Don't Bother Me- The Beatles (Guitar Cover) ft. @mendips09

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Thanks @MichaelSokil for lending me this awesome 2016 Gretsch Country Gentleman. And Grant for playing the Rickenbacker 325 on this cover! Check out Grant's channel @mendips09

Don't Bother Me is George Harrison's first ever composition, and the first Beatles song featuring a writing credit from him. They recorded it on September 12th, 1963 for the album With The Beatles

The backing track consisted of Paul on bass, John on his Rickenbacker electric guitar, George on Gretsch Country Gentleman and vocals, and Ringo on drums. Overdubs included Paul on claves, George double-tracking his lead vocals and Ringo on an Arabian bongo

Photos from that day show them rehearsing the song, just hours before they recorded the final take. John can be seen playing his 1958 Rickenbacker Capri, with a Vox footswitch near his feet. In fact, John used the tremolo effect on his Vox AC-30 amp for the song

George can be seen singing vocals while playing his Gretsch. He was also plugged into a Vox AC-30, but did not use the tremolo effect. He used the middle or neck position on his guitar, until the guitar solo, when he flicks on the bridge pickup

Grant nailed John's guitar playing, and filmed his feet so you can see when John flicked on/off the tremolo footswitch. He’s using the bridge pickup position the whole time.
He's using his 1980's Greco 325 copy into a Vox AC-15C1. Here are his AC-15 settings:
Tremolo Depth: 10
Speed: 8.5

I'm using Michael's Gretsch Country Gentleman into my Vox AC-30C2X. I used the middle position, but George is also seen using his neck pickup position in rehearsal photos

INTERESTING NOTES:
0:01 George only plays upstrums for the beginning of the intro
0:05 John flicks off the tremolo effect for the first verse
0:06 George strums on the up-beat to start the verse
0:11 John hits the open low E string before sliding back up to the B bar chord
0:16 John flicks on the tremolo for the chorus
0:17 For the choruses, John plays Em to A high up on the 7th fret, while George plays open chords
0:22 John flicks off the tremolo
0:33 John flicks on the tremolo
0:40 John plays the D chord riff (from the intro) differently only here. He sustains the D before hitting the F-sharp note
1:01 John flicks off the tremolo
1:10 George was busy singing, so in the verses he will sometimes skip the D to G chords for the end of the verses
1:13 John flicks on the tremolo
1:18 John flicks off the tremolo and hits a low E note
1:18 George flicks on the bridge pickup for his guitar solo
1:19 John hits multiple F-sharp notes in a row, instead of the usual B bar chord picking
1:20 George hits an Eb note during the solo
1:29 John ends solo section on a Low E-note instead of G chord, then flicks on tremolo
1:30 George goes back to the middle position for the rest of the song
1:57 John flicks off the tremolo
2:06 George emphasizes the D7 chord here X5453X
2:06 John plays one of the D7 chords slightly late
2:09 John flicks on the tremolo for the rest of the song
2:14 For the outro John and George strum early, on the up-beat for each A chord
2:18 George starts to strum early on the up-beat for the Em's as well

OUR GEAR:
2016 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman G6122-62 GE
1980's Greco Rickenbacker 325 Copy
2010's Vox AC-30C2X (me)
2010's Vox AC-15C1 (Grant)

#thebeatles #guitarcover #rickenbacker