The beginnings of Paul McCartney's bass playing

[Bobber]

Liverpool musicians, spring 1964. There's Rory Storm in the centre. Picture by Astrid Kirchherr and/or Max Scheller.

[Xose]

Found this old picture of Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps. Is that a bassguitar on the left?

Yes: a Fender Precision one, 1st generation...

There's a bassguitar hanging on the wall in the picture of Hessy's shop.

Could I have a look at that photo??

Thanks in advance!!

Xosé

[Bobber]

Here: http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=8640.msg206688#msg206688   

[Xose]

Thank you!!

Where are the basses?? 

Xosé

[Bobber]

Thank you!!

Where are the basses?? 

Xosé

[Xose]

Yes. It looks like a Framus Star Bass...

Xosé

[Bobber]

I'm not sure. I have the original picture in Astrid's book. The logo looks different.

[Xose]

I'm not sure. I have the original picture in Astrid's book. The logo looks different.

The logo..., is not like this?? 



Xosé

[Bobber]

Yes, on second thoughts I think it is. There is another picture of the window shop which, I think, shows another bassguitar. I'll try to scan it tomorrow.

[Xose]

Yes, on second thoughts I think it is. There is another picture of the window shop which, I think, shows another bassguitar. I'll try to scan it tomorrow...

Excellent, Bobber... Thank you very much!!

Meanwhile, I'm bringing a small -but very cherished- piece of my own history as Höfner bass player.

As you know, these photos are dated Summer 1978:







But before getting the bass I'm playing at those photos (=something which happened around February that year), I had got another 'piece of Höfner bass' in 1977:



A 4th Höfner bass string, that I purchased at a local music shop in La Coruña (=my native city), that I was intending to put into my old Spanish guitar (=something which never worked out) and that I still keep.

Xosé

[Xose]

My old Höfner 4th bass string together with my old Spanish guitar, i.e., the very one the string was intended for...





Xosé

[Bobber]

Yes, on second thoughts I think it is. There is another picture of the window shop which, I think, shows another bassguitar. I'll try to scan it tomorrow.

[Xose]

By those days (=beginning May 1960) not many Liverpool bands did have a bass guitar:

- Davey "Mushy" Cooper played his blonde Höfner 500/5 with The Bob's Vegas Five

- Walter Eymond played his Framus Star Bass with Rory Storm & THe Hurricanes

- Stuart Sutcliffe played his brunnette Höfner 500/5 with The Silver Beatles

- Malcom Linnell played his blonde Höfner 500/5 with Cliff Roberts & The Rockers

- Johnny Gustafson played his Hoyer_Soloist_converted_to_a_bass with Cass & The Cassanovas

- Les Chadwick played his Framus_Sorella_converted_to_a_bass (=with an extra pickup at the tailpiece!!!) with Gerry & The Pacemakers

- Phil Whitehead played his ...Kay??? with Derry & The Seniors. Was this instrument also a guitar converted to a bass??

At least two bass players (=perhaps three??) at the historical audition at Wyvern Club on 10 May 1960 had their regular guitars converted to a bass, i.e., 40% (=perhaps 60%??) of the total. No wonder that Paul McCartney did the same a few months after with his Solid 7...

Mo Foster, Seventeen Watts?, London, Sanctuary, 1997, pp. 93-94:

"...Often, in the enthusiasm of forming a band, there would be an excess of one instrument. This imbalance was solved during the skiffle period when four guitars would suddenly dwindle to three guitars as one player, so he imagined, was demoted to the lower rank of bass player. Everybody thought there had to be a bass although nobody actually knew what it did. The unfortunate player was usually chosen by default -either he knew the least number of chords, or he was last to join, or perhaps his personality dictated a desire to stand at the back...
...Somehow, somewhere, I'd heard the phrase 'Electric Bass Guitar'. It sounded longer and more important than just a guitar, and I liked it. Desperate for more information (even though my lack of funds would preclude such a purchase), I scanned the advertisements but they were not helpful. For example, 'The Hofner Bass Guitar': "Guitarists, double your income with the Hofner Bass Guitar. Tuned like a bass with the third, fourth, fifth and sixth strings of a guitar"...
...This confusing information led me to believe that to play the bass guitar you merely removed the top two strings of an ordinary guitar, and then in some way amplified it..."

