The Beatles - Get Back - Bass Cover - Hofner 500/1 '62

Paul McCartney's driving bass on Get Back provides the perfect compliment to Ringo's hypnotic snare pattern, creating a groove that is among The Beatles' best!

Get the bass tab here: https://mattiboo.com/tabs/get-back-bass

Starting the song with eighth notes on the roots of the chords, Paul locks in with George's off beat chord smacks and John's Chuck Berry style rhythm guitar. He begins to experiment more during the first guitar solo with open A string notes (0:39) and a bluesy minor third C note into the chorus (0:53). The second chorus introduces the use of hammer-ons (1:02), a technique that Paul would use frequently throughout the rest of the song. Billy Preston's Fender Rhodes keyboard solo is kicked off by Paul's "Get Back Jo" and octaves on the bass (1:11). In the third verse, Paul begins accenting the offbeat after "Get Back" (1:43), something the band would catch on with soon after (1:51) and repeat in the last verse. Notice the slick pull-off from the fifth fret of the A string to the open A at (2:12); pretty cool! Paul then makes the offbeat accent during the last verse even stronger with octaves at (2:14) and (2:22).

An interesting note is that Paul only plays the classic G to D chords that appear throughout the song only once at (0:45). Every other time he continues on an A note pattern (0:06, 0:29, 1:18, etc), causing dissonance that creates a rich sound.

Paul's A and D strings are tuned slightly sharp and sound a bit out of tune with the guitars/keys. I recreated this sharp tuning in my video for authenticity. Similarly, Paul plays ahead of the beat, especially during the last chorus. Being slightly in front of Ringo's locked in snare drum groove draws the listener's ear in and propels the song forward.

Instruments Used:
Paul McCartney Bass: Hofner 500/1 '62 Reissue Violin Bass
Amp: Garageband Flip-Top Amp (Virtual)
Compressor: Waves Puigchild 660