"I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
"I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
I was messing around the other day ...OK goofing off during practice time...and I accidentally found a lick that sounded reminiscent of George's riff to "I Feel Fine." I began to wonder what key they played that in. I don't have the recording anymore. And I don't trust online tabs in the second place.
JimK
JimK
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
Gee, I wonder.
Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
The reason I ask is because I can get something that sounds close in A. But I'm pretty sure that I'm leaving out something.
The chord progression isn't too difficult to figure out. It begins on the V7, moves down to IV7, and then to I7. The actual chord voicing is the mystery here.
JimK
The chord progression isn't too difficult to figure out. It begins on the V7, moves down to IV7, and then to I7. The actual chord voicing is the mystery here.
JimK
- deaconblues
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
It's a pretty simple riff based on the barred major position of the D, C, and G chords. Watch John in this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmjzjyT0eo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmjzjyT0eo4
- sloop_john_b
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
D barre chord at the 10th position, followed by a C at the 8th position and a G at the 3rd position. If you would like the exact notation for the riff I can provide that as well.
- billydlight
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
Yep G. Starts with a low A note that swells into feedback.
here's my band playin it its an mps we're a trio
http://www.billydlight.com/liveatthepic ... elfine.MP3
here's my band playin it its an mps we're a trio
http://www.billydlight.com/liveatthepic ... elfine.MP3
- FretlessOnly
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
The opening note, low open A on a guitar, serves as a "proxy" A dominant 7th chord that leads into the intro in D. But it's not really in D, becaue it's a D7 - C7 - G7 thing in the intro, and D7 isn't in the key of DMAJOR. JimK has it correct in his second post. See the theory thread for more!
Can we have everything louder than everything else?
Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
Thanks for chiming in everyone. Knowing that the D7 is played at the 10th fret helped put everything into place.
I've been trying to hybrid pick the riff rather than play it with a flat pick only. I think I've found a little work-around, that while preserving the riff in an identifiable fashion gives it a little different sound. It's my usual penchant for taking the typical and moving just a little out in left field, so to speak.
JimK
I've been trying to hybrid pick the riff rather than play it with a flat pick only. I think I've found a little work-around, that while preserving the riff in an identifiable fashion gives it a little different sound. It's my usual penchant for taking the typical and moving just a little out in left field, so to speak.
JimK
- CappuccinoKid
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
Wasn't that Johns Rif, written and recorded on his J-160E?jimk wrote:...and I accidentally found a lick that sounded reminiscent of George's riff to "I Feel Fine."
JimK
- johnnysain
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
The intro to "I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussive (yet pure-sounding) note (a high "A" harmonic) played on McCartney's Hofner bass guitar that sustains, perhaps beyond any song previously recorded. It is then transformed and distorted via feedback. According to McCartney, "John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pick-up on it so it could be amplified... We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it... it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!" And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp."[2]
While sounding very much like an electric guitar, Lennon played it on an acoustic (a Gibson model J-160E),[7] employing the guitar's onboard pickup and 1960s sound effect devices to make the acoustic guitar sound more electronic. The intro riff around a D major chord progresses to a C, then a G, where the G major vocals begin. Just before the coda, Lennon's intro riff (or ostinato), is repeated with a bright sound by George Harrison on electric guitar (a Gretsch Tennessean),[7] followed by the more electric sound of John on amped acoustic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Feel_Fine
While sounding very much like an electric guitar, Lennon played it on an acoustic (a Gibson model J-160E),[7] employing the guitar's onboard pickup and 1960s sound effect devices to make the acoustic guitar sound more electronic. The intro riff around a D major chord progresses to a C, then a G, where the G major vocals begin. Just before the coda, Lennon's intro riff (or ostinato), is repeated with a bright sound by George Harrison on electric guitar (a Gretsch Tennessean),[7] followed by the more electric sound of John on amped acoustic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Feel_Fine
Rickenbacker player since 1978
Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
I agree, though you will find people who insist that the opening lead guitar was played by John with his Rickenbacker 325, and then there's a guy in YouTube who reproduces the sound exactly on a Rickenbacker 325. But to me it has always sounded like the J160.
Zurdo
Zurdo
Rickenbacker 370-12 1966, Hofner 500/1 1966, Gibson ES-150 DCW 1970,
Vox Viscount 1967, Vox Series 90 1969. Yamaha PSR-9000 Midi Sequencer Arranger 2000
Vox Viscount 1967, Vox Series 90 1969. Yamaha PSR-9000 Midi Sequencer Arranger 2000
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Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
I like to hit the A string and let my fingernail hit the edge of the vibration. Kinda sounds like it.
Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
That sounds like a neat idea. Since I wrote the original post, I've taken to playing a harmonic at the 12th fret on the A string, then turning up the pickup volume for a swell effect. I'm playing it on a Telecaster knock-off.Nightbrigade wrote:I like to hit the A string and let my fingernail hit the edge of the vibration. Kinda sounds like it.
JimK
Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
Doesn't work well on the Banjar
Re: "I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff
Oh you've tried it, then?whojamfan wrote:Doesn't work well on the Banjar
JimK