You Really Got A Hold On Me- The Beatles (Guitar Cover)

Thanks to @MichaelSokil for lending me his Gretsch Country Gentleman!

This Smokey Robinson & The Miracles cover was recorded for the Beatles second 1963 album, With The Beatles. It was recorded on July 18, 1963 in seven takes. The backing track consisted of John on rhythm guitar, George playing lead electric guitar, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums, and George Maritn on the piano

Takes 8-11 were edit pieces and overdubs. These four overdub pieces focused on different parts of the song, including the outro

John's rhythm guitar had to have been played on his Gibson J-160e, because we hear a lot of 'string bleed'. His guitar was plugged into his Vox AC-30. But it being an acoustic-electric, his vocal mic picked up on a lot of the acoustic string noise

George also most likely played his Gibson J-160e, plugged into his Vox AC-30. We don't hear as much string bleed, but the tone is woody and distinctly the J160. *Except for on three parts of the song...*

In the stereo mix, John and George's guitars appear on the left channel, but...

During these three moments, George's lead guitar appears on the right channel and has a brighter, less woody tone
0:01
1:06
2:56

*MY THEORY* is that George overdubbed his Gretsch Country Gentleman during these three moments, but played his Gibson J-160e on the backing track. The right channel guitar tone is brighter and quackier like a Gretsch

I'm playing my 1966 Gibson J-160e into a Vox AC-30C2x for George and John's backing guitars. And Michael's Gretsch Country Gentleman for George's overdub guitars

For John's rhythm, I mic'd both the amp and the guitar itself. Then I blended the two signals together. I turned down the volume and tone knobs down a little bit for John's part, but kept them at 10 for George's

INTERESTING NOTES:
0:01 The overdubbed Gretsch guitar kicks off the song
0:03 George's main riff is now the J-160e
0:14 George was singing lead vocals with John, so he didn't play much except for the main riffs
0:32 George plays an A-Bb-B walkup
0:34 George lightly plays two Low E notes, then an open A
1:06 The Gretsch re-enters just for this A-Bb-B walkup
1:20 George starts to play some more rhythm
1:32 George plays a glissando A5 chord
1:36 George now plays the intro riff on the J-160
1:40 During this solo, John hammers-on the 2nd to 4th frets of the D and G strings
1:46 Here, both John and George hammer-on the 2nd to 4th frets
1:50 George plays a low Db note, then 2nd fret of the G-string
1:57 George strums loudly here, up and down on the F-sharp minor
2:04 John doesn't go to an A7 here, just stays on A
2:21 John plays an A6 X02222
2:41 John again plays an A6
2:54 During the outro, we hear both John and George's left-channel backing track guitars play low string riffs. John's guitar ends on an A chord that emphasizes the B-string 2nd fret. George's backing track guitar ends on a Low A single note
2:56 George's Gretsch overdub-guitar ends on an A9 chord

MY GEAR:
1966 Gibson J-160e
2016 Gretsch Country Gentleman
Vox AC-30C2x
Shure SM-57
Neumann TLM-103

#thebeatles #guitarcover #gretsch