Beatles Bass Lines

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This is my transcription of Paul McCartney's bass line on the Beatles song "I'll Cry Instead" from the 1964 album A Hard Day's Night .  I am playing a Hofner Beatle Bass (HCT 500/1) through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

This is my transcription of Paul McCartney's bass line on the Beatles' song "Paperback Writer," released as a single in May 1966. The song was recorded during the Revolver sessions in April 1966. McCartney played guitar on the basic track (along with George Harrison), then overdubbed his bass line with his 1964 Rickenbacker 4001S. Recording bass as an overdub afforded him the opportunity to be much more adventurous in what he played. This bass line, while it provides a suitable support for the song, is fairly soloistic, a feat he would repeat the following day for the recording of the single's B-side, "Rain." Lennon referred to this song as "son of 'Day Tripper'" because of the heavy guitar riff. McCartney's approach to the bass line, however, is one major difference between the two songs. On "Day Tripper" he doubles the iconic guitar riff on bass, adding more emphasis to it. For stretches of the song, the riff and drums ...

This is my transcription of Paul McCartney's bass line on the 1965 single "Day Tripper." This song was recorded during the Rubber Soul  sessions in fall and released on the same day as the album in December 1965. Primarily a Lennon composition, it was a double-A-side single with the largely McCartney-penned "We Can Work It Out." I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here are the bass lines for 10 Beatles songs. You'll hear 25-30 seconds of each one. As a hint, halfway through each clip I'll show you the album that song is from. The answer is revealed at the end of each clip. See how many you can name! (Some of them are tricky!!)

In this video I'm playing my transcription of Paul McCartney's bass line on the song "For No One" from Revolver  (1966). It's a simple but effective line that enters after the first verse. The ascending scale in the chorus is a nice touch. Paul and Ringo were the only two Beatles to appear on this track.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here's my transcription of George Harrison's bass line on "Good Day Sunshine" from Revolver  in 1966. This was probably the first instance of a Beatle other than Paul playing the bass line on a recording. McCartney played piano on the basic track, while Harrison likely played a Burns Nu-Sonic bass. The bass line is simple and straightforward, but effective enough. McCartney almost certainly would have played a more active line had he been the bassist.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

There are several songs in the Beatles' catalog for which there is some controversy over who played what instrument. One of those songs is "She Said She Said," recorded in June 1966 for the Revolver album. During the recording session for this song, Paul McCartney had an argument with John Lennon and stormed out of the studio. He claimed he didn't appear on the recording of that song at all. But is his memory accurate? Who played bass on "She Said She Said?"

Here is my transcription of the bass line on the Beatles song "She Said She Said" from the 1966 Revolver album .  This is a song primarily written by Lennon. It was the last song recorded for the album and there is some controversy over who actually played bass on the recording... stay tuned!!! I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

The bass line on "Yellow Submarine" from Revolver  (1966) is fairly straightforward, but does feature some nice moments.  The passage after the lyric "And the band begins to play" is a little unusual. The backing track of guitar and bass continue with the regular chord progression - Am-C-D7. The brass ensemble, however, comes in playing a different chord (essentially just playing figure suggesting a G major triad). I had never actually noticed this discrepancy until I transcribed the bass line.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here's a quick bass lesson video on how to play Paul McCartney's bass line on "Taxman."  

The "Taxman" bass line is one I often see transcribed incorrectly. While I'm not a fan of most of Giles Martin's remixes, his mix of this song brings out a lot of details in McCartney's bass line. For one thing, when the bass line jumps up an octave on beat 2 of the main groove, most transcriptions just have one D as an 8th note - but it's pretty clear that McCartney plays two 16th note D's. The bridge bass line is also almost always transcribed incorrectly, with a C instead of a B. Slowing down the recording and isolating the bass part, however, makes it clear that McCartney is playing a B. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by George Harrison

