Every Little Thing

chrisuk25 · Post by **chrisuk25** » Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:29 pm

Has anyone got an idea what the 12 string electric is on Every Little Thing. Bearing in mind that it was late 1964 and that George's main weapon of choice was his 360/12 (apart from the Gretsch Tennessean) it figures that it should be a Rick but somehow it sounds different....any ideas?? Been wondering about this for sometime and admittedly most of the electric on Beatles For Sale is the Gretsch but ELT sounds like neither....help!

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 2:05 am

Chris: I believe Lennon is playing this riff with his Model 325/12.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 1:10 pm

I second what Peter said. It's got that unique 12 string tone that must be from that short-scale 12 that belonged to Lennon. I also believe the 325/12 was used on Ticket To Ride as the tone is very similar. We've heard this before but I agree with whoever came up with it first! Somebody said it was the Tennessean on Ticket To Ride but it's definitely a 12 string on that riff.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 2:06 pm

That is an unbelievable sounding intro, grabs you from the first note. I love the tone of that guitar. That is one of the millions of things that I loved about the Beatles: all the different guitar sounds they had, and all were great and unique.
How about: You can't do that?

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:24 am

12 string on the opening riff of Ticket to Ride? Doesn't sound like a 12. A 12 on You Can't Do That, definately.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 5:07 pm

Larry: To my ears it was the Gretsch that was used on the intro riff to Ticket To Ride. It has the trebly humbucking ring from my listening of it.

chrisuk25 · Post by **chrisuk25** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 10:46 pm

Thanks for the info - with Ticket to Ride though it is a bit of a poser - for years I've just assumed it was that 325/12 but listening back it could well be the Gretsch although as a rule Gretsch's tend to sound more "woolly" then that - it's so clear and ringing - more a Ricky trademark - there's always the case that it could be a Casino or Fender Broadcaster though as both were floating round the studio at the time.....but yep still a GREAT song though whatever.

admin · Post by **admin** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 2:50 am

Chris: Your points are well taken. I would add that the "Beatles For Sale" album or now CD, is a good tutorial on the sounds to be had from a Gretsch. A good example of the very clear treble sound, at least to me, is the lead guitar on "Words Of Love." This tonality and the "Ticket To Ride" tonality can be obtained from a picking style on the Gretsch (equipped with Dynasonic or Filtertron Alnico pickups) that is as close to the bridge as possible. Give it a whirl and tell me what you think. A Vox AC-30 doesn't hurt either.

eddier · Post by **eddier** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 5:16 am

Peter good point about the guitar tone of "Words of Love" & "Ticket to Ride". For all the talk about the great lead tone on the intro, the rhythm guitar is a great tone & performance as well.

I recall seeing a video of a live performance of "Ticket to Ride" and Mr Harrison was using his RIC 12. It sounded like Mr Lennon played the intro on his RIC and Harrison vamped the intro riff on the 12 during the singing.

admin · Post by **admin** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 5:24 am

I guess it is time to get out the old video tapes and search for this live performance Eddier. Your are right, the Rickenbacker rhythm was a class act during the early Beatles era.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 9:31 am

Amen! No stomp boxes, just organic amplified electric guitars (Rics). Does not get any better.
How could anyone not want to "just get an electric guitar and take some time and learn how to play" after listening to that!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 10:12 am

Yeah I love the sound of those nice clear guitars during the 60's. I used to love the sound of the guitar in "I'm telling you now" Freddy and the Dreamers. I was sure it was a triple pickup something or other, because of course the more pickups the better it sounded. (when I was 12
Vox AC 30's are one of my favorite sounding guitar amps.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 5:16 pm

Amen is right to the clear, treble sounds of the 60's. I think a lot of people playing live today hide behind that distorted sound. I'm no Chet Atkins/George Harrison but I like to play clear, clean guitar. Better to play ten clean notes than fifty distorted ones that you can't really hear. I'm going to listen to Ticket To Ride again. It's been in my head that it was the 325/12 but maybe I've been playing it on a 12 too long to remember. As far as 'was it the Tennessean or the Country Gentleman on treble' I have a hard time with that. It sounds like the last guitar I had plugged in! I do agree that a Rickenbacker has the most treble. I love Freddie And The Dreamers and they were definitely a part of the British Invasion. I was such a British Invasion/Beatle nut that back in 1970 I saved enough cash to go to England in 1971. Spent a month there and saw Freddie And The Dreamers at The Blackpool Pier for about $1.25. The price of admission included Freddie Garritty doing a flip of the stage and yes he landed on his feet! I'll never forget that, they put on a great show. Still have the ticket stub. And yes you can hardly beat an AC-30 but try an old Selmer Stadium or Selector-Tone, they're awesome.

chrisuk25 · Post by **chrisuk25** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 12:03 am

Yep, couldn't agree more Larry - it's a shame that people feel the need to utterly destroy the sound of a lovely guitar - I find it hard to believe that several Rickenbacker artists are also guilty of this - ie a lot of the British indie acts of the early 1990's - such as Ride, Slowdive or most notably the Boo Radley's all played Ricky 12/s and all blotted out that sound with pedals galore (with the occasional exception though - try "OX4" on Ride's Going Blank Again album). Have you noticed though how high profile British bands are now moving back to clean Ricky's? - Coldplay, Shack and The Doves are all well worth checking out....

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Thu Sep 04, 2003 8:29 am

As I mentioned on another branch of this forum, I'd just heard a band called The Chesterfield Kings, and their new stuff has an overdriven 12 string on it which sounds great (probably natural o.d., and based on the pics on their web site, probably a ric). I thought in this instance it was a good sound. I love contradicting myself.