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[Joost]

Maybe you're a better bassplayer than a guitarist.

I don't think so...  

[Joost]

Complexity isn't everything ...

I think that in order to be a good musician you have to be able to play complex music... If you can make up clever but simple basslines or guitar parts you're probably a good songwriter/arranger, but not neccessarily a good musician.

And for the record: I generally don't even like complex music. I'd take a catchy three chord pop song over a 9 minute rock symphony any time.

[GreenApple]

I think that in order to be a good musician you have to be able to play complex music...  [...]

Apart from the enigmatic drumming of Ringo Starr, at least?

[An Apple Beatle]

Hmmm this is interesting..Man I keep on discovering new things in Macca's basslines. The general melodies can be quite simple but then the rhythms are mostly unique on each lick. Today I have been trying to learn Glass Onion and theres loads going on even though I could do a buskers blag within the first verse & chorus.

Its all very subtle with Macca.....I have not studied Harrisons guitar solo's or I just maybe a crap musician. lol

They were 4 vibers....Each had their own pursuits of skill. The skill to lock in a part with another so consistently holds them all up there as instrumentalists..

[raxo]

Yeah and i'm sure George was well versed in playing the drums, [...]

following the last interview posted here by me ... and, again, spicealley for tkitna this brief excerpt of Ringo talking about the Flaming Pie sessions:

"Paul has drummed on most of the tracks, with the exception of the ones that you're on."
            "Yeah, Paul has a style of drumming. And so does George, and so did John. They all had this style. It just happens to be a fact that I'm the drummer!" (Laughs.)
          
from here: http://wingspan.ru/magazines/cs/cs83/page05.html

[Joost]

Hmmm this is interesting..Man I keep on discovering new things in Macca's basslines. The general melodies can be quite simple but then the rhythms are mostly unique on each lick. Today I have been trying to learn Glass Onion and theres loads going on even though I could do a buskers blag within the first verse & chorus.

Paul certainly could make up some great basslines. He was one of the best at that. But I do think that you don't neccessarily have to be a good bassplayer to make up good basslines. I'm not saying Paul wasn't a good bassplayer... But I think that in order to really be a good instrumentalist, you've gotta be able to play complex music that most people aren't able to play.

[Joost]

I takes a good head to make up good basslines, but to be a good musician you need good hands as well.

[An Apple Beatle]

Paul certainly could make up some great basslines. He was one of the best at that. But I do think that you don't neccessarily have to be a good bassplayer to make up good basslines. I'm not saying Paul wasn't a good bassplayer... But I think that in order to really be a good instrumentalist, you've gotta be able to play complex music that most people aren't able to play.

I agree. Piano players make up good basslines or at least tidier ones. heheh
But this musician, instrumentalist thing. I am a bit confused. I think it was more about picking up an instrument and making a sound rather than what scales they could stretch their fingers too. It's not as though they hadn't learnt enough tricks in Germany.

A musician defines anyone who can play an instrument does it not? For me I would expect the playing of 2 instruments to warrant that. lol
An instrumentalist strikes me as someone who performs on non-vocal tracks. E.g Violinist or percussionist?

Also the definition of musician is hard to define as it encompasses so many roles nowadays.

[GreenApple]

1. Paul (the multi-talented all-round musician)
2. Ringo (usually provided exciting drumming and wonderful fills)
3. George (the precise, perfectionist guitarist)
4. John (the rhythm guitarist after all, and mastered piano after Paul)

[tkitna]

No way... George's solos are definately harder to play than Paul's basslines. I know cause I tried...

I'm a drummer so you'll have to excuse me on this, but most of my friends are guitar players and most of them agree that the bass is a harder instrument to play (well that is). I cant argue this, but that seems to be the consenses. I've heard George absolutely butcher some solos (Slow Down, What Goes On, etc,,) to the point where its embarrasing. I dont like a lot of his early Beatle guitar playing. Theres a ton thats sloppy. He's not gods gift to the guitar that your making him out ot be.

[Beatlemania]

George is the best. He was very talanted

[adamzero]

I'm a drummer so you'll have to excuse me on this, but most of my friends are guitar players and most of them agree that the bass is a harder instrument to play (well that is). I cant argue this, but that seems to be the consenses. I've heard George absolutely butcher some solos (Slow Down, What Goes On, etc,,) to the point where its embarrasing. I dont like a lot of his early Beatle guitar playing. Theres a ton thats sloppy. He's not gods gift to the guitar that your making him out ot be.

I agree with TK on this.  None of the Beatles, even Paul or George, were technically virtuosos.  Just listen to Joe Pass or Jaco Pastorius to see what someone could do with guitar and bass.  The Beatles were "vibers" as an earlier poster well put it.  They had this great connective musical tissue binding them.  That's why I think so much of their solo work suffers in comparison.  At times the "vibe" can be hard to find.  

Who would you rather have noodling around on your song: John Lennon with his idiosyncratic skiffle-licks who you've been playing with since your teens or some session ace who knows the names of all the chords, can write charts and play circles around you if he felt like it?

Ringo (with his touring band) did the best of coming up with fellow vibers (like Levon and Rick Danko and Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn--vibers all).  Hell, there's a great live version I've heard of "Boys" with Jerry Lee Lewis (King of the Vibe) playing a "killer" piano solo.  (At least I think it's JLL).

In a way, becoming a studio band may have been what "killed" the Beatles--since they weren't really studio musicians by temperament or skill (and had to do countless takes that pro's would have gotten down in less than an hour--i.e., see the "Wrecking Crew.")