Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Does anyone know a complete listing of Beatles songs in which paul used his 4001.

Hi Graham. You may want to search this "Artists" section and also the "Beatles" section. We've discussed things more than once usually, so there are plenty of old posts to go through for what you want to know. I've learned a lot by doing that, often learning more from an older post on a topic.

He is seen playing it on the promo for I Am The Walrus. He and the boys got liquored up and decided to paint on it. It was given to him in 64 or so. Paperback Writer and Rain, according the book "Revolution in the Head", he played the bass through a compressor for the two songs.

My best estimate (I've researched this fairly extensively, but contradictions abound!) is that pretty much everything from Rubber Soul through the Hey Bulldog/Lady Madonna sessions (Feb '68) was the RIck (excluding She Said She Said, which was likely George on Burns Nu-Sonic and possibly Fixing a Hole). He used a lefty Fender Jazz for several tracks on The Beatles - Prudence, Glass Onion, Gently Weeps for starters. John and/or George played bass (likely their Fender Bass VI - a righty Jazz bass shoed up sometime in either late '68 or early '69) on Back in the USSR, Birthday, Helter Skelter, Rocky Raccoon and Honey Pie.

The whole of the Get Back sessions was on his second (I think) Hofner or was John (Winding Road, Let it Be). Abbey Road no doubt has a mix of both basses, although George played on Maxwell's SIlver Hammer. Hey Jude is one of those tunes that everyone assumes George played on because of the video and photos of the session, but I'm not sure that all of those parts made it to the released version and I'm not sure that George is even playing the Bass VI on Hey Jude. Oh, he's holding it, but I'm not sure he's adding a real part to the mix. Macca also had a way of going back and adding bass parts later either to supplement or replace John and/or George's parts. There's some evidence to suggest that Back in the USSR has bass parts from John, George and Paul.

FretlessOnly wrote:My best estimate (I've researched this fairly extensively, but contradictions abound!) is that pretty much everything from Rubber Soul through the Hey Bulldog/Lady Madonna sessions (Feb '68) was the RIck (excluding She Said She Said, which was likely George on Burns Nu-Sonic and possibly Fixing a Hole). He used a lefty Fender Jazz for several tracks on The Beatles - Prudence, Glass Onion, Gently Weeps for starters. John and/or George played bass (likely their Fender Bass VI - a righty Jazz bass shoed up sometime in either late '68 or early '69) on Back in the USSR, Birthday, Helter Skelter, Rocky Raccoon and Honey Pie.

The whole of the Get Back sessions was on his second (I think) Hofner or was John (Winding Road, Let it Be). Abbey Road no doubt has a mix of both basses, although George played on Maxwell's SIlver Hammer. Hey Jude is one of those tunes that everyone assumes George played on because of the video and photos of the session, but I'm not sure that all of those parts made it to the released version and I'm not sure that George is even playing the Bass VI on Hey Jude. Oh, he's holding it, but I'm not sure he's adding a real part to the mix. Macca also had a way of going back and adding bass parts later either to supplement or replace John and/or George's parts. There's some evidence to suggest that Back in the USSR has bass parts from John, George and Paul.

You hit the nail on the head, John. It's more or less that. Rubber Soul features Paul alternating between his Hofner and Ric (thanks to the isolated RockBand tracks, we can hear based on whether intonation is good or bad), while White Album and Abbey Road feature Paul alternating between both his first (White Album) or second (Abbey Road) Hofner, Ric 4001S and a lefty Fender Jazz, as well as George and John on Bass VI (White Album) or Jazz bass (Abbey Road).

I'm going to stick to my guns and the reports and say "Hey Jude" was George on Bass VI, I'm hearing a bass sound similar to "Rocky Raccoon" (obviously without the amp tremolo) on the mono mix of "Hey Jude", but I can't be sure.

I'm getting to the point where I don't believe anything anymore There are so many different ideas and opinions and evidence and discussion that I could believe he played a washtub bass on Hey Bulldog.

I was listening to Revolver the other day and heard some evidence of the clunky pick attack sound that I usually associate with the Jazz (similar to While My Guitar Gently Weeps) on one of the songs. There are many variables and the recording techniques may make one bass sound like another and, since either McCartney doesn't remember or won't tell, we will never know for sure.

Well, certainly there is a fair amount of subjectivity going on here, but what I posted was based on research I've done over the past year or so. There are too many possible sources of this information, but sticking to several sources that are either from the likes of Lewisohn, or other more technical analyses (e.g., Walter Everett), or quote from Beatles interviews, etc., I came to the above conclusions, letting my ear be the final judge when needed.

The LH Jazz didn't arrive until '68 - that is fairly well documented. As for Macca, I really think that he just doesn't remember. The haze in the room was pretty thick from '65 onward.

Hey Jake - I've listened to a few of those isolated tracks, but not all. Which Rubber Soul tracks do you think are on the Hofner? A track like Michelle screams 4001S to me, for example.

Without accurate studio engineer notes or Paul remembering we will never know unless we see a clip of Paul using it. If you smoked as much pot as Paul smoked and dropped that much acid, do you think you could remember what bass you used on certain track from over 40 years ago?

08 Ric 4003 wrote:If you smoked as much pot as Paul smoked and dropped that much acid, do you think you could remember what bass you used on certain track from over 40 years ago?

Any volunteers?

I'm actually in the middle of that experiment... lets see how much I can remember in 40 years

FretlessOnly wrote:Hey Jake - I've listened to a few of those isolated tracks, but not all. Which Rubber Soul tracks do you think are on the Hofner? A track like Michelle screams 4001S to me, for example.

Hofner:
We Can Work It Out
Day Tripper
Run for Your Life
If I Needed Someone
Norwegian Wood
Drive My Car
Nowhere Man
Wait
What Goes On

Ric 4001S:
Michelle
Think for Yourself
You Won't See Me
The Word
I'm Looking Through You
In My Life
Girl

Thanks, Jake. Just eye-balling your lists suggests that these make sense. A song like Day Tripper, being something of an active line, may have benefitted from the 4001S, but since that single was recorded early-on in the sessions, perhaps Macca hadn't used the 4001S enough to feel comfortable on it.