohen311]

@@ryanmckinnon6465 Thx. Really interesting. I'm a software engineer. That must be biotch to code and program. But maybe there are some open-source algorithms available. To code it all from scratch would be painful.

[@jtn191]

Actually, many of these isolated tracks became available by digging into the files of The Beatles Rock Band video game. For that game to work right, isolated tracks had to be used so they could be muted when each player doesn't play/misses notes

[@barrycohen311]

@@jtn191 Wow, that is very interesting. Thx

[@kevinmalone8903]

Is there a subtle Leslie on this ? 1966

[@fareevasionband]

It almost reminds me of Johnny marr

[@BritPopLivesOn72]

from this isolation I can tell that the guitar was played with the chords in the key of c but tuned down a full step

[@zoeywitz6884]

Yeah exactly

[@jasonsenator6144]

Is John playing this I always thought it was george

[@bubbazep01]

George played the overdubs, I believe (including the finger-tapping after the final chorus)

[@gutgolf74]

Paul plays the lead guitar fills at the end

[@DaFreezeey]

This is 100% John playing this part. You have been mistaken if you thought it was George. George did play the slide guitar part you hear with his strat and then Paul overdubbed the distorted lead fills at the end to try and get a sitar sound

[@MODmusic-o6p]

I'm pretty sure this is actually Paul playing I think John played more strumming rythym and Paul played the little riffs and finger picking

[@fersinofranco6905]

Inkredibbile Punk Lennon experience ❤

[@chillmurray7529]

Tabs please?

[@michaelharrington75]

I think this is take 7. Not the finish version that has the orchestra.

[@smurph8411]

The finished version begins with take 7 before switching to the orchestral version

[@michaelharrington75]

@@smurph8411 Key word you used. "Switching". The title says, "Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles (Full isolated Guitar)", as if this is the final version. I understand that take 7 was used for the first minute of the finished version, before cutting to take 26.

[@DaFreezeey]

Been reading a lot of the comments here and there seems to be A LOT of bad information going around... For anyone thinking this is Paul or George playing this part... you are WRONG. It's insane to me that anyone thinks this doesn't sound like John... This fits his style of playing perfectly. Also to back this up with facts. This was the R. Gtr track from take 7 which all 4 Beatles were present and recording their part live as a backing track for later overdubs. Paul was on Mellotron. George on his Sonic Blue strat for the brief chimey slide parts. Ringo on drums and John on his Epiphone Casino playing THIS part you hear... Please, PLEASE, please do your research first before stating false information.... it can severly hurt the integrity of this masterpiece

[@blahblah24681357]

sounds like he used a similar picking pattern in “i got a feeling”

[@Blackgrass1]

Fighting with .012 strings and a high action.

[@AlfimAlves]

It’s in D standard, easier to play with less string tension.

[@GreenOwl70]

I used to put 12s on my Casino, it was the only to make chords sound in tune

[@itriedmany]

... and flat wound strings!

[@AlfimAlves]

@@itriedmany the boys were probably using 10 gauge roundwounds at this point

[@johnmaer]

Where was George on this track......he hadn't walked out of a recording session or disappeared in annoyance on how things were going, I presume? In other words, Lennon's guitar or self accompaniment was by design? Why didn't they get into Gibson hollow or semi-hollow body guitars with their bright humbuckers? George was into the Rick sound for several years, but i don't recall any Gibsons, other than the SG Standard, and a short term use of a Les Paul as I recall.

[@LeadenMarshmallow]

The waitlist was much longer for Gibsons in the UK than epiphone, Gibson had just bought the brand and they encouraged them. These were still built beside Gibsons at the same factory back then, and sold at a price only a bit lower. Humbuckers weren't really too much their favorite outside of the few times George used the Les Paul Clapton gave him.

[@SD-wt6bg]

i doubt the beatles would've been put on a waiting list lol

[@johnmaer]

@@SD-wt6bg They were a phenomenon back then for certain but not sure that the manufacturers had already gifted them with their own free distribution channel or early delivery access.....but who knows, perhaps. There wasn't much difference between Gibson and Epiphone during those early days.....one built in Michigan, one in Tennessee......today, Epi is synonymous with Chibson, not Gibson.

[@MyDrugHell]

George played some wonderful parts on this track, but this is John's isolated contribution. The Epiphone Casino is basically the same guitar as the Gibson 330, the only real difference was the shading of the sunburst, the colour of the pickguard and shape of the headstock. George briefly played a Gibson 345 around 1965 as well as an SG in 66 and a Les Paul around 68/69, but like John he kept coming back to the the Casino. Both he and John did seem to prefer Gibson for acoustics.

[@andrewcaldwell4478]

I hear similar ideas:dear prudence,I gotta feeling,Julia....most song writing is done from a framework of stock ideas

[@BrQQQr]

2:25

[@firecriss1392]

"cranbury sauce......."

