Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

After it's all said and done, The Beatles were a guitar group with a drummer.

So on the premise alone and what the four of them accomplished they were all the most skilled at what they did.

They went to "the toppermost of the poppermost."
Enough said.

Just listen to Paul's lead work on "On the Way" from the McCartney II LP. Paul can fairly shred.

I don't know that I would say he is "better" because that implies he has a more appealing style (of course that's entirely subjective). He was for sure faster and grittier than George (a la Taxman and Good Morning, Good Morning) and perhaps as Brad says, is/was more technically proficient. George's lead lines were always entertaining, melodic, memorable imho. Darn near impossible to say who's better.

Good post, J. Oliver!

"When it came to writing riffs, however, Paul shone more"

That might come from the bassist in him, as us bassists have rhythm, melody and harmony in mind when playing or composing.

Thanks Alex, just offering what little I can to the discussion.

If I may, JPS you pretty much exemplify those qualities in bass playing but I don't think I'd ascribe those attributes to 999/1000 other bass players today. Paul on the other hand- rarer than 1 in a thousand as far as "inventive" bass lines go. I have a bootleg from Get Back on which Paul is overheard answering a question about how he gets the nifty rhythm (I think he used the word "contrapuntal" but I don't know what it means) in "Martha My Dear" - and he says, "Well, it's because I'm a bass player...maybe!!" He really is what I would call a great guitar player, so maybe the bass playing explains that too. Whatever the case, he's just a frickin' great musician.

I can easily pick out Paul's guitar playing on any of his records, and can distinguish equally well between he and GH on Beatles records. Their respective styles are very different. In "The End" it doesn't even sound like George playing those licks - definitely Paul, possibly John, but not George; his bits are too fluid and Clapton-esque IMHO.

For many years I didn't that it was Paul playing all of those great guitar breaks on 'Taxman', 'Sgt. Pepper', etc. I assumed it was George. As far as the 'The End', I think of the solos as frenetic (Paul), soaring (George), and guttural (John). I always enjoy John's guitar playing, but that's not his best work.

QUOTE:
" ... In "The End" it doesn't even sound like George playing those licks - definitely Paul, possibly John, but not George; his bits are too fluid and Clapton-esque IMHO".
END QUOTE

Actually it's extremely well documented stuff as to who plays what and in what order in "The End " sequence.

The guitar parts are played played by ALL three guitarists doing separate solos in a sequence in a "call and answer" type of effect.

The Playing order is:
John, Paul, George

John Lennon talked about this in length for the extensive interviews he did for Playboy Magazine just weeks before his death.

I'm pretty sure "The End," goes Paul, George, then John. That's what it sounds like to me, just going off the guitars, and I think I've read it in more than one place. It's got to be Paul starting it, and the really heavy bit that ends it sounds like something John would do, and the guitar sounds like a Casino, regardless.

I always thought it was P, G, J also.

Kevin: Actually, I have it on good authority that it's actually P, R, J. This makes sense since the middle player sounds just like Eric Clapton, and in a previous thread it was revealed that Ringo taught Eric everything he knows about guitar playing. But who's playing the drums?

Yes I'm aware of the documentation David - I was just making general commentary and and not putting them in order. Thanks though.

certainly is P, G, J

The order of guitar playing on "The End" is Paul, George and John.

That is always documented the same in every book covering the subject.

"But who's playing the drums?"

Ron Bushy of Iron Butterfly!

Including Geoff Emerick's new book, which provides a great amount of detail about the session. He speculates that one of the reasons they played so well that day was because of Lennon's decision to leave Yoko behind in the control room... for once.

Ringo showing the boys his chops!