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The Beatles started out like most otherrock and roll bands, employing a standardguitars/bass/drums instrumentation. As their touring days wound down, they became a full-time studio band. Their scope of experimentation grew, as did the palette of sounds. This article attempts to list the instruments used to achieve those results.
Not listed are instruments played by the Beatles’ session players such as cello, violin, saxophone, trumpet, French horn or the 41-piece orchestra heard on "A Day in the Life".
BothJohn Lennon andGeorge Harrison used theGibson J-160E, an acoustic guitar with an electric pickup at the base of the fretboard. The resonant character of the full acoustic body, combined with the electric pickup, meant that this guitar was susceptible to feedback, employed to great effect on the intro to "I Feel Fine". Lennon also used aFramus Hootenannytwelve-string acoustic, which can be seen in the movieHelp! and heard onthe title song and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away". This twelve-string guitar accounted for audibly richer rhythm guitar parts on songs like these, in comparison to the six-string Gibsons. AfterSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Lennon moved on to aMartin D-28 fromC. F. Martin & Company (alternating between the J-160E and the D-28 forThe Beatles) while Harrison upgraded to aGibson J-200 Jumbo (which Lennon used on "Two of Us" and other acoustic tracks onLet It Be). Harrison later gave the guitar to Bob Dylan in 1969.
Upgrading from a 1959Höfner Club 40 guitar, purchased from Hessy's Music Shop in Liverpool, Lennon primarily used aRickenbacker 325 Capri from 1960 until 1964. He purchased the guitar in Hamburg in its original natural finish and used the guitar extensively throughout the Cavern Club performances.[1] In early 1963 he sent the guitar off to be refinished in its more popular black finish. This is the way the guitar appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Show performance in February 1964. Shortly thereafter, he upgraded to a brand new Rickenbacker 325, a much-improved version of his 325 Capri. Rickenbacker specially made a 325/12. During the Christmas shows of 1964, Lennon dropped the new Rickenbacker 325 which made a huge crack in the neck and headstock. British instrument distributor Rose Morris sent a replacement Rickenbacker 325 with a sound hole and in a red fire glo finish. The guitar is called a Rickenbacker 325 1996. Lennon used the guitar for the shows until the other 325 was repaired. In 1968 during the recording ofThe Beatles, drummerRingo Starr left the group during tensions and when he returned, Lennon gave the Rickenbacker 325 1996 to Starr. He has had it ever since. During theHelp! sessions, Lennon and Harrison acquired matching 1961Fender Stratocasters.
His second Country Gentleman was given away to a friend (Harrison was an avid sharer of instruments) and is now retained by Ringo Starr. For decades, it was believed that Harrison's first Country Gentleman fell off the Beatles' car in December 1965 and was crushed by alorry. However, with the rediscovery of McCartney's Höfner 500/1 bass, which has a mismatched tuning key (replaced a few days after the lorry incident when McCartney broke one of his tuning keys), it is now known that Harrison's 1963 Gretsch Tennessean (originally thought to have been stolen in 1969 along with McCartney's 1961 Höfner), or theorized possibly both the Tennessean and first Country Gentleman fell off of the Beatles' car and were crushed.
