Let It Be’s Ghost Guitar Solo Mystery Explained 

Single.

Naked > Single > Album

Album>Anthology>Single>Naked

The first solo overdub was recorded before Lennon privately told the Beatles he was leaving the group. The second overdub was recorded afterwards and right before McCartney eventually announced he was also leaving the group. The extra tension and raw feeling of the second overdub is perhaps too coincidental once you put this in perspective.

John > The other 3

this is crazy

same jesus christ

im gonna edit a video of the full song where u can hear in ur left ear the one solo and the other on ur right ear

@Nala R. it might take me some weeks, you can listen to my crap voice while im still at it, just visit my channel hahaha lol

They should have just released it as a combination of versions lmao

NOT even close. George Martin nailed it.

George? It was probably Paul. He liked to play everything. Actually the Taxman solo was McCartney!!!!

@@Taccati I agree with you, Taccati. "It was probably Paul." Paul is a very fine guitar player. He is often heard on Beatles recordings.

The album version is the best, you're right. There's so much feel to it.

@@Taccati It was George.

Lol

There will be an answer: "Let It Be"

This one is good though and adds to the song.

🤣

It didn’t ruin it for me, but it sure made me hear it differently

George wanted to be Chet Atkins. Listen to some Chet and it's obvious. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I grew up on Chet and the Fabs. Plus that's what George said. John said he and Paul didn't want to be Rogers and Hammerstein. They wanted to be Goffin and King.

George admired Buddy Holly also, listen to In Spite Of All the Danger, his guitar solo sounds exactly like Buddy Holly's playing

Oh sure. Plus George wanted his Strat. If there was a butterfly effect and Buddy never existed, John and Paul may not have had started writing songs together. "Hey Paul check out who wrote this fookin! song by the Crickets. It says Holly. He writes his own fookin' songs!"

True. He's one of my favourite slide guitarist. He plays melodic slide.

i know he’s the guitar player from the beatles but for some reason i thought of rick harrison lmao and his pawn shop

Lol!!!

Looking for this comment 👍👍😁😁

HA!...................................................................................................................................................................................................

funny funny, good pun...

Followed by 4 different versions of rim shots...

he was mates with clapton

It wasn't George Harrison. It was Jessie Edwin Davis.

Something and Octopus’s Garden are two of my favorites of George‘s work.

@@callawaycass5148 Isn't octopus's garden Ringo?

Potato Chips he meant lead guitar work

LoL

Jerry Nielsen cue that ragtime piano banging

Should have played at Woodstock.

Thats what i always want to do when playing let it be. George harrison had so much melody in his solos i could listen to him play a guitar solo for hours and still not get bored, i have a guitar amp that i can plug my phone into so i can play along to the song and i usually solo the whole way through anyway

BeaTles could of continued but bcuz of their women they broke up lolz 😆 🤣 😂 😜 Imagine if they stayed together like the Stones did?? They could of done solo albums like Mick and Keith did in the 80's ... If only if only...✌🏽

I agree, this was great, and they sound good together! They should have had both in at once. 🎚🎛🎧

I studied heavily + play every nuance of the January 1970 raunchy version 2 years now; I knew 40 years ago, George was playing the prettiest bent note ever played

Which is imo the best release of the album

@@AspiringDryad the album version of let it be is better on the original though

@@frrellr i personally disagree. That's probably mainly because growing up I only knew the Naked version

@@AspiringDryad im talking specifically about the song "Let It Be" btw the rest of the album is probs better on the naked version tho lol the way i listen to let it be is by mixing the songs from the OG and naked version. Anyway if you like the naked version more that's fine cause its you personal preference ;-)

No, that's from the film version.

I can play it note for note, it's really cool, stuck within the box lead pattern but does things like the delayed downward bend and interesting note jumps.

twist and shout is strong

The Beatles Custom Songs that was a cover not a Beatles song

@@GospelOfJudas I KNOW!

@@GospelOfJudas The Beatles made it better tho

Same, I kinda wish we could have the Martin mix with the album solo

That wins for me too. It just stands out from the reverential and quasi-religious sound of the rest of the song. What Phil Spector did to Long and Winding Road, though . . . .

