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"If I Needed Someone"

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:28 am
by bassduke49
Pardon the "noobie" question. I'm a bass player, but have just arranged to purchase a Rick 660/12 for me and my band. We want to play "If I Needed Someone" (among many other Beatle tunes), and I hope someone out there can tell me (and my guitarist) the chord structure of this song. I know it involves a kapo placed fairly far up the fretboard. We want to duplicate the sound GH got, so WAG's won't help. Anyone know for sure?

Thanks!
12-string rookie

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:37 am
by xsubs

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:16 am
by leftybass
George said in the 80s that the song was written in the 'D' nut postion, but capoed up in the key of 'A', 7th fret perhaps? I can't visualize it in my head...

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:31 am
by Scastles
John has it right. It is in the D position with a capo on the 7th fret. George would later use the same positioning when doing, Here Comes the Sun.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:03 am
by tennis_nick
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SxjlZYoWgJo

That's how he does it live! One important thing you have to remember to get this right, make sure the bass riff stays in A when everyone else goes to G! if you want MORE of that contrast in there, make your other guitarist play this instead of a G
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:19 pm
by sloop_john_b
Ugh, what a dreadful performance!

What everyone else said - based around an open D shape with the capo at the 7th fret.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:09 pm
by stubby
They should turn up the bass in the mix...

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:00 pm
by lyle_from_minneapolis
Yes, D position 7th fret, and more like D7 as a base position while you pick the melody on the high strings. When I used my acoustic for this one, I had to play it on the 9th fret because I tune down a whole tone to reduce string tension.

The key to this one (In My Halfbaked Opinion), moreso than the right amp, is the tone you acheive from how you play those strings.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:30 am
by stuart
Ringo sure does smash the cymbals at the end of that one!

I love this song... It's in my Top 10 of all time!

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:06 pm
by jimk
Ugh, what a dreadful performance!



Yeah, it sounds like they didn't have a very good monitor mix, if any.

Good song, though. I wouldn't mind covering this. Anybody ever heard Roger McGuinn's cover of "If I Needed Someone?" I heard a preview. Really nice.

Jim

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 9:17 pm
by jamie
Did anyone catch how the mic that Paul & John were singing into kept moving on top of the stand? It's almost comical. Even George is seen adjusting his own mic at one point. What the heck was going on?

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:14 pm
by revolver323
You forget that the Beatles invented the huge rock venue tour. They were using equipment meant for clubs in stadiums. No one knew how it was supposed to be done because no one had done it before. I believe they had only two roadies -- Mal & Neil. Kinda funny when you see how much stuff the average club band carries today.

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:04 am
by gregga41
I always chuckle when George Harrison recounts the Shea Stadium event.In the anthology series he tells how Vox specially made 100w amps for them specifically for the huge stadium!
How state of the art that was then,... seems prehistoric to us now!

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 7:41 am
by desertgoldenboy
Ringo certainly looked p*ssed on his close-up. Maybe that's why he smashed his cymbals so hard at the end. Something sure was eating him that day!

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:33 pm
by tennis_nick
Completely off the subject at hand, but yesterday me and fellow forum runner Pat played this song as a jam opener on a 330 and a 370. very good to have 2 Ricks in unison, I had chorus on the 330 to simulate 12 strings... I wish I had my own, but they both belong to that lucky Pat fellow...