In 1964 Harrison introduced the electric twelve-string guitar into mainstream pop. His Rickenbacker 360/12 twelve-string was a prototype. Only the second twelve-string guitar Rickenbacker ever made, it was delivered specially to him during their first visit to New York City. Harrison's use of the 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn ofthe Byrds to start using one too. He also used a RamirezClassical Guitar which can be heard in "And I Love Her" and seen used throughout the filmA Hard Day's Night. Harrison used aGibson SG around 1966 for promotional purposes; these can be seen in the promotional videos for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain", in addition to film of the recording session for "Hey Bulldog". He eventually gave this guitar toPete Ham ofBadfinger. Around 1968 Harrison also used a 1957Gibson Les Paul model on a few songs, which was given to him byEric Clapton and was once in the possession of, among other musicians,John Sebastian ofThe Lovin' Spoonful. Originally a "gold top" model, the guitar was refinished with a dark red stain before it got to Harrison and was nicknamed "Lucy". The guitar can be seen in the "Revolution" promotional video and theLet It Be film. Also seen in that film is a rosewoodFender Telecaster, given to him by Fender, used onLet It Be andAbbey Road (1969).[2][3][4]
Lennon and Harrison both purchasedEpiphone Casinos in the spring of 1966.[5]Paul McCartney acquired his Casino in 1964. They were used extensively by John and Paul during the recording of theRevolver album and continued to be used throughout their remaining years along with other instruments by John and Paul. Lennon extensively used his Casino as can be witnessed in the film of their final concert atCandlestick Park in 1966, as well as in theLet it Be film when playing in their studio in London. Lennon's Casino was double-tracked to get sufficient distortion to satisfy Lennon in the intro toRevolution. Although they purchased the guitars with sunburst finishes, both Harrison and Lennon later stripped the finishes off the guitars, claiming it allowed the guitars to "breathe" better. Lennon's stripped-down Casino can be seen in video footage of the famousrooftop concert. Lennon used a Casino almost exclusively from 1966 until the group's break-up and he is even seen with it during the sessions for hisImagine album.
Paul McCartney's electric guitar parts (solos on "Ticket to Ride", "Another Girl", "Taxman", "Drive My Car", "Carry That Weight" and "Good Morning Good Morning"[6] to name a few)[7] were chiefly performed on his own Epiphone Casino or sunburstFender Esquire. For recordings with acoustic parts played by McCartney ("Yesterday"), he favoured a 1964Epiphone Texan FT-79.[8] In 1968, he started using a D-28 fromC. F. Martin & Company.
McCartney custom-ordered a left-handedHöfner model500/1 "violin" bass during one of the group's early residences in Hamburg in 1961. This model, with two pickups very close to the neck and almost touching each other, was replaced by a 1963 model, whose pickups were spaced much farther apart, in a more conventional manner. McCartney continued to use his early model, although very rarely, until theGet Back sessions. It was stolen in 1972,[9] but was later recovered in 2023.[10] He continues to use his 1963 Höfner bass. In October 1965 he switched to aRickenbackerModel 4001S, during the recording ofRubber Soul (as seen in pictures from those sessions),[11] but certainly by the recording of "Paperback Writer". It would be his principal choice for the remainder of the Beatles' career. He briefly used a left-handedFender Jazz Bass during sessions forThe Beatles double album and again forAbbey Road.[12] He returned to the Höfner duringGet Back sessions[Note 1] and played it during the rooftop concert, but returned to the Rickenbacker forAbbey Road.[13] McCartney continued to use his Rickenbacker in his solo career and withWings.[13][14]
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All four Beatles contributed keyboard parts to their catalogue, supplemented byGeorge Martin,Mal Evans,Chris Thomas,Nicky Hopkins andBilly Preston.
Although microphone usage varied somewhat according to the requirements of each song, the group's recordings at Abbey Road most often employedNeumann U47 or U67 microphones for electric guitars and one or more Neumann U47s (unidirectional); U48's "figure eight" (bidirectional) pickup pattern for vocals and most other instruments. The AKG C-12 was used as well, particularly on the bass (speaker) amplifier. Early in their recording career the drums usually were recorded with only two microphones: one overhead (anAKG D19 orSTC 4038) and one for the bass drum (such as an AKG D20). Later, more microphones were used on the drums.
TheAKG C28 is visible in theLet It Be film. Available studio documentation and interviews with their former recording engineers indicate that this microphone was not used for recording in the studio.[16]
With the group's encouragement, recording engineerGeoff Emerick experimented with microphone placement and equalization.[17] Many of his techniques were unusual for the time but have since become commonplace, such as "close miking" (physically placing the microphone very close to a sound source) of acoustic instruments or deliberately overloading the signal to produce distortion. For example, he obtained the biting string sound that characterises "Eleanor Rigby" by miking the instruments extremely closely—Emerick has related that the string players would instinctively back away from the microphones at the start of each take, and he would go back into the studio and move the microphones closer again.[18][page needed] The recording of George Harrison's acoustic guitar in "Here Comes the Sun" was another example of close miking.
