{"id":320091,"date":"2026-03-03T19:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/320091\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T19:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:26:09","slug":"maybe-im-amazed-is-always-a-fun-song-to-play-and-sing-its-got-everything-in-one-incredible-tune-plus-two-guitar-solos-how-rusty-anderson-a-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/320091\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMaybe I\u2019m Amazed is always a fun song to play and sing. It\u2019s got everything in one incredible tune \u2013 plus two guitar solos!\u201d: How Rusty Anderson \u2013 a Beatles fan as a kid \u2013 ended up playing guitar for Paul McCartney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2001, California-born guitarist Rusty Anderson got the gig of a lifetime when he became a member of Paul McCartney<\/a>\u2019s band. And as he tells MusicRadar, his deep connection with McCartney\u2019s music goes all the way back to his early childhood \u2013 when he was first inspired to pick up a guitar.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt five years old, I heard my 11-year-old sister playing Beatles<\/a> records,\u201d Anderson recalls. \u201cI was in awe of their mind-blowing music and their joyful vibe.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMy older brother had just passed away, so for me, real life was horrifying, yet music was magical and infinitely inspiring. At that point, music and guitar playing were all I cared about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As far as life goals go, it was music or bust for Anderson. \u201cI guess I\u2019m one of those insane people who put all of my eggs in the music business basket,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

There were various missteps in Anderson\u2019s career \u2013 a number of failed bands \u2013 before he developed into a top session player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just always tunnel-visioned about it,\u201d he says. \u201cI had lots of encouraging experiences, but also tons of rejections and times when I thought I and\/or the band could have done better.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he feels as if it was all meant to be.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLooking back, getting asked to play on other people\u2019s records was a huge break,\u201d he says. \u201cIt became a way for me to create, always attempting to add guitar hooks to the music, as well as survive financially.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd eventually, after playing with many artists in the studio and on stage, like Elton John, The New Radicals, Lana Del Rey, Ricky Martin, Dido, Animal Logic et cetera, it led to playing with Paul McCartney in the recording studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explains: \u201cThe events went like this. In 2001, David Kahne invited me to play on the upcoming Paul McCartney album he was producing. I was thoroughly excited as you could imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The album in question was Driving Rain.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere wasn\u2019t exactly an audition,\u201d Anderson says. \u201cWe just started recording, and it felt good. Paul seemed happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cIn 2002, that morphed into the current touring lineup of Paul McCartney, Abe Laborial Jr., Brian Ray, Wix Wickens and myself. Wix has been with Paul since 1989.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s debut solo record, Undressing Underwater, was released in 2001 and featured a guest appearance from his new employer.<\/p>\n

He recalls: \u201cAfter months of touring, I had the balls to ask Paul if he\u2019d like to play on a song of mine. He actually said, \u2018Yes.’ So, I booked Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood. Along with David Kahne producing, Paul and the band went into the studio to record Hurt Myself. It was a new song I\u2019d just written.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul played bass and sang backing vocals along with me. He even played a cool guitar line in the intro. It was a surreal process. Lots of fun. David came up with some hooks in the chorus. It all happened pretty quickly with so much talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurt Myself – Rusty Anderson – YouTube
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While on tour with McCartney, Anderson keeps things pretty simple gear-wise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been using mostly Divided By Thirteen 9\/15 amps with custom 2×12 speaker cabinets,\u201d he says. \u201cMy main guitars are my signature Gibson ES-335 and also a Wraptail version, a Fender Strat with P90s, a \u201964 Gibson ES-330, and a Danocaster Singlecut. There are also guitars just for other tunings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Paul, I have a rack of pedals and effects that haven\u2019t changed that much over the years. It\u2019s like a pedalboard, but it doesn\u2019t tend to break as much from stomping on it \u2013 knock on wood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only use effects like a Memory Man delay, a Leslie, or whatever when it makes it sound better. For the most part, I try to avoid mushy guitar sounds that effects can cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson has also played on several of McCartney’s albums, and as he explains it, the recording process is fairly straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul just shows us the songs, and we start playing,\u201d he shrugs. \u201cWe write charts and go.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, there is some sort of direction, and the texture of the song gets fleshed out. Sometimes he digs what we\u2019re playing right away, and other times he has some brilliant idea or sonic adjustment suggestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as wisdom goes, I\u2019d say I use my intuition and trust my muse. And if it\u2019s not broken, don\u2019t fix it. Although sometimes I\u2019ll try.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what Anderson enjoys most about digging into McCartney\u2019s solo and Beatles back catalogue, he says, \u201cMaybe I\u2019m Amazed is always a fun song to play and sing. It\u2019s got everything in one incredible tune, plus two guitar solos!<\/p>\n

Paul McCartney – Maybe I’m Amazed (Live from the Tokyo Dome, Japan) (4K) – YouTube
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\u201cBut they are all fun to play, actually. It\u2019s such a joy to play live music, especially with this group.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a spiritual experience. And with Paul leading the way and arguably some of the best songs ever written and the best crew, how can you lose?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in 2001, California-born guitarist Rusty Anderson got the gig of a lifetime when he became a member…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-320091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}