John and George continue their “Please Please Me” amplified Gibson J-160E guitar sound on “From Me To You”! Recorded on March 5, 1963, The Beatles also used their J-160Es this day on “Thank You Girl” and an early version of “One After 909”. The woody tone of these recordings leads me to believe George used his J-160E instead of the twangier Gretsch Duo Jet.
George opens “From Me To You” with his classic octave melody style. Pay special attention to the slurring of notes through slides. For example, the D octave at 0:01 is played with a slide up, while the D octave immediately after is played with a slide down. In live performances of “From Me To You”, George preferred to play the C major chord as a barre in the 3rd fret position. On the actual recording, however, he plays the C major as a barre at the 8th fret. This can be heard through the high C note (high E string, fret 8).
Likewise, in live performances, George plays many more embellishments, including a C7 before the middle eights and chromatic lead in notes throughout. The only such embellishment heard on the original is the chromatic walk up from C to D at 0:41 and 1:24.
George’s guitar is nearly inaudible for the Gm, C, and F chords of the middle eight. He does change his pattern from a “dada da” to a “dada dada” for this section, except at 1:19. In live performances, George would play these chords with more loose strumming higher up on the neck. The G major to Gaug section in the first middle eight (0:45) is played without the G major on beat 1, as opposed to the second middle eight (1:28). The final octave D at 1:50 is played very short to give George time to reach the final A minor barre chord.
Interestingly, the instrumental section at 1:03 features John on harmonica, Paul on bass, and George on guitar as an overdub (Take 9 - edit piece 1). All play the melody in unison. George’s guitar sounds much brighter and twangier here, leading me to believe that he used his Duo Jet for this section. This can be heard especially in the hammer-ons at 1:04. In live performances, he would play this melody in octaves, but the hammer-on sound of the recording makes it likely that he recorded “From Me To You” as a single line melody.
John keeps a relatively metronomic strumming pattern throughout “From Me To You”. In viewing the live performance at the Royal Variety Show 1963, one can see that the stereotype of John Lennon as a heavy handed player is not totally true. His hand is closed while playing, and much of the movement is generated in the wrist. The strumming during the middle eight is made even lighter (0:35, 1:17). However, it does get a little heavier during the G to Gaug sections! (0:45, 1:28).
An embellishment of a G7 is added at 0:12, 0:26, and 1:37. This embellishment is not included at 0:54 or 1:09. John concludes “From Me To You” (1:44) with a chord sequence of C, Am, G#aug, each time accenting the beginning of the chord.
As with most early recordings of John Lennon’s J-160E, the left channel features his Vox amplified sound while the right channel includes acoustic bleed of the booming J-160E into the vocal microphone. This sound was recreated in this video for authenticity.
Instruments Used:
John Lennon and George Harrison Guitars: Gibson J-160E Standard
Amp: Vox AC15C1
31 авг 2018
