McCartney Bass Riffs - "RAIN"
RAIN
John Lennon's first and possibly best foray into psychedelia.
John and George in the "RAIN" promo video.
The legend of Paul McCartney's bass playing took a giant leap forward with the release of this amazing song. It was recorded with it's 45 rpm flip side "Paperback Writer" in April, 1966 and released in the UK on May 30th, 1966 to universal acclaim.
Paul's "tour de force" standout playing on this song clearly demarked a huge departure from his usual, excellent bass lines. It was on this Lennon song that Paul McCartney invented Lead Bass Guitar phrasing. As often happened in the Beatles, Paul and Ringo too for that matter, often played their best stuff on John Lennon songs. Why that was, I am not sure but on "RAIN", Paul and Ringo played some of the best riffs in their entire career. Ringo called it the best drumming, bar none, in his life. We'll discuss that in another essay. For now, we'll concentrate on Paul's amazing bass line.
Lennon came in with an essentially simple song built around a simple triad in the key of G. Both he and George Harrison played what amounted to drone guitars throughout. "RAIN" didn't feature a lead guitar break. It is merely conjecture on my part, but it seems Paul opted to put a different kind of life into the bass playing as opposed to droning the bass down low. By mid-1965 he had started using the Rickenbacker bass guitar for recording but it was on this song he apparently decided to slide up the neck and rock out and in so doing, single handedly ushured in the era of answering octaves. His entire riff centers around playing the G octave between the 10th and 12th frets where the lower G is found on the A string and the high G is found on the G string. For differentiation, Paul utilized the high F; itself the minor 7th in the G scale. Occasionally he can be found utilizing the high C as a sus4 over the low G note. But the riff was literaly unheard of at the time and was a sensation. The Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar he used made it possible. That bass is one of the greatest bass guitars ever made with it's famous "ringing sustain" and perfect intonation up and down the entire neck. A riff like this would have been unthinkable with his aging Hofner violin bass. Trust me, I own both instruments and only the Rickenbacker could deliver on this riff.
Historical Note: Beatlemania peaked during the entire 24 months of 1965 and 1966. Beatlemania is impossible to exaggerate because it was such an insane exaggeration itself. While John Lennon may have been bemoaning his transformation from iconoclast to icon, it was not hard to see why legions of fans hung on every word the Beatles uttered, especially when they were singing songs like this one; urging fans with lines like, "Can you hear me? That when it rains and shines; it's just a state of mind. Can you hear me??" Paul McCartney was the only Beatle to enjoy praise as a musician while he was still a Beatle. It was songs like this that cemented his reputation as the best bassist in Pop Rock in his era. Towards the very end of the Beatles as a group, George Harrison began gaining a well deserved reputation as a crack lead guitar player.
Ringo didn't start enjoying kudos for his drumming until the 1980's for whatever reason. As for John Lennon, there has been little discussion on his guitar playing from the beginning. My guess is he was such a strong song writer, poet and later activist that people just didn't care how good or bad his guitar playing was. This song shows why Lennon was so versatile; it was pure, early pyschedelia and it worked wonderfully. Add in the backwards vocals in the outro and along with everything else, it is a singularly unique piece of groundbreaking music.
Paul McCartney has already gone down in history as the greatest bassist of his time. When you listen to songs like this it is easy to see why. Add in Ringo's always superlative drumming and you simply have the greatest rhythm section in Rock History.
By John Haberstroh (Bassist for Beatle Tracks) Find us www.beatletracksband.com
John Lennon's first and possibly best foray into psychedelia.
John and George in the "RAIN" promo video. The legend of Paul McCartney's bass playing took a giant leap forward with the release of this amazing song. It was recorded with it's 45 rpm flip side "Paperback Writer" in April, 1966 and released in the UK on May 30th, 1966 to universal acclaim.
Paul's "tour de force" standout playing on this song clearly demarked a huge departure from his usual, excellent bass lines. It was on this Lennon song that Paul McCartney invented Lead Bass Guitar phrasing. As often happened in the Beatles, Paul and Ringo too for that matter, often played their best stuff on John Lennon songs. Why that was, I am not sure but on "RAIN", Paul and Ringo played some of the best riffs in their entire career. Ringo called it the best drumming, bar none, in his life. We'll discuss that in another essay. For now, we'll concentrate on Paul's amazing bass line.
Lennon came in with an essentially simple song built around a simple triad in the key of G. Both he and George Harrison played what amounted to drone guitars throughout. "RAIN" didn't feature a lead guitar break. It is merely conjecture on my part, but it seems Paul opted to put a different kind of life into the bass playing as opposed to droning the bass down low. By mid-1965 he had started using the Rickenbacker bass guitar for recording but it was on this song he apparently decided to slide up the neck and rock out and in so doing, single handedly ushured in the era of answering octaves. His entire riff centers around playing the G octave between the 10th and 12th frets where the lower G is found on the A string and the high G is found on the G string. For differentiation, Paul utilized the high F; itself the minor 7th in the G scale. Occasionally he can be found utilizing the high C as a sus4 over the low G note. But the riff was literaly unheard of at the time and was a sensation. The Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar he used made it possible. That bass is one of the greatest bass guitars ever made with it's famous "ringing sustain" and perfect intonation up and down the entire neck. A riff like this would have been unthinkable with his aging Hofner violin bass. Trust me, I own both instruments and only the Rickenbacker could deliver on this riff.
