Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

And yes he did use a left handed Jazz. I have seen pictures of him using it during the Abbey Road sessions. Great bassline in Bulldog, the slide and the part at the end where they are laughing after the bark and the bass walks down-then slides up to a stop for a half measure. Great stuff.

Re Golden Slumbers. According to the Anthology DVD, it's George who plays bass - either on a Fender Jazz or Fender VI( the old 6 string basses that were the same tuning as a regular guitar but an octave lower.)

I also agree with Paul Boyer that She's So Heavy is definitely played on the Hofner. I think probably alot of that stuff was. I've got one and although they don't sustain or sound anywhere as beefy as a RIC, Geoff Emerick (The Beatles' chief engineer)used a shedload of compression on the bass for those albums, which would have the desired effect...

My 2 cents worth is that a great deal of effort was put in, to get the bass sounding about the same, regardless of player or axe.

Macca's sound on Band On The Run is seems like a more natural Jazz Bass sound.

I agree "Shes so heavy" is definitely Hofner, also possibly "Something" although the low notes are a little heavy for a Hofner. "Maxwells Silver Hammer" I think is definitely Ric on the treble pickup. I can get the exact "Come Together" sound on my Ric with flatwounds. I don't think the jazz was used as much as some people here think.
McCartney was all by himslf back then, he was the first lead bass player, no one played like that before him. In the early 60's when he first started playing bass, the upright was still the dominant bass in a lot of music. He was the best back then in pop rock and roll, way ahead of everyone else. I know because I am a geezer and have loved bass since I was ten years old which was the first time I heard the Beatles in early 1964. They were a few others also but he was definitely an innovator, he was the first melodic bass player in rock music.

Is the Hey Bulldog video on the Anthology series somewhere? If not, is there a link to view it on line?

The bass is not seen in the Hey Bulldog Video. Paul and John are shown singing the song, Ringo playing drums and George playing guitar. I have it downloaded on my work computer and just watched it the other day! GREAT tune! I'll see if I can dig up the link.