Xosé

Howie Casey has sent an email today. He says that the guitar player at those Derry & The Seniors photos is Brian Griffiths (=Paul Whitehead didn't join The Seniors until after the band had returned from Hamburg, by 1 October 1960), the guitar he is playing was home made by his brother, Bill Griffiths, and he was playing bass lines with it...

This confirms that on beginning 1960 Sutcliffe was one of the few musicians in Liverpool (=perhaps only four??) owning a true bass guitar...

Xosé

[Xose]

...Now, another picture surfaces:

Peter Stone, "An interview with The Beatles' Chas Newby", Beatlology Magazine (September/October 2007), pp. 8-13:

"...CN:...And funny enough, that's exactly the same as Red Sails In The Sunset. I can remember, even Paul must have, I guess, been listening for the bass line that he wanted in a particular song. And, I can remember him playing it, because bear in mind we were both left-handed and so we had a certain affinity. But I can remember him playing it on his guitar and then showing me the notes that he wanted me to play for Red Sails In The Sunset and Hallelujah, I Love Her So. But with all the others, there wasn't that sort of problem, because they were basically... 12-bar blues and just play the bass line like a boogie-woogie, like a left-hand on a piano.

P.S.: It's intriguing that Paul was interested, even back then, in the bass lines.

CN: All I'm saying is that he was the one who told me what he wanted to hear. Whether it was just the bass line or whether he told the others what he wanted to hear, I don't know. I'm not aware of that. But, he was the one in those two particular songs. He made sure that I knew what it was he wanted..."

The interview is very interesting and full of very good info about those historical days at the end of December 1960. But what we can conclude from Chas Newby words is that Paul McCartney was playing bass lines with his Solid 7 at those days, and he was VERY sure of the bass lines he wanted for -at least some- group songs...

Now, I think McCartney could have his Solid 7 converted to a bass_with_three_piano_strings_plus_a_Fuma_type_guitar_&_cable while in Hamburg because:

a) That gear (=Fuma type pickup + cable), being German made, was available in Hamburg but perhaps not in Liverpool

b) Cfr. David Bedford, Liddypool. Birthplace of The Beatles, Deerfield, Dalton Watson Fine Books, 2009, pp. 147-148 (=interview to Faron Ruffley):

"...[Q]: Tell me your memories of The Beatles' Litherland Town Hall appearance.

[A]:...I'll never forget that night at Litherland after they returned [from Hamburg]. I was chatting to the girls at the back of the hall. Bob announces 'Direct from Hamburg, The Beatles' and they started with 'Long Tall Sally' which Paul sang. I'll never forget it, it was so loud and piercing, and then they belted the song out. The crowd went wild, and the girls ran from the back of the hall to the stage, leaving me on my own. They started screaming -I'd never seen it before; no one had.

I had my trademark white suit and these lads were scruffy. Paul had a brown tweed jacket; they all had smelly leathers with fur trim and they did stink. John had ripped jeans. They were a right mess, Paul had a red guitar with three strings on it, and it wasn't even plugged in. John hit his amp with a hammer to get it going. What on earth was going on?

They were different. Paul sang 'Oh My Soul' and 'Long Tall Sally', and then John would do Gene Vincent's 'Dance in the Street' and George would do 'Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby' and then they would all do 'Searching' together. No other groups do this. There would be one singer and backing singers, but they had three of them doing solos and then singing three-part harmonies together. However, I then made my famous quote: 'They'll never last'. How wrong was I? I say that the world never saw the real Beatles, the greatest rock 'n' roll band ever known...".

Xosé

[Bobber]

That would be odd though, knowing that Stuart and his bassguitar were still around in Hamburg and they had asked Chas Newby especially to join them for those late December 1960 gigs.