Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

When I hear this song I totally hear the Byrds. Now, who first created this "sound" first? Was it Harrison/Beatles or the Byrds?

That's a good question Mike. Jan and Dean came before the Beach Boys, but who d'ya think is better???

"If I Needed Someone" has always been a personal fav of mine. I recorded it a few months ago and it's probably the best recording I've done. I surprised myself with the harmonies(Cause I'm not a good singer), but to me, it'll never be finished.

Harrison said the song was his "answer" to the Byrds "Bells of Rhymney"

I'm with Don on this. In fact I think George said he wrote the song in a D nut position and then capo'd it; it sounds very Byrds-y when you play it in D...

What came out first, The Byrds "Mr. Tambourine Man" LP, or Rubber Soul?

April 1965 for "Mr. Tambourine Man," Dec. 1965 for Rubber Soul." At least in the states.

McGuinn says that George told him to play his 12 string leads on the G string.

Well, McGuinn picked up the twelve after he saw A Hard Day's Night. And you can hear a bit of the Byrds sound on Beatles for Sale, especially "What You're Doing" and "Every Little Thing," which predates any of the Byrds releases.

But the Byrds really picked it up, ran with it, and made it a style. The Beatles just seemed to touch on that sound in their recordings. "If I Needed Someone" is like a re-reaction to that sound, but this time directly inspired by the Byrds.

McGuinn has an acoustic guitar model out under his name...a seven string (doubled G string)...and he said the doubled G is the key to the whole twelve string sound. I wonder why George completely dropped using the RIC 12-er until his solo years...did he feel "It's Been Done" already? (to quote his line on the Simpsons..)

The g string is the first with an octave string
that's it , it's trivial

In principle, and upon first consideration, the comment regarding the sound of the G-string pair may sound trivial Wolfgang. Then again, a lot of sounds the Beatles chose I suppose could fall into the trivial category.

To name a few, the guitar solo in "I'll Follow The Sun", the first three chords of "This Boy" or the feedback at the beginning of "I Feel Fine." They can become signature sounds.

I quite agree with you that isolating the golden sound of the 12 string to the G String pair may be trivial, but as I think of it, playing solos on that string pair do stand out.

what I mean is that the typical 12 string sound
comes not (only) by string doubling, but by the octave strings. To achieve the octave string sound you may not play your solo on the 1st and 2nd pair of strings. That's all.
The other thing to mention here is the reverse stringing of the Ricks, compared to acoustic 12-string guitars. The Rickenbackers are strung like the Mexican Lauta.
And the jangle. The secret of the Capris and the Toasters.

George's first 12 string solo "I should have known better" is played on the g-string.
The first note of "Mr. Tambourine man" is played on the g-string, because it was in the D chord, played barré on the 5th fret.
To me, the best octave string solo is on Eight Miles High.
But, if you want the Byrds' sound played by the Beatles, listen to the Anthology version of "And your Bird can sing"

Can't comment on the techo stuff, but If I needed Someone was released a a single in Uk by The Hollies how many have heard it on this forum and if not do you want to.

Yes I would like to hear it Roy.