Here's a video bass lesson on how to play Paul McCartney's bass line on "You Won't See Me" from the Rubber Soul  album (1965). Learn a few patterns and choose your own adventure! I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 strung with LaBella flatwounds. Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney Full transcription is below (no tab)

Here is my bass cover of the Beatles song "Here, There and Everywhere" from Revolver  (1966). This is a song primarily written by Paul McCartney. The bass line is fairly simple and straightforward, which is entirely appropriate for this breezy ballad. McCartney primarily plays chord roots with only occasional embellishments.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney’s bass playing on the Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul is outstanding and is light years ahead of his playing on the previous album Help , which had been released only 4 months earlier. McCartney’s bass playing on Help and earlier albums was solid and appropriate for the songs they were writing and the musical styles they were playing. But with the recording of Rubber Soul , several things occurred/converged that led to this giant leap forward in his approach to creating bass lines.

Paul's bass line on the Beatles' song "I'm Only Sleeping" from Revolver  (1966) is bouncy and melodic. Much of the line is based on a root-fifth motion, but this isn't a simple "country" groove. Measures 1-2 provide a good example. He plays the root on beats 1 and 2, moves down to the 5th on beat 3, and then beat 4 is 5th-root in 8th notes. The bass line on the refrain is similar though slightly more embellished. But the basic idea is the root on beats 1 and 2, the 5th on beat 3.  With all of McCartney's other bass highlights like "Something," "Rain," and pretty much all of Sgt. Pepper , his Revolver bass lines are often overlooked. But this is a great bass line and is very fun to play. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here's a cover of Paul McCartney's bass line on the Lennon/McCartney (but primarily Lennon) song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" from the Beatles' 1965 album  Rubber Soul . This was the second song recorded for the album, but was completed on the first day of recording, along with "Run for Your Life." The bass line on "Norwegian Wood" is fairly straightforward and not as adventurous as McCartney's bass lines on "Nowhere Man," "You Won't See Me," and many others on this album. It is, however, solid, functional, and an entirely appropriate bass line for the song. Playing a more active line may have distracted from the simplicity of the song. The song was inspired in large part by Bob Dylan, who had demonstrated that pop/rock songs could be more sophisticated lyrically than the traditional "teen romance" song of the 1950s and early 1960s. The song is notable for being the first widely released popular s...

Paul McCartney plays a great R&B groove on "Drive My Car," the opening track from 1965's Rubber Soul album. He was beginning to be inspired by bass players like James Jamerson of Motown, Donald "Duck" Dunn of Stax Records, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys (and, unknowingly, Carole Kaye of the Wrecking Crew who played bass on many of the Beach Boys' iconic recordings). These players showed McCartney that the role of the bass in a pop song could be far greater than he had imagined.  For "Drive My Car," McCartney basically copied Duck Dunn's bass line on the Otis Redding song "Respect," which had been released earlier in 1965. The chord progression is different, but the groove is almost exactly the same. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney's bass line on George Harrison's song "If I Needed Someone" from the Rubber Soul album (1965) is really fun to play, but is also pretty easy to learn. It mostly involves playing one measure again and again--but it's a good measure!!  Below is a video breaking down this fun and simple groove.  

John Lennon's song "Run for Your Life" has what is probably McCartney's least imaginative bass line on the 1965 Rubber Soul  album. It certainly is not a bad bass line, it's just not as inventive as what he played on most of the rest of the record. It is solid and supportive, but offers little in the way of innovation. It sounds like something he might have played on the previous album, Help! . This is not entirely surprising, as "Run for Your Life" was the first song recorded for Rubber Soul . Perhaps McCartney hadn't yet realized how adventurous he could truly be with his bass parts.  The lyrics on this song are problematic and always make me cringe. The opening line, "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man" was taken from an Elvis Presley recording of a song called "Baby Let's Play House" by Arthur Gunter. Lennon takes that threat of domestic violence as the subject and tone for the rest of th...