Harb
Help! 
Posts: 74
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Post by Harb on Apr 7, 2004 12:17:50 GMT -5
I decided to go through all of my old vinyl Paul McCartney solo LPs to see if I could find anything new, and something slowly dawned on me...
Every photo I found of Paul playing the guitar showed him holding the same position on the fretboard. He has his index finger on the 2nd fret and his other fingers away from the surface. This is particularly noticable on the photos in the gatefold for 'All The Best'.
And the other photos of him playing guitar have his hand hidden so that you can't see what chord he's playing.
So it got me thinking, could this have been intentional, with William being a righty and all.
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Post by Doc on Apr 7, 2004 16:01:26 GMT -5
Playing the guitar, or playing the Bass?
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Harb
Help!
Posts: 74
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Post by Harb on Apr 7, 2004 16:10:58 GMT -5
On normal guitar. You can't say it about bass because it only uses invidual notes and not chords.
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Harb
Help!
Posts: 74
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Post by Harb on Apr 9, 2004 12:36:12 GMT -5
Look in the gatefold for All The Best and the photos of him playing guitar dressed like Buddy Holly shows him holding the 'chord' mentioned above. Also found this photo of Paul live.... holding the same chord... www.maccaworld.org/maccaworldpage.html - Scroll down to the very bottom and it's the picture on the left. There's also a photo on another solo LP with the group Wings playing live and he's either holding the same chord in them or his hand is conveniently being hidden by Linda. |
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Post by Doc on Apr 9, 2004 16:24:16 GMT -5
Well, yes thats why I asked----although chords, triads, etc, are played by the bass in situations. mostly the function of bass is to provide the fundamental note that the harmony rests upon--which of course could be a note from an inversion (a chord voiced from a chord tone other than the root)or a passing tone, which could be momentarily any chromatic tone at all.
So, yes, guitar. I saw the pic, and well, I can not play the guitar. If it were piano, I'd have a clue. I will say that from the flat extended look of his index finger, though, he MAY be playing a "bar" chord, apparently up a whole step (two frets) to maybe circumvent having to play in an awkward key. I don't know fret positions to be able to guess what notes are being altered by the middle and ring fingers. Well, I do know the string pitches, maybe Ill look again and make a stab. The worst that can happen is Ill be wrong, and be cast into eternal musical darkness by the Union. Here goes..............
(sound of splash into waters, gurgling noises ensue...........)
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Post by Doc on Apr 9, 2004 16:44:13 GMT -5
OK< my best uneducated guess. Since, it appears (and its small pic and hard to tell WHICH string the fingers are pressing on, assuming he isn't in the middle of moving them to change the chord) his index finger is laying the length of the second fret, then that's bumping the strings all up 2 half steps. from bottom up----E--A--D--G--B--E becomes F#--B--E--A--C#--F#. My guess is that his middle finger is pressing 4th string down (normally G) one additional fret, the third fret, making it A#, and the 4th or ring finger is pressing the second string down two frets hogher, giving us C#. SO we have, from bottom up: F#--C#--E--A#--C#--F#, which results in a nice F#7 chord. But, I don't play or have a guitar so, if the index finger is really only raising the top string (the lowest E) then we have something like this: F#--B--D--G#--B--E which is pretty as a Bm(add11)/F#, but I don't think that is right. or a E/G# triad over a Bm/F# triad. Of course, guitarists don't have to sound all six strings all the time. So, this calls for a real guitar player to solve. OK< after this pianist has willingly gone thru this embarrassing display there is surely an able, confident guitarist out there willing to figure it right? [img src="http://galeon.hispavista.com/akostuff/img/Dunno2[1].gif"]  |
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Post by eggy on Apr 10, 2004 15:16:48 GMT -5
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Post by SimMHoward on Apr 10, 2004 15:29:54 GMT -5
It would most likely be an f# chord, its been awhile since I played my guitar, but if you move that chord up a fret, you get G on the third, so I suspect that he was either moving his hand to play G or its an F#
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Post by LarryC on Sept 4, 2004 14:15:59 GMT -5
