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Author Topic: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo  (Read 3897 times)

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Xose

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Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« on: April 16, 2011, 06:07:23 PM »

'And I Love Her' solo lasts ten measures. It's possible to have a look at Harrison's right hand on the A hard day's night clip for that song, but only for the measures 7, 8 and 9 of the said solo. Here there is the clip (=the part I'm talking about is 1'53''-2'00''):

THE BEATLES - AND I LOVE HER (Paul single vocals)


We all know that they mimmic their playing for this shot, and the mix employed was done on 3 March 1964. If we closely have a look at the strings Harrison is plucking with his right hand at those 7 seconds, we see that he employs the four central strings of his Ramírez (=i.e.: B-G-D-A, from high to low) t play that bit of the solo, being all the notes plucked down-stroke, as was usual with his playing.

Said that, there are an odd fingering in his playing: that on the slur from A to G, as he seems to play it on the 3rd string (=II fret^open string), after plucking the A just before the slur on the 4th string (=VII fret)

I would like to know your opinion about this subject...

Best wishes!! ;)

Xosé
« Last Edit: April 16, 2011, 06:18:51 PM by Xose »
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Xose

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Re: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2011, 06:30:14 PM »

My transcription of the whole solo reads (=judging from the images where the right hand plucks the strings on the clip in my post above):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------5--------------------------5-5^3--------------5-------------6-------------------------------------------
-------------7--10------------------------------------------7--10--------7-------2^0-----------2-----------------
---5-7-8--------------------5-7-8--------------5-7-8----------------------8-7---------------0--------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-3--------3-0---------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-1^3-

I don't know if my diagram is clear enough... ???

Best!! ;)

Xosé
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peterbell1

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Re: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2011, 12:35:32 PM »

Said that, there are an odd fingering in his playing: that on the slur from A to G, as he seems to play it on the 3rd string (=II fret^open string), after plucking the A just before the slur on the 4th string (=VII fret)

Hi Xose (sorry - I don't know how to get the accent in your name  :) )
To me, it looks like more like this, because he seems to be using the top three strings to play that section, and he does seem to hit the high E string at one point in that clip ....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------1------------------------------------------
----------5--------------------------5-5^3--------------5---------------3-----------------------------------------
-------------7--10------------------------------------------7--10----------3--2--2^0-----------2-----------------
---5-7-8--------------------5-7-8--------------5-7-8----------------------------------------0--------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-3--------3-0---------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-1^3-

Personally, if I was playing it myself I would do you it as you transcribed but play the A and G at the slur part on the 4th string, 5th and 7th frets, because you are already up at the part of the fretboard anyway.
But George obviously had different ideas, and who am I to argue  ;D
Pete
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Xose

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Re: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2011, 03:33:31 PM »

Hello peterbell1,

Thank you very much for your post!! ;)

Hi Xose (sorry - I don't know how to get the accent in your name  :) )...

No problem!! It's ok for me... ;) (=anyway, here there is one for you if you want to use it: é...)

...To me, it looks like more like this, because he seems to be using the top three strings to play that section, and he does seem to hit the high E string at one point in that clip...

Mmmm... I'm afraid I don't agree...

Harrison hits the upper string after downstriking the string next to it (=I mean: he plucks a string and the pick hits the string next to it after the initial stroke. That is why we see the strings "moving" after plucking the lower one...)

I don't know if I have explained myself properly!!  :-[

...Personally, if I was playing it myself I would do you it as you transcribed but play the A and G at the slur part on the 4th string, 5th and 7th frets, because you are already up at the part of the fretboard anyway...

I agree. And if you listen to the first mono mix of the song, you clearly hear that this was what Harrison did, because a wound string is audible just at that point.

But the fact is when he played the song (=mimmic) for the film shot, he plucked the G string with his right hand (=you can see at the shot that the 2nd string "moves" after the G^A has sounded, in the way I explained supra...)

IMHO, just at this point he failed to mimmic exactly what he had played when the solo was recorded...

