If John, George, and Paul Didn't Play A Ric, Would You?

[Tommy]

Based from what *MY* ears hear:
I Call Your Name
A Hard Day's Night
I Should've Known Better
If I Fell
Happy Just to Dance With You
Can't Buy Me Love (chorus)
Any Time At All
Can't Do That
Eight Days a Week (intro and ending)
What You're Doing
Words of Love (maybe?)
I Need You
Ticket to Ride
If I Needed Someone
And Your Bird Can Sing (early takes)

A) the Anthology version of "And Your Bird Can Sing"??? When did the public here that? 1996? Come on, let's keep this to what the band actually released.
B) "Words Of Love" is very suspect, sound is way too trebly
C) "Can't Buy Me Love" chorus is a stretch. If we really can't say, "Hey, that's a 12 string Ric" then is there really a 12 string Ric in the woods? Same goes for "Happy Just To Dance.."
D) "I Need You" Yeah, I've heard the volume swell guitar may be the 12 Ric, but come on. Once again, is anyone crediting that cool tone with the 12 string Ric? No distinct Ric 12 sound there at all. No one's running out and buying a 12 string Ric because they think that odd guitar tone on "I Need You" is a 12 string Ric.

I'm not going to quibble over the exact number. My point was simply that the Ric 12 was used very little in The Beatles output. There are really just a very few songs in which the 12 string Ric is there front and center for the world to note.

George's Ric and the VOX AC30 are real paradoxes in The Beatles story. They are the two most iconic bits of Beatles gear, yet they were used very, very little. The Casino, the Bassman, the Gibson acoustics are the real workhorses behind The Beatles.

[Kingbreaker]

Very tough to say.

I remember first falling in love with the *look* of an electric guitar by seeing a picture Lennon's 325 as a small child. There's something soooo distinctive about that one guitar in my consciousness. I sort of filed it away for years.

In 8th grade, I saw my first ricks "in the flesh" at Sam Moss's guitar shop, and I remember being totally awed at how pretty they were, and also that my favorite bands (REM and Rush) used them. I must have connected the dots back to Lennon's guitar.

Of course, it was another 20 years until I could afford to buy one, so it's hard to say one way or the other.

I _know_ that I wouldn't own a Rick if it hadn't been for Peter Buck.

[8mileshigher]

My point was simply that the Ric 12 was used very little in The Beatles output. There are really just a very few songs in which the 12 string Ric is there front and center for the world to note.

But so many millions of fans have seen the film "A Hard Day's Night" how many billions of times, for decades .... and that Ric 12-string was front and center for the world to note .... just like AHDN influenced Roger McGuinn and others

[Tommy]

But so many millions of fans have seen the film "A Hard Day's Night" how many billions of times, for decades .... and that Ric 12-string was front and center for the world to note ....

Totally agree. And that's the point. George's Ric was on very, very few songs. Yet because of its prominence in a film, it is thee Beatles guitar. The influence of a film sure eclipsed the influence of audio recordings.

[Kingbreaker]

But so many millions of fans have seen the film "A Hard Day's Night" how many billions of times, for decades .... and that Ric 12-string was front and center for the world to note ....

Totally agree. And that's the point. George's Ric was on very, very few songs. Yet because of its prominence in a film, it is thee Beatles guitar. The influence of a film sure eclipsed the influence of audio recordings.

Ya gotta figure John's 325 had as much or more impact - it's in all of the early live footage and concert shots. . . . Heck, RIC has kept this model alive based on John's connection alone for the past forty + years.

[Kingbreaker]

Very tough to say.

I remember first falling in love with the *look* of an electric guitar by seeing a picture Lennon's 325 as a small child. There's something soooo distinctive about that one guitar in my consciousness. I sort of filed it away for years.

In 8th grade, I saw my first ricks "in the flesh" at Sam Moss's guitar shop, and I remember being totally awed at how pretty they were, and also that my favorite bands (REM and Rush) used them. I must have connected the dots back to Lennon's guitar.

Of course, it was another 20 years until I could afford to buy one, so it's hard to say one way or the other.

I _know_ that I wouldn't own a Rick if it hadn't been for Peter Buck.

I forgot about this connection: the first bass tone that turned my head was the Rick sound on Paperback Writer / Rain. This would have been years before Rush. Had no idea that Paul played a Rick. . . but it was the tone. So, I may have to change my answer

- No, without the Beatles, I would probably not be playing a Rick.

[sloop_john_b]

It was John on his custom 325/12

Source?

[JakeK]

http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/every-little-thing/

Paul: John and I got this one written in Atlantic City during our last tour of the States. John does the guitar riff for this one, and George is on acoustic. Ringo bashes some timpani drums for the big noises you hear.

[sloop_john_b]

Paul also thinks he got his Casino after watching Hendrix play.

[JakeK]

Paul says in Beatles Gear he got his Casino from hanging with John Mayall!

[sloop_john_b]

Paul says in Beatles Gear he got his Casino from hanging with John Mayall!

Yep! And that one's probably right.

[Tommy]

Paul also thinks he got his Casino after watching Hendrix play.

Paul also said that when he and John started writing songs together their dreams were to write a song for Sinatra and a Bond film. Nice story but for one thing: Bond films weren't even around when Paul and John started writing songs together.

It's unfortunate that Beatles fans look for ironclad proof of things and the main guy telling us what happened has a habit of rewriting histoory.

[artisan4]

Here's how I got into electric guitars in general:

I was happily strumming Fleetwood Mac songs on my acoustic (just says 'Crown Imports' on it) when my friend said, let's go see The Buddy Holly Story. I was so excited by The Buddy Holly Story that I went out and bought a Fender Mustang, JUST LIKE BUDDY'S!!!!

Of course...it turned out many things in that movie were false including the fact that Buddy did not play a Mustang or Duo Sonic or whatever that red guitar was. Gary Busey had probably just bought it from a dealer in Hollywood (and I do not mean a guitar dealer).

Later that summer I picked up 'The Kinks Greatest Hits' on Reprise, on the cover, Pete Quaife with a Ric bass, and 'This is the Modern World' by The Jam; more Rics. Played that record to death and still love it. Hey, it's a Canadian pressing, Goldmine here I come!

I've been hooked on RIcs and guitars in general ever since. It's Gary Busey's fault.

[paologregorio]

He's one of my favorite Beatles, but Macca's probably smoked way too much weed to remember any of that stuff.

[T28]

Definitely yes........

Started out playing a Dan Armstrong plexi bass in 70 but even though it was a cool bass I grew tired of the short scale after a few years.
Found a used '71 ric in the classifieds and bought it for $275 and gigged with that for years until it was stolen in '84 along with my DA and custom built Fender Jazz.