(Credits: Far Out / TIDAL / George Martin)
Sat 25 April 2026 15:30, UK
It’s hard to think of any kind of award that would accurately encapsulate everything that George Martin brought to The Beatles.
There’s no doubt that the band were responsible for all of those great tunes that they made in the 1960s, but Martin was the one who could translate the pieces that they couldn’t, whether it was teaching them how a string section sounded or fiddling around with the tape until everything sounded right. But, in all honesty, was every member of the band actually all that good behind their instruments?
It’s a question that we have to take seriously. After all, most of the Fab Four never claimed to be one of the greatest bunches of musicians of all time, but there’s no way of discounting the kind of chemistry that they had every time they performed. They had a better sense of where their songs were going than anyone else in the band, but Martin could tell when someone wasn’t pulling their weight in terms of raw technique.
Ringo Starr already bore the brunt of Martin’s standards when he was demoted to tambourine on the band’s first single, but even if Starr developed into a unique musician every time he performed, John Lennon was always going to be at the rudimentary level when it came to guitar. He barely learned the instrument correctly when he was playing banjo chords in his first band, and when talking about him later, Martin felt that his personality and songwriter far outstripped his musical ability.
He could help get the best ideas out of Paul McCartney with no problem, but Martin felt that getting Lennon’s musical ideas out didn’t involve him being the most advanced musician in the world, saying, “I wouldn’t say he was a great musician as such, but he was certainly a great man. His astringency lent a lot to the sweetness of Paul. The real point is that he was a true original, with a zany sense of humor that could elevate the meanest of spirits.”
But let’s be honest with ourselves here: the fact that Lennon didn’t know the first thing about proper music theory actually helped him to a certain degree. He didn’t know when things were out of his reach whenever he made a song, and even if they were unattainable, he was going to make sure that his bandmates did whatever they could to make his dreams a reality every single time they made one of their new records.
Say what you will about Lennon’s technique, but he could be a cheeky little bastard every now and again, and the origins behind a song like ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ is proof of that kind of personality. The fact that the song sounds the way it does now simply wasn’t possible, but all Martin needed to see was a little glint in Lennon’s eyes to know that he had his work cut out for him when working on the track.
And while not a lot of technique was involved in Lennon learning all of his chords, he did make the most of what he had most of the time. His role as the rhythm guitarist gave him one of the most consistent body clocks in the business, and when he did actually bother to play lead guitar, the bluesy riffs he put into tunes like ‘Get Back’ and ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ have to make you wonder why he kept that kind of technique at bay for most of his career.
If you wanted to make a great record, though, Lennon knew that there wasn’t a point in trying to be the next version of a virtuoso. It was important to know all the tools that he was working with, but it’s better to find out what the rules are on the job in the music world so that you can find new things once you break them.
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