[@mr.k905]

There is this ominous story about this tune being slowed down ever so slightly in the middle part which supposedly changed the pitch and tempo of the whole song (There are even YT videos on this) ...Well, somehow I can't hear anything of that in this guitar track. Guess the world is round after all, eh?

[@simonsimon325]

It's because this isn't taken from the famous version you're talking about. They did tons of takes of Strawberry Fields. The famous version was made by combining take 7, the band version for the first bit, featuring this guitar part, and take 26, George Martin's orchestrated version for the rest. But they were in different keys. If you speed up or slow down music., it raises or lowers the pitch. So they sped one up slightly, and slowed the other down so they became the same pitch somewhere between. The reason you don't hear it on this guitar track is because if they'd have just stuck to the band version only, they wouldn't have needed to change the speed at all. The full take of the band version exists to isolate this guitar part.

[@drew699]

Sounds like it tuned to D?

[@Bernard-Shakey]

John playing in C, but tape slowed down so it sounds like B flat

[@distanceovertime7806]

​@@Bernard-ShakeyThis is take 7 which was recorded in this key and not slowed down

[@Bernard-Shakey]

@@distanceovertime7806Thanks, my bad. I always thought the Beatles just used tape speed variation rather than down tuning. I watched @davidbennetpiano 's video on the song and he says this version is recorded in Bflat (so a whole step down from the original C) and the tape speed adjusts the pitch -57%

[@distanceovertime7806]

@@Bernard-Shakey The official released version is a comp between Take 7 and Take 26 (there is an edit around the 50 second mark where it switches from one to the other). Take 7 was recorded at a lower pitch, while take 26 was recorded in C and then slowed down the tape. But the description of this video says it's the isolated guitar from take 7, so it doesn't have the edit and tape-slowed guitar on it

[@pullmanjunction5854]

Yes, the guitar was tuned down a whole step. I could not figure out how it was played until I stumbled on that fact.

[@Phillip-y6d]

Mix that with bass and and Ringo's minimal drums........Shangri-La

[@Aroncsik]

Is this not a George Harrison riff?

[@DaFreezeey]

No

[@markkroll8884]

My takeaway is that john had the entire melody worked out in what can only be described as a genius level.. much of what is heard on the eventual record doesn't showcase this core melody he's playing here and it's a loss for the song, in my opinion

[@DaFreezeey]

He always said if he could re-record one song, it would be SFF. Not sure how true it is but he mentioned on occasion after the beatles broke up, that this was one of the songs he thought Paul tried to delibertly sabatoge. Now how true is that? Who knows but what fasicantes me is that there is another version of SFF that never truly saw the light of day because his original vision of the song was never met. Makes me wonder what he was really hearing in his head while writing this song. Everyone around him always said he had the hardest time invisioning his ideas into reality when it came to recording songs. If only that weren't true.

[@WilliamAllanRibeiro]

👍👏👏💯🎶🎵🎶🎵🎸🌞🌟🍀

[@alanwebbguitar]

Too bad that they didn’t have those clip on guitar tuners back, then…

[@JS6969tz]

George Martin was indeed a visionary producer.

[@simonsimon325]

Who else could write a song like this and make it a number 1 hit? No song sums up the genius of Lennon and McCartney's songwriting better than this. The way they could turn almost anything they touched into a catchy hit. Examine the chorus of this song and I reckon it's probably unique. In the original key of C, you start with C major: Let me take you down coz I'm going to. On 'to' we have G minor. So straight away with his first move we've entered dark territory by borrowing from the parallel minor key. Borrowing a chord from c minor is way darker than just playing a minor chord from c major which is what most people would have done in any song they were hoping to have a hit with. But then it gets a lot weirder with his second move. He plays A major, which doesn't belong to either c major or minor. It's a secondary dominant. But that's not the weird bit, the 4 notes he sings over it are Bb, C, C#, and G. So if we take the melodic and harmonic notes in the context of the key of C, we get: C, Db(C#), E, G, A, Bb. To make this a full scale we need one more note, F seems a good choice. So now we have C, Db, E, F, G, A, Bb. This is no mode, I don't even know what the name of this scale is. This really weird scale is smack bang in the middle of the hcorus of a really catchy number 1 hit song. And what 4 words does he do this over? 'Nothing is real'. Genius!

[@DaFreezeey]

Its actually an A7 he goes to

[@zitherzon2121]

John Lennon's rhythm guitar It's only 1966 here! Guitar sounds so far ahead of their time that other guitarists can pretend that they invented them a half decade later in 1971. (e.g. Cream , Zep, Yes, Genesis, Rush ...etc) IMO.

[@ruppertale3319]

There are a million guitarists who could play this perfectly after hearing it, but none of them could come up with anything this powerful or original. Instead of hiring studio musicians and producing his solo albums (Mind Games, Walls & Bridges) he should have hired a producer (NOT Phil Spector, though!) and played the guitar himself.

[@peteywheatstraws4909]

I can see where he was trying to go with this.