Lennon's was used on ' Nowhere Man' and sparingly on the Sgt. During the Help! sessions, Lennon and Harrison acquired matching 1961 Fender Stratocasters. In 1968 during the recording of The Beatles, drummer Ringo Starr left the group during tensions and when he returned, Lennon gave the Rickenbacker 325 1996 to Starr. Lennon used the guitar for the shows until the other 325 was repaired. The guitar is called a Rickenbacker 325 1996. British instrument distributor Rose Morris sent a replacement Rickenbacker 325 with a sound hole and in a red fire glo finish. During the Christmas shows of 1964, Lennon dropped the new Rickenbacker 325 which made a huge crack in the neck and headstock.

Shortly thereafter, he upgraded to a brand new Rickenbacker 325, a much-improved version of his 325 Capri. This is the way the guitar appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show performance in February 1964. In early 1963 he sent the guitar off to be refinished in its more popular black finish. He purchased the guitar in Hamburg in its original natural finish and used the guitar extensively throughout the Cavern Club performances. Upgrading from a 1959 Höfner Club 40 guitar, purchased from Hessy's Music Shop in Liverpool, Lennon primarily used a Rickenbacker 325 Capri from 1960 until 1964. Harrison later gave the guitar to Bob Dylan in 1969. Martin & Company (alternating between the J-160E and the D-28 for The Beatles) while Harrison upgraded to a Gibson J-200 Jumbo (which Lennon used on ' Two of Us' and other acoustic tracks on Let It Be). Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Lennon moved on to a Martin D-28 from C. This twelve-string guitar accounted for audibly richer rhythm guitar parts on songs like these, in comparison to the six-string Gibsons. Lennon also used a Framus Hootenanny twelve-string acoustic, which can be seen in the movie Help! and heard on the title song and ' You've Got to Hide Your Love Away'. The resonant character of the full acoustic body, combined with the electric pickup, meant that this guitar was susceptible to feedback, employed to great effect on the intro to ' I Feel Fine'.

Not listed are instruments played by the Beatles’ session players such as cello, violin, saxophone, trumpet, French horn or the 41-piece orchestra heard on ' A Day in the Life'.īoth John Lennon and George Harrison used the Gibson J-160E, an acoustic guitar with an electric pickup at the base of the fretboard. This article attempts to list the instruments used to achieve those results.

Their scope of experimentation grew, as did the palette of sounds. As their touring days wound down, they became a full-time studio band. The Beatles started out like most other rock and roll bands, employing a standard guitars/ bass/ drums instrumentation.

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