A Hard Day’s Night- The Beatles (Bass Cover)
Thanks @MichaelSokil for lending me this Hofner 500/1 bass!
Check out my guitar cover of A Hard Day’s Night-
A Hard Day’s Night was the title track from their film and album of the same name. The song was recorded on April 16, 1964. The backing track consisted of John on Gibson J-160e acoustic and vocals, George on Rickenbacker 12-string lead electric, Ringo on drums and Paul on Hofner bass and vocals
Paul plugged his 1963 Hofner 500/1 Violin Bass into his Vox AC-100 amp for the recording. The tone sounds slightly muddy and distorted, although isolations don’t give a lot of clarity
The intro note is hotly debated, but we know for sure Paul played a D note. It took me some time to settle on the 5th fret of the A-string as the exact place Paul played it. In isolations, it sounds closer to the 12th fret of the D-string (an octave up). But I believe this is an artifact from the unclear isolation, or a harmonic overtone of the note sustaining
Watching live performances, Paul almost always plays the 5th fret of the A-string for the first and last notes of the song. This doesn’t necessarily mean he did this in the studio, HOWEVER if you listen to the studio outtake (take 1 from Anthology 1), it does sound like Paul is playing the A-string 5th fret
Furthermore, I listened to several isolations of Paul’s bass in preparation for this cover. In many of these, there was a harmonic overtone happening every time Paul hit the A-string 5th fret. This overtone was the octave above- a higher D note that would correspond to the 12th fret of the D-string. It’s possible Paul’s AC-100 amp created this harmonic note, or it was a result of unclear isolations
I’m playing Mike’s Hofner into my 1965 Fender Bassman amp. His bass is an HCT 500/1 reissue model with flatwound strings on it. I plugged into the bass channel of my Bassman, with the deep switch off. I matched the Hofner’s pickup settings to McCartney’s typical 1964-1965 settings:
Treble OFF
Bass ON
Solo ON
INTERESTING NOTES:
0:01 This famous intro note/chord is disputed. See my notes above for an explanation as to why I chose the A-string 5th fret, instead of the D-string 12th fret
0:05 Paul hammers-on the C to D notes on the A-string
0:18 Random notes will sometimes be staccato, not sustained
0:23 Paul does an amazing syncopated/fast line on D
0:30 Paul plays another syncopated line on D
0:36 Paul chromatically walks up F to G for the first time
1:09 Paul chromatically walks down G to F
1:18 Paul plays another syncopated line on D to enter the solo section
1:26 Paul plays another syncopated line on D. Each of them so far have been different each time
1:48 Paul plays these low G notes staccato
2:01 Paul hammers-on low F# to G here
2:09 Paul walks up B to D chromatically for the only time, mimicking George’s electric line
2:17 Paul plays a bunch of up-down 16th notes
2:21 Paul ends the song on the A-string 5th fret (disputed, see above)
GEAR:
Hofner HCT 500/1 SB
1965 Fender Bassman
Neumann TLM-103
#thebeatles #hofner #basscover
@HofnerGuitars1887
#Hard #Days #Night #Beatles #Bass #Cover
Originally posted by UCpuQrDLTijwSh_cUc12iA7g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6OfdzXOsA
I always played it with the first note being the octave D, because it always sounded to me like the bass “filled out” during the main song and that only made sense in my mind as a bassist as the first note being a higher register. People would have to do a side by side comparison though to be sure.
That simple bass part is just the job for that song. Anything a bit busier would not have the same effect.
0:22 that riff was freaking cool!
That's really nice!
Could you do the bass cover for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"?
New bass??
Now you have to buy a lefty Hofner and learn to play it left handed. ????
Perfect! Now all we need now is David Montis to do a Full Band cover.
That's terrific bass!
Great stuff Sam and such an iconic bass. Btw, don't know if you're aware of the book (and soon to be Ryan Gosling film) Project Hail Mary, but John, Paul, George, Ringo…and Pete(!) all play a pivotal role in trying to save the Earth from an Extinction Level Event ; this song is also name checked in it!
it's unusual to hear Paul hitting lowest note
For all the years listening to this song, I never noticed those periodic short staccato notes. Nicely done…as usual.
Didn't Paul also overdubbed some bass on the solo section?
nice job. like most converted guitar players, paul played bass with a pick. did he ever switch to using his fingers?
Can you please do Linkin Park as well? I'm sure you'd be able to rock their music with your covers too just as much as you do with the Beatles! 🙂
I own both the contemporary and a "world history premium" which is a model exclusive to Japan market and I must say, they sound very different. There is a centre block in the HCT so the tone sounds more solid and more sustain while the Germany made Hofner are true hollow body sounds more like an acoustic bass / double bass. I'd say the HCT gives you vibes of a hollow bass but it doesn't really sound like hollow bass because it isn't.
Good work as always none the less.
Hofner bass tones . . . Love!
How did you get all those instruments???? Isnt that expensive??
I love how punchy the Hofner is that sort of distorts! Great cover!! cant wait to see more the hofner on action 😉
BTW. You and everyone on Gear, There… are superb. Warms my heart to see young people so deeply invested in their music.
Great. So I often I learn something new. I never would have noticed the syncopated bass fill, but it's classic McCartney to have a surprising line like that. It's a bit of a hint at the kind of thing he'd do more of on Revolver-era songs.
You re a great bass player, keep doing that amazing covers.
I love AHDN as an album, it is my favourite early Beatles record.
That bass is gorgeous
18 months between recording this song, and beginning of the Rubber Soul sessions… It’s as if they were performed by two completely different bass players…
Do Hold Me Tight next!
Oh my god I've been waiting so long for him to finally do bas… to bad the bass is only lended to him
That's really cool.
Thank you so much for your incredible work.
this is the best
0:23 That little syncopated shuffle on D was not on my radar. Great job!
Thank you so much.
You could try tuning it first.
Swap out the Chinese control panel for the German one. Will sound like the German Hofners.
Sam on a Hofner!!!! What an amazing day
Sam: Today is the opposite day!, so I’m not goin whit guitar, Today whit BASS
Is that a new bass?
Not Paul's most inventive line. But the finished recording is brilliant so the bass part does its job.