The Beatles - Day Tripper - Guitar Cover

George's double-tracked lead guitar starts "Day Tripper" with one of The Beatles' greatest riffs! George and John each recorded a guitar part during the recording of the basic track and then overdubbed additional parts afterward. The basic track can be heard panned full left in the stereo field while the overdubs are heard on the right. The left channel lead guitar part is slightly overdriven, most likely the result of George turning up his amp to be heard over the band. Since The Beatles recorded their backing track in one room, Ringo's snare can be heard rattling due to the guitar. To recreate this, I placed a snare drum in my recording room to get some buzzing as I played the basic track part. The overdubbed lead guitar is much cleaner. These two slightly different tones make for a large sound when combined, especially when heard separately in both stereo channels. In my video, the basic track Strat is always on top and the overdubbed Strat is on the bottom.

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John's chiming 1964 Rickenbacker 325 comes in on the 3rd repetition of the riff (0:06). He plays an "A style" E chord at the 7th fret while allowing the open B and E strings to ring out. To add some movement to the rhythm, John alternates between an E and E7 chord in a specific style. Notice how he stays longer on the E7 at the end of the pattern during the transition guitar phrases and then plays a quicker E7 during the vocal parts. The longer E7 can be heard in these places: 0:09, 0:12, 0:51, 1:47, and the end. One exception is the first E of the verse, as John plays the longer E7: 0:20.

During the verses, George's two guitar parts are largely the same. Notable exceptions include the A chord in the 3rd verse where the overdubbed part misses the A note and then hammers on the C to C# (1:54). A hammer-on is similarly played in the basic track part at 1:42. The choruses feature many differences between the two parts. The largest is how in the basic track George plays a light, alternating strum pattern while in the overdub he plays all muted downstrokes (1:06). In both parts George does quick hammer-ons from the open E string to the F# note, but notice the differences between the places he does (1:07). The basic track sees George playing fast slides during the F# major chord (1:08). Finally, George slides up to the 9th fret for the C# in the basic track and stays at the 4th fret in the overdubbed part. This can be heard in the absence of slides in the overdub as well as seen in the varying ways George played "Day Tripper" live.

John plays the first chorus in a more "clunky" style, especially on the F# major chord (0:31). This seems to be intentional as it can be heard on alternate takes of the song. For the other two choruses, John plays the part choppier (2:09).

The overdub part drops out at 1:18 before the solo. Due to the large difference in tone during the B chord riff at this point, I believe that George stopped playing to switch his pickup selector switch from position 1 to 2. George can be seen playing the B riff at the 7th fret in various music videos and performances. Notice how he slides and hammer-ons more notes than usual, as well as playing a power chord B (1:20). He switches back to the bridge pickup for the rest of the solo (1:30).

George uses a volume pedal during the basic track part of the solo. He climbs up a B mixolydian scale at the 7th fret (as can be seen at one of the 1966 Budokan performances) all while swelling the volume. The F# note at 1:39 is cut short.

John strums a B7 chord (1:20), adding a sus4 at 1:25 and an extra F# at 1:27. He then switches to a full B7 chord (1:30) before dropping down to an open B7 chord (1:34).

Interestingly, an additional volume pedal overdub part can be heard on the right channel during the solo. This part also climbs up the B mixolydian scale but mistakenly plays a C note instead of a C# at 1:22. Part of an A chord can also be heard at 1:28 before the G# note. The guitar then plays eighth notes on a B power chord for the rest of the solo. Due to tape limitations in 1965, I believe that John recorded this part with George's volume pedal at the same time George's overdub was performed. This would explain the slight error as John may not have been totally familiar with the scale George used. As the B power chord at the 7th fret has a quite undefined sound on the 325, I believe John played this overdub at the 2nd fret.

George most likely played his Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster on this track due to the strong treble presence and alternate sound obtained during the solo.

Instruments Used:
George Harrison Lead Guitar: 1989 Fender Stratocaster MIJ
John Lennon Rhythm Guitar: Rickenbacker 325C64
George Amp: 1995 Fender Custom Vibrolux
John Lennon Amp: Vox AC15