..according to you. Lol

Yeah, I always preferred the original album version with the raunchy guitar. My know it all brother prefers the organ solo so I guess I’m just a Philistine or something...

@@BeeWhistler it's not an organ solo..it's a guitar through a Leslie speaker.

I always preferred the banjo solo played by Roy Clark version.

because you're total loser haha go cry and back to your mom

@@iqbalkingcobain6302 shut the fuck up

Yeah I do get a creepy vibe from this

Iqbal kingcobain fucking dumbass

I get it. Audio disturbs me more than visual things. It’s strangely unsettling yet interesting?

Would make for a good cover with both solos’dueling’…..

rexbpiano: Those two solos did blend quite well together---I'd like to hear the entire solo break that way.

When I was a kid, we would get two record players and play both versions together

Some of the best pentatonic guitar soloing in the beatles repertoire!

Hey, maybe that's why they recorded it this way! ;)

One idea they had was to release the song with both solos. One panned hard left and the other hard right. Somebody actually made that version and every once in a while it gets played on Sirius XM radio on the Deep Tracks channel.

please watch the original and never released solo of the let it be take 27a, played by George on january 31, 1969 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vCJ4ivhVMaQ.html

Harrison was always a good player he just didn't have it until later

Not if you're listening to the mono version. Such as the Beatles intended.

i was listening to twist and shout the other day with only one earphone and literally i was like- why can i barely hear the vocals ?? now i get it lmao thank you

I always secretly hated that about the stereo version, but there are tons of songs that utilize that. The one that stands out the most to me is Funk #49 by James Gang. I always forget when the track drops out to just one side and splits between set and guitar

Ohh we love analogue tape

Same with yellow submarine.

Yes many of The Beatles album and single versions were quite different. Also with the American and British lps you saw major differences in some songs.

Mine has Red apple label too

I think they released mono and stereo specific versions back at release era because stereo wasn't the standardized audio platform until the mid 70's

ME TOO....!!

I was lucky to find the red apple 🍎Let it Be at Goodwill for $1. It was in great shape too.

Noah Waterman nice try, google. i’m onto you

Other people with similar interests searched for it, they map everything. You basically have clones out there.

Same man... I recently think about my claustrophobia and the next thing that pops up on my RU-vid recommendations are tight caves explorers even though I didn't search or said anything about it.

Ryan Tan thats hysterical! But scaaaary :/

Neil Clapp No Neil. It’s the algorithms that matches it up. People who are interested in Let it Be might also watch a video about its solos, it’s that simple. Don’t let paranoid thoughts take over, it’s not good for you.

Nancy has spoken. Delete the video. Nothing to see here.

Not to mention the demos. The demo version of Let It Be is remarkable in that Paul debuts the song to everyone. He hasn't figured out all the lyrics yet. So as a listener I found myself wanting to correct the demo. It's amazing to think of a world where this song didn't already exist fully formed. Check out the demo if you never have.

I mean, he wasn't saying it's particular weird for the band, he was just exploring one of the many anomalies within their songs.

Thanks

Meaning all versions, technically. 😃

That's literally all of them

the guitar tone is much better too

I've only ever heard the album version, so I thought the normal solo was the ghost. XD

Same here.

More energy doesn't mean more emotion.

@@ctrlaltshift I'd only heard the single for years, then upon hearing the album, was like what?? Could not believe how much better I enjoyed it.

tadpoleguy cause he doesn’t get as much love

@@gavingrant8254 His solo stuff is amazing in my opinion. He's really underrated, even after the Beatles.

tadpoleguy - Ever noticed they are all looking the same way except Paul... the break up is in/on the cover. :)

They should have let him sing “One After 909”.

@@65TossTrap And they SHOULD NOT have let Yoko sit on the amp.

please watch the original and never released solo of the let it be take 27a, played by George on january 31, 1969 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vCJ4ivhVMaQ.html

please watch the original and never released solo of the let it be take 27a, played by George on january 31, 1969 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vCJ4ivhVMaQ.html

Yeah. Compare to "Layla" with dozens of guitar tracks, and not too far off time-wise.

Clapyon!

