"It Won't Be Wrong" Lick

[Folkie]

I'm having the darndest time isolating the multi-tracked guitars on the intro to the Byrds' "It Won't Be Wrong." Beatbyrd seems to have got the lick down on the recording of the song on his website, but I'm still stumped. Can someone please tab the intro for me?

[beatbyrd]

Hi Robert, I went back and checked both my recorded tracks for the song and the original. On the original Byrds recording, I hear McGuinn doing the main riff using 2 note chords on his 12. I also hear Croz doing a lower part on his Gretsch, and McGuinn doing a second track; the single note high part on his 12. So, played back, it sounds like a 4 part moving chord intro. I cheated and recorded the 3 McGuinn lines individually, as well as the Croz line - four distinct tracks. I can give you the notes for each part, if you want them.

Incidentally, when I saw Roger try this song at the Kate in Old Saybrook a couple of years ago, he butchered the intro so badly that he stopped playing and took it from the top. He then screwed it up again, the second time it appears in the song..... He was talking to himself after the song was done and he wasn't saying anything good.

[Folkie]

Hi Tom,

Well, I guess if Roger fluffed the passage in concert then I don't have to feel so bad about stumbling all over it. From what you've said, it sounds a great deal more complex than I'd thought (four guitar parts instead of three). That's very generous of you to offer to supply the notes for each part. By all means, send them my way!

Thanks,

Robert

[thymecube]

In addition to the 12 string Ric and the Crosby part it's also the timing. I found this live version from the reunion where they come pretty close to nailing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOQKghkyIvA

You might also give these outtakes (with flubs) a listen. I find you can learn just as much if not more from the mistakes a player makes ( especially McGuinn ) as you can from the finished project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I5Qkq75x7E

I used to play this song many years ago and occasionally will play along with the original. The riff itself is not that difficult but like I said the timing. And of course the Ric 12 and additional guitar parts that really thickin it up and give it it's almost "Byzantine" quality. Where did McGuinn come up with this stuff... a true genius when it came to that sort of thing. Looking back he had his finger on the pulse of an era when Riff was king... songs were made or broken off of ten or twenty second opening riffs... and Jim/Roger had that thing nailed. BRILLIANT!

[Folkie]

Beatbyrd has been of great help to me in transcribing McGuinn's famous intro to "It Won't Be Wrong." It actually feels a lot easier once it's broken down into component guitar parts. This goes to show that Roger is not only a virtuoso player, but a master of the recording studio, who is able to create a variety of textures through multiple overdubs. The opening (and repeated) cadenza to "It Won't Be Wrong" will stand as one of the finest examples of his art, and proof positive of what magic can be done with a Rickenbacker 12-string.