"I Feel Fine" Guitar Riff

[jimk]

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

[shamustwin]

Gee, I wonder.

[jimk]

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

[deaconblues]

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

[sloop_john_b]

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]

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

[FretlessOnly]

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!

[jimk]

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

[CappuccinoKid]

...and I accidentally found a lick that sounded reminiscent of George's riff to "I Feel Fine."
JimK

Wasn't that Johns Rif, written and recorded on his J-160E?

[johnnysain]

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

[Zurdo]

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

[Nightbrigade]

I like to hit the A string and let my fingernail hit the edge of the vibration. Kinda sounds like it.

[jimk]

I like to hit the A string and let my fingernail hit the edge of the vibration. Kinda sounds like it.

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.
JimK

[whojamfan]

Doesn't work well on the Banjar

[jimk]

Doesn't work well on the Banjar

Oh you've tried it, then?
JimK