Wednesday, May 6, 2009

REAL Beatles guitars

After the news about those plastic Beatles: Rock Band guitars, how about a look at some real Beatles guitars?

While the Fabs used others instruments throughout their recording/performing career, here's a look at some of their most iconic instruments.

The most iconic Beatles instrument--next to Ringo's Beatle-logoed bass drum, that is--is no doubt Paul's violin-shaped Hofner 500 bass. He still plays these basses during live performances today.







Early on with the Beatles, George played a Gretsch Duo Jet, one of the models being replicated for Beatles: Rock Band.







During the height of Beatlemania, however, George's go-to live guitar was a Gretsch Country Gentleman, a model also favored by the great Chet Atkins.







John, meanwhile, was more closely associated by Rickenbacker's during the early years--mainly a 325.





From the mid-60s on, however, John's most frequently-used electric guitar was an Epiphone Casino. In fact, George and Paul also owned and recorded with Casinos. Around the "White Album," John had the finish sanded off of his, which he claimed improved the sound.







Here's Paul playing his Casino.



And let's not forget that a huge part of the Beatles' sound was the band's blending of acoustic rhythm guitars with electric parts. Those parts were most often strummed on a Gibson J10E. Both John and George owned and played them.








For more on Beatle guitars check here and here. And for the definitive look at Beatles-related instruments, read this:

No comments:

Post a Comment