Guitar Techniques

The Beatles’ Acoustic Styles

Peter Jackson’s hotly anticipated remake of the infamous Let It Be film, which documented the demise of the world’s most famous band, and initially set to launch this autumn, is now postponed until 2021 due to Covid-19. We were really anticipating the Lord Of The Rings director’s take on it, and so we thought we’d revisit this study of John, Paul and George’s acoustic picking. It’s such an interesting subject that, despite the hiccup, we decided to run with it anyway,

It’s easy to forget that behind the Beatles machine was an engine room featuring three guitarists with unique styles. When these styles combined with the songwriting talents of John, Paul and George, the result was music that was staggeringly well rounded. Of course imagine the Fab Four on stage and you probably picture Paul and his Hofner bass and George and John with either Gretsch or Rickenbacker. However, each of the three also wrote and recorded on acoustics. Here I aim to bring out key facets of each player’s idiosyncratic touches which meant that the acoustic was a powerful writing tool in each of their hands.

“PAUL WAS INFLUENCED BY SCOTTISH

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