Look in the gatefold for All The Best and the photos of him playing guitar dressed like Buddy Holly shows him holding the 'chord' mentioned above. Also found this photo of Paul live.... holding the same chord... www.maccaworld.org/maccaworldpage.html - Scroll down to the very bottom and it's the picture on the left. There's also a photo on another solo LP with the group Wings playing live and he's either holding the same chord in them or his hand is conveniently being hidden by Linda.  This pic, from the page you refereced above, is a bit far away, but it appears that he is making a typical Bm bar chord which is common in many of his songs. If you ever have any questions about whether he's just posing while holding a particular chord position, watch him in motion...he's playing, not posing. |
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Post by LarryC on Sept 4, 2004 14:32:25 GMT -5
I also will attempt to help shed a little light here...   At left he's strumming around with an A chord, or some variation thereof, while at right it looks to me like he's not making a chord, but rather he is finger-picking notes for a fill between chords, or maybe he's just fooling around playing notes in 5ths or something.   This pic at left appears to be another where he is playing notes for a fill between chords, or perhaps a lead lick, judging by the way he appears to be picking, as this is not a typical chord formation. In the pic at right he is playing a D chord with his thumb holding a G flat note (or F sharp depending on your preference on what to call it) on the bass end. |
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Post by kazu on Sept 5, 2004 7:55:45 GMT -5
I agree with Larry on the Chords. But it is hard sometimes to determine if someone is playing or posing. When I play, I play. When I pose, I automatically play a G Bar chord in the third fret.
The Buddy Holly image is probably a pose, because it is right handed. i play lefty, but I can sort of play righty and when I pose with a righty guitar, I naturally stick a D or A in the first position.
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Post by JoJo on Sept 5, 2004 12:23:26 GMT -5
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Post by JoJo on Sept 19, 2004 13:33:20 GMT -5
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Post by matchbox on Sept 19, 2004 15:39:04 GMT -5
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Post by FlamingPie on Sept 19, 2004 15:44:42 GMT -5
[img src="http://galeon.hispavista.com/akostuff/img/Good-Post[1].gif"]  NOW compare the shoulder distance! ;D |
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Post by JoJo on Sept 19, 2004 16:46:33 GMT -5
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Post by matchbox on Sept 19, 2004 18:04:12 GMT -5
What I meant by hand positions are dependant on the song is that Blackbird uses a two note 'chord' that is slid up and down the neck, but it is not a typical C, D, G etc. chord. Therefore there is nothing to compare it to.
The vast majority of the time, (especially on acoustic), Paul plays the commonly used chords that are good for comparison.
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Post by JoJo on Sept 19, 2004 22:15:45 GMT -5
Ok, point taken, but I ask this, as a teacher of guitar, as you watch the video as it appears you have, does this look like someone who's been playing for 10+ years? His eyes are following everything his right hand does. And how about the Helter Skelter video? He does make some chord changes, not just moving his hand up and down the neck. (time to dig through some early 70's solo material)  |
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Post by matchbox on Sept 19, 2004 23:11:43 GMT -5
Speaking specifically of Blackbird there are many occasions when he is skipping several frets up and down the neck in fast succession. It would be unusual if he didn't watch the fretboard a lot durring these changes. In general, I don't believe that looking at the fretboard while playing is an indication of how long someone has played. But that's just my opinion based on many years of experience. |
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Post by FlamingPie on Sept 19, 2004 23:36:21 GMT -5
Blackbird has some VERY complicated chords.
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Post by eddy on Nov 5, 2011 22:20:51 GMT -5
JoJo asked "does this look like someone who's been playing for 10+ years? His eyes are following everything his right hand does" You have pointed out the Achilles heel of Faul- he cant take his eyes off his right hand when he plays guitar. In this video Paul looks at his right hand one time at the start, that it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms65JQTBCcQ&feature=fvsr |
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Post by iameye on Nov 5, 2011 23:18:20 GMT -5
JoJo asked "does this look like someone who's been playing for 10+ years? His eyes are following everything his right hand does" You have pointed out the Achilles heel of Faul- he cant take his eyes off his right hand when he plays guitar. In this video Paul looks at his right hand one time at the start, that it www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms65JQTBCcQ&feature=fvsrwha? |
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Post by iameye on Nov 5, 2011 23:38:50 GMT -5
which hand?
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