There are countless "ghost solos/notes/vocals etc... on many recordings up til the 80s and some beyond. This has to do with recording techniques and limitations. There are a few different reasons for them to occur. One reason is that isolating each instrument in the studio was difficult, as well as the fact that some people prefer to record their tracks while playing along with someone else and it bleeds through the mics. The biggest reason is drum tracks recorded while the guitar plays along and the guitar gets picked up by a drum overhead Mic. The drum track is perfect and the band uses that track for the album while the guitar track is replayed and overdubbed later but you can hear the original guitar part that was picked up by the drum mics. That is most common. Some less common occurrences like the ghost vocals in Whole Lotta Love by led zeppelin was unintended but sounded cool so it was left on the album, was due to the fact that the master tapes were stored incorrectly. When storing tape we store it "tails out", meaning it is fast forwarded off the machine instead of being rewound off the machine because once it is spooled onto the reel and the tape is tightly packed, the top layer can bleed through to the next winding that it lays on top of. This has to due with the way tape works which is basically magnetism and rust particles so the magnetic field imparts onto the subsequent layer of tape. It would take a whole video to explain more about how tape recording works so you might want to check it out. I'm sure there are videos about it here on youtube

I second this comment. Quality content about interesting ans unexplored details that really change the way you listen to these songs.

Thanks for watching! More episodes coming soon...and suggestions are always welcome.

DB Cisco fun fact: the entire L.A Woman album vocals were recorded in the bathroom of the studio

@@GamingOneOnOne Yep. Another fun fact for you, the Motown Studio reverb was an empty elevator shaft.

@@GamingOneOnOne Thought you might like this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y0cMHSuH2nk.html

dubbing

No, its called bleed

Robert Suthard Let It Be...Naked is a fascinating listen, and the absolutely amazing Don’t Let Me Down should have been on the original album. But I have to say: the Naked version does lose some of the charm and fun of the original album thanks to John’s witty comments, the sloppy arrangements, the short unfinished song snippets, etc.

You Can't Unhear This I agree with a lot of that. I totally have a burnt cd somewhere at my parents that has a mix of tracks from both. The original totally has a charm to it that is needed. Naked is a great supplement after being so familiar with the original.

I totally agree with Robert! Let It Be...Naked was the way The Beatles wanted the record to be heard (according to Paul). I have to say I believe him. The juxtaposition of the two albums is amazing, just listen to the over produced product of Let It Be and the rawness and basic cut of Let it Be...Naked. The track listing and pure sound quality stand out immediately. I wish I was able to secure this album on vinyl. The whole premise was to get back to their roots before they stopped touring and became a studio group. Remember the original album cover for Let It Be was the "Blue" album cover (mimicking "Please, Please Me"). To me Let It Be...Naked is one of the best Beatles albums. I understand they were in turmoil during the recording of this album and ultimately broke up, but it was really refreshing to hear Let It Be (Naked)...the way it was intended to be heard. Food for Thought!

'Naked' is IMHO a "better" album than the Phil Spector mix but there is a lot to be said for the Glyn Johns mix which I have on a bootleg.

before Phil Spectored all over it. 😂

Kevin Kent Little fun fact I didn’t put in the video: at one point, the band considered using both solos at the same time (or at least weaving them together in the mix). 50 years later, it finally happened! ;)

@@YouCantUnhearThis and it sounded really dope! they should release a new version with the both solos together! :D

Thank you. You are cool as hell.

Yeah, me too. Although, depending on my mood, sometimes Rubber Soul takes the lead spot.

For me, it's Abbey Road. That really has stood the test of time, hardly dated at all

Just got to say like Abbey Road that bit better 🤗🤗

yup. put on revolver, turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream

The Stones are STILL together....SO, there's THAT!! sorry for all the yelling.

Gee that was highly specific

@@judsta123kickass It is indeed specific, but the chord shapes make a ton of difference...

@Jeff McLeod There are three kinds of guitar players, those who can count the frets, and those who cannot.

Riiiiiiight.........

Could you have possibly overthought this any more?

abbey road was recorded after let it be.

Let It Be became their last original album to be released, even though it was not their last recorded album.