Historical Note: Beatlemania peaked during the entire 24 months of 1965 and 1966. Beatlemania is impossible to exaggerate because it was such an insane exaggeration itself. While John Lennon may have been bemoaning his transformation from iconoclast to icon, it was not hard to see why legions of fans hung on every word the Beatles uttered, especially when they were singing songs like this one; urging fans with lines like, "Can you hear me? That when it rains and shines; it's just a state of mind. Can you hear me??" Paul McCartney was the only Beatle to enjoy praise as a musician while he was still a Beatle. It was songs like this that cemented his reputation as the best bassist in Pop Rock in his era. Towards the very end of the Beatles as a group, George Harrison began gaining a well deserved reputation as a crack lead guitar player.
Ringo didn't start enjoying kudos for his drumming until the 1980's for whatever reason. As for John Lennon, there has been little discussion on his guitar playing from the beginning. My guess is he was such a strong song writer, poet and later activist that people just didn't care how good or bad his guitar playing was. This song shows why Lennon was so versatile; it was pure, early pyschedelia and it worked wonderfully. Add in the backwards vocals in the outro and along with everything else, it is a singularly unique piece of groundbreaking music.
Paul McCartney has already gone down in history as the greatest bassist of his time. When you listen to songs like this it is easy to see why. Add in Ringo's always superlative drumming and you simply have the greatest rhythm section in Rock History.
By John Haberstroh (Bassist for Beatle Tracks) Find us www.beatletracksband.com
Greatest bassist of "his" time? All time. You must look at the amount of material and in addition the time that said material was released in.
Always the "right feeling" bass line no matter the subject material.
People have also seemed to forget or do not even acknowledge, that The Beatles as individuals grew up in the age of "Big Band" and "Swing" music. Paul and Ringo were the heart and soul of the Swing element in The Beatles music. Something music is sadly missing today.
To put it simply, The Beatles had swing.
Vincent Ioppolo
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Hey Vince,
I appreciate your write in. Yes, it is tempting for me to say "All Time" greatest bassist in McCartney's case, especially considering that I play the bass in BeatleTracks, I am a huge fan and have come to know Paul's riffs intimately. However, I tempered my comment a bit due to the following:
1) McCartney himself was and is still, a huge fan of James Jamerson, the great Motown bassist who did most of the riffs for most of the big Motown hits. He came along a bit before McCartney and he was a player. He influenced Paul in a big way.
2) Paul's own contemporaries had contributions to make, such as Jack Bruce and John Entwistle. I would still take McCartney any day over these two, but they did have their moments and are still considered amongst the best bassists that ever strapped on an electric bass.
3) Immediately following the 1960's came my other personal favorite bassist, Chris Squire of YES. As I'm sure you know, he too played the Rickenbacker with a pick and made some fantastic sounds. I look at Squire as an extension of Paul's work that took the lead bass thing to higher ground in the prog rock arena.
4) In that early 70's period we also had the whole jazz-fusion thing going on and of course, two incredible bassists arose from that: Stanley Clark and Jaco. These two took bass playing to regions never even imagined before. Granted, they weren't rock bassists and maybe it's not fair to compare, but they were in the general time period and had obviously been playing since the early 1960's and came into their own in the early 1970's. To ignore their talent would be folly in any event.
5) Finally, we have the cats of the 90's and beyond who bring rock, jazz, fusion and everything else into the mix simultaneously. I speak of players like Billy Sheehan. Fantastic chops and great attitude who has himself admitted that McCartney was a big influence.
*McCartney was the one Beatle who recieved effusive praise for his playing chops in his own time, deservedly so. He was recognized this way as a Beatle and beyond. The world had to catch up to Ringo, George and John and their worldly sensibilities. To this day, McCartney is still mentioned as one of the all time greats and in some circles, THE all time great. Hard to argue against that come to think of it!
So, there you have it. I'm still leaving out dozens of great bassists but these are the ones I'm more familiar with. In the end, it's still always a matter of opinion. I wish one of the big Bass Guitar magazines would do an All-Time poll like Guitar Edge Magazine did a few years ago with guitar players.
Thanks again for checking in on our blog. On behalf of the entire band, we do appreciate your interest.
JH
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JH,
Your comments were sheer a delight to read. Your attention to historic detail is so refreshing... So "kudos" to you 'JH' for the inclusion of many obscure facts within your narrative.
Thanks also for the much-deserved nod to Motown's now-deceased, James Jamerson. It's always a good idea to recognize the REAL origins of things we love and cherish in any artistic endeavor. I'm sure Sir Paul himself would have no issue at all giving much credit to Jamerson's influence.
Everything you mentioned about Jack Bruce, John Entwistle and of course YES's Chris Squire were all right on the money!
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An excellent presentation. Clear. Practical. Insightful. Shows a depth of experience. Thank you. I learned a great deal.
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I am a bass player who started out in the mid 1960's and guess what the very first song was that I figured out?
While I agree with all of the praise of McCartney as a Bass "player" I want to point out not to confuse his playing with his "bass writing".
Genious on 2 fronts
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Paul McCarty as the greatest bassist of all time? He may well have been the greatest songwriter of all time, but I'd have to give the bassist nod to John Entwistle. In my opinion, his innovative musicianship combined Pete Townshend's genius contributed to rock music almost as much as Lennon and McCartney did.
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