Ringo Starr bought a set ofPremier drums in 1960, but in June 1963 made the switch to a four-pieceLudwig set. The American-made drums were newly available in England, but the clincher for Starr was the Black Oyster Pearl finish of the Ludwig kit. He used four similar kits altogether, including two that he kept at Abbey Road. The first two Ludwig kits were 20", 12", 14", plus 14" snare and the second two 22",13",16", 14" snare. Starr played a 20" kit on theEd Sullivan Show debut in February 1964. He changed to the bigger 22" kit at the end of May 1964. Near the end of the sessions for theWhite Album, he obtained a natural-tone five-piece Ludwig Hollywood set and set it up alongside his existing Black Oyster Pearl bass drum, according toMal Evans in the November 1968 edition ofThe Beatles' Monthly.[citation needed]Starr continued to use the Hollywood kit for theLet It Be andAbbey Road sessions, albeit with a Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl snare rather than the snare with the Hollywood kit, and he used it at the "rooftop concert" as well as his drum solo in "The End". Starr experimented with various muffling techniques. He used Ludwig andRemodrumheads. He started his career playingPaiste cymbals, but switched toZildjian. He has used Paiste occasionally, most likely due to their easier availability in Europe.[19]
Photographs of these sessions reveal the following gear:
George Harrison owned many Indian instruments, including tambouras, a swarmandel (or Indian harp) and at least three sitars. All the Beatles kept pianos, guitars and other instruments at their homes to work on songs and demos. Most of these pieces never made their way into the studio with the well-known exception of Harrison's Moog synthesizer. Lennon's home Mellotron was never brought into the studio, though a Mellotron was rented for use during theSgt. Pepper sessions and an Abbey Road Studios-owned Mellotron was used for theWhite Album. Both Harrison and Lennon were givenCoralelectric sitars. Other instruments wererecorder,harmonica,banjo,trumpet,saxophone,glockenspiel,vibraphone,accordion,[36][37]comb and paper, and assorted percussion (congas,bongos, Arabian loose-skin bongo,African drum,timpani,anvil, package case,maracas,tambourine,zill,güiro).
The "Beatle" style instruments have been used many times in pop culture. InAgent Cody Banks 2 during the fight scene, there is a display of the original instruments and Agent Banks uses Paul McCartney's Höfner bass to hit the villain. The instruments have also been replicated into plastic game controllers for the gameThe Beatles Rock Band.
| Period | Lennon | McCartney | Harrison | Sutcliffe/Newby+ | Moore/Chapman/Best++ |
| January–June 1960 |
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| June 1960 |
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| July 1960 |
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| August–October 1960 |
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| October–November 1960 |
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| December 1960 |
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| December 1960 – April 1961 |
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| December 1960 – April 1961 |
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+ Chas Newby (December 1960 only), deputising for Sutcliffe++ Tommy Moore (January–June 1960), Norman Chapman (July 1960), Pete Best (August 1960)
| Period | Lennon | McCartney | Harrison | Best/Starr+ |
| July–November 1961 |
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| November 1961 – July 1962 |
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| July–September 1962 |
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| September 1962 – April 1963 |
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| April 1963 |
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| April–June 1963 |
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| April–June 1963 |
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| June–September 1963 |
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| October–December 1963 |
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| December 1963 – January 1964 |
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| February 1964 |
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| February–April 1964 |
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| May–July 1964 |
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| July 1964 |
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| August–December 1964 |
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| December 1964 – January 1965 |
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| January–August 1965 |
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| August – September 1965 |
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| October 1965 – March 1966 |
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| April–June 1966 |
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| June–July 1966 |
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| August 1966 |
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+ Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best in August 1962