I'm still not sure if I have explained myself properly (=I can explain it much better in Spanish...  ;D )

Best regards!! ;)

Xosé
« Last Edit: April 18, 2011, 03:35:17 PM by Xose »
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peterbell1

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Re: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2011, 05:01:33 PM »

Hi Xosé (complete with accent  ;) )
I see what you are saying about George only hitting the high "E" string by mistake while he is plucking the "B" string. It could be that, yes.

I just watched the clip again and it actually looks like he does play the "A" note in the slur part on the 4th string but the next string that moves after that is the third (G) string. That doesn't make much sense when you try to play it though!
Perhaps he does play the slur on the 4th string, 7th and 5th frets, but is hitting the G string by accident, as he does with the high E string at the start of that section?
The only way I can play that slur part to sound like the record is to do it on the 4th string - it just doesn't get the same sound when you do it on the 3rd string and finish it with an open string.

And Robbie McIntosh agrees (his solo is really lovely on this version) ....
And I love Her - Paul McCartney Unplugged
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peterbell1

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Re: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2011, 05:10:23 PM »

Rusty Anderson seems to play that little section the way I suggested earlier, though, beginning on the high E string, and the "slur" part is done on the 3rd string but played differently, in a way that makes more sense to finish with the open string.

I was thinking that perhaps Paul McCartney had given his later bandmates tips on how George did it, but since McIntosh and Anderson play it differently there's nothing we can use as "evidence"!  ;D

Paul McCartney - And I Love Her
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Xose

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Re: Harrison's fingering on 'And I Love Her' solo
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2011, 05:39:07 PM »

Hi peterbell1,

Hi Xosé (complete with accent  ;) )...


Great!! ;)

...I see what you are saying about George only hitting the high "E" string by mistake while he is plucking the "B" string. It could be that, yes...


Well. I was referring to Harrison plucking (=not hitting) the G string instead the D string at that particular point:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------5--------------------------5-5^3--------------5-------------6-------------------------------------------
-------------7--10------------------------------------------7--10--------7-------2^0-----------2-----------------
---5-7-8--------------------5-7-8--------------5-7-8----------------------8-7---------------0--------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-3--------3-0---------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-1^3-

Instead of what we can listen at the recording:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------5--------------------------5-5^3--------------5-------------6-------------------------------------------
-------------7--10------------------------------------------7--10--------7-----------------------2-----------------
---5-7-8--------------------5-7-8--------------5-7-8----------------------8-7-7^5---------0--------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-3--------3-0---------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3-1^3-

...I just watched the clip again and it actually looks like he does play the "A" note in the slur part on the 4th string but the next string that moves after that is the third (G) string. That doesn't make much sense when you try to play it though!
Perhaps he does play the slur on the 4th string, 7th and 5th frets, but is hitting the G string by accident, as he does with the high E string at the start of that section?...


The E string "moves" when he plays the B string, because the downstroke with the pick "stops" at the E string. The same applies with the other strings: if he plucks the G string, then the B string "moves", because the pick "stops" at the B string. If he pluks the D string, the G string "moves" because the pick "stops" at the G string. It's like the apoyando technique of the classical and flamenco guitar players, but played downstroke (=i.e.: reverse way...) and with a pick instead of the fingers (=index and middle...)

Said that: at the "wrong" point, the string that "moves" is the B string. Why?? Obviously because he has plucked the G string just before that "movement". That is why I'm saying that Harrison did this wrong mimmic for the shot (=we can clearly hear the slur between the VII fret and V fret on the D string, because we hear the sound of a wound string. If he had played the "correct" D string at this particular point -slur VII ^ V fret-, then we should see the G string "moving", as the pick would have stopped there..)

...The only way I can play that slur part to sound like the record is to do it on the 4th string - it just doesn't get the same sound when you do it on the 3rd string and finish it with an open string...


Correct!! ;) You got what I mean... ;)

...And Robbie McIntosh agrees (his solo is really lovely on this version) ....
And I love Her - Paul McCartney Unplugged


Very good!! ;) Thank you!! ;)

Xosé
« Last Edit: April 18, 2011, 05:55:46 PM by Xose »
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