@@alexandermacdougall7873 George's final guitar solo on Let It Be was recorded in january 1970, after Abbey Road.

alexander macdougall I Me Mine was also recorded after Abbey Road, and is the last song to be recorded by the band (altho without Lennon)

So you'll love this remix I did: instaud.io/3iWP

That "ghost" solo is much more obvious than the one in Let It Be. Also, love the Oasis profile pic

Same thing with i'm down

There's a 2nd lower-level solo that also runs during the up-front solo in Yer Blues. It's really rocking!

@@harveycan5820 Exactly, and I´m glad you take that one up. I think that there´s an over-keenness in adding "mystery" or "drama" to everything having to do with The Beatles, especially in their latter stages. In my opinion, what is happening is that the ever-original Beatles picked a short-lived but very interesting trend of making TWO overlapping guitar solos, different but complementary. The LP version of LIB, methinks, is the deepest and most emotional. George´s solos in the middle and at the end must rank among the greatest ever.

The ghost Can't Buy Me Love guitar solo is clearly audible in the vocal track from the RockBand stems. It was a revelation the first time I heard it. You can tell George had some idea of what he wanted to do but it was not really fully developed and a little sloppy. Near the end of the solo you can hear Paul laughing as if George was wincing or pulling a face, which leads to Paul's "hey!" that you can barely hear just before the vocals come back in.

Herson Lamolli I think let it be is the only one I've got. I got albums.

Nope. A hard days night.

Says "wut" and tells me to speak English. Another toxic youtube prick.

Rob Montraix, Single version is best.

@Rob Montraix: Agreed. An excellent solo. This one and the solo from Something are my favorite George solos!

Rob Montraix, Ding bag "let It Be" is Paul on vocals not George. And the guitar solo on the single version is the best.

Rob Montraix, The single version guitar solo is better than the album version.

isn't that John?

exactly. The album solo is just perfect. The other are good solos, but when you know the album one they seem to be lacking something.

That’s what I’m saying. The way it just rips into existence.

Album version sounds definitive to me. I enjoy the single version because it was more in keeping with the homemade ethos of the sessions, overdub and all, but the song itself fits the Spector approach perfectly. Even that kitschy chorus of angelic backing vocals works.

You are not correct. George simply didn't like the original lead and rerecorded the guitar part. Listen to the solo in Can't Buy Me Love. The original that was done in France can be heard under the "new" solo done at EMI.

The "ghost" solo he's referring to isn't the single vs album mix, it's another solo entirely that was edited out from a previous take.

WNORG.

the beatles are allowed to make mistakes, dude

I totally agree see my comments above

Riley Smith I love that your icon is Joey Molland!

Yeah, I've noticed that on here today, right before the strong piano part

I think it occurs when reusing the same tape over and over. If there is a quieter spot in the song of the last person to record, that's where you will hear the bleed through of the previous recording. Now what? Reusing tape? On demos maybe. But why on Gods green earth would an engineer worth his salt, reuse tape on a serious recording in the making? Yes recorded without tracks, you are bound to have bleed through because the microphones will pick up the instrument playing next to it or the loudest instrument in the room (usually drums, cymbals) and good luck trying to remove the bleed through. With this method the bleed through will muddy up the sound, but the spontaneity of the band will not be compromised, a key ingredient in many very successful bands. But here we have the bleed through of a completely different artist or band. Why? The engineer is either blasted out of his mind, or the studio is 2 steps from bankruptcy, or engineer is a life long cheapskate. If i am wrong, please correct me....im hardly an expert! But i cant think of any other reasons to reuse tape on a new project?!

I've always wished I could hear the one on Can't Buy Me Love more clearly.

Yea I like that little chuckle. I do it along with paul whenever i sing it

Same thing happened there. The solo he played while laying down the backing track in Paris bleeds through the other instruments mics. He overdubbed a new solo while back in London.

I noticed that too! Good call I also emailed SXM about the awful distorted blown-speaker sounding mono cut of Penny Lane they play once in awhile. Its terrible. I don't know why they play that and not stick to the tried and true standard stereo non-overloaded regular cut of the song

@@josephweaver5385 Except Harrison wrote most of it.