Paul McCartney

[the list]

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After meditating on the matter, I’ve decided to use the riff as is for now, but, like I said, anything can change during the writing/recording process. I’m planning simple instrumentation, a couple of guitars, bass and programmed drum tracks.

I’ve decided to start out nicking the bass line from the Beatles’ “Taxman’; modified a little bit, it could fit in. At least it seems that way in my mind’s ear. We’ll see when I hear the two together. (What? Paul McCartney on his bass riff in “I Saw Her Standing There”: “Here’s one example of a riff I pinched from someone: I used the bass riff from ‘Talkin’ Bout You’ by Chuck Berry in ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. I played exactly the same notes as he did and it fitted our number perfectly. Even now, when I tell people, I find few of them believe me. Therefore, I maintain that a bass riff hasn’t got to be original.”

But I digress. One of the things I like to do when I start a project like this is pretend I’m organized. So I make a preliminary list of the order in which I plan to build the various tracks. This one looks like this:

Drum & Percussion Track
Riff
Rhythm Guitar
Lead Guitar
Write lyrics
Vocal
Process and mix

Of course, best laid plans, etc. But it’s a starting point.

On to the GarageBand drum machine!

The Beatles: Rock Band

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When the whole Guitar Hero craze started (God, has it only been 4 years?), my then 11-year-old son didn’t pay much attention. His video game preferences tended to run to the more mundane worlds of the Mario Bros. and their various cousins. In fact, he considered himself Sonic the Hedgehog’s number 1 fan.

But, alas, they grow up so quickly. He discovered Guitar Hero through a friend, and was instantly hooked. I must admit, I got a little bit of a kick out of it, too, but what it mostly did for me was rekindle my interest in playing the real thing. Happy to say, eventually the boy caught the bug and these days plays the real thing constantly. while the game hardly gets touched.

But back when we were both playing a lot, we both often commented that it’d be way cool if there were a Beatles version of Guitar Hero. I’ve been an uberfan of the band since they hit the states, and was lucky enough to catch them in concert at Busch Stadium on their last tour in ’66. Cameron, of course, became a fan by osmosis; I’ve  always got a Beatles tune playing in the car or around the house. The first proper concert we attended together was McCartney in Philly back in 2005 (great show!), during which he made me proud by singing along with most of the songs.

So when it was announced that the Rock Band franchise was planning a Beatles version with the help/blessing of the surviving members of the band and the family members of those who couldn’t be with us, we were both giddy with anticipation as to what was to come.

It was officially announced The Beatles: Rock Band would be released on 09.09.09 (very nice, since 9 was Lennon’s favorite number), and at the recent E3 presentation, Paul and Ringo, along with Olivia and Dhani Harrison and Yoko Ono,  made a presentation revealing some of the details of the new game.

If you haven’t seen the game trailer or “cinematic opening” yet:

Yes, I preordered promptly. And man, oh man, oh man. I hate to see summer fly by, but I can’t wait for September 9!