Nowhere Man- The Beatles (Guitar Cover)

This is a redo of my earlier Nowhere Man cover-

There were two reasons I decided to do a different guitar cover-
1. I now own a Gibson J-160e; before I used my J-45
2. I used the bridge pickup on the Stratocaster last time. I now believe John and George used position 2 (middle and bridge out of phase). Thanks @MichaelSokil for convincing me

The Beatles recorded the Lennon-penned song for the album Rubber Soul on October 22, 1965. The rhythm track did not include George- it was John on his Gibson J-160e acoustic guitar, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums

Then, John and George overdubbed lead guitars simultaneously on their 1961 Fender Sonic Blue Stratocasters. They used Vox AC-30 amps, but were unsatisfied with the amount of treble. They kept requesting that the engineers crank the top end on the desks

As I mentioned before, I used to think they used the bridge pickup position on their Strats. After all, Stratocasters up until the late 1970's came with three positions- neck, middle and bridge. Besides Buddy Guy in the early 1960's, no one I knew jammed the selector switch to get those out of phase hidden sounds until Jimi Hendrix in 1967. But once again, The Beatles were inventing and pushing the limits of what was 'normal' in pop

Michael Sokil helped me realize that they definitely used position two on the Strats. This sound combined with the Vox amps, heavy compression, and piercing top end from the desks is what completes this iconic sound

I'm using my 1966 Gibson J-160e for Lennon's acoustic part. It has a capo on the second fret like Lennon did for this song. I mic'd the acoustic with my Neumman TLM-103 condenser mic. Lennon's guitar probably was mic'd with a Neumann U-67 condenser

For the electrics, I'm using my 2022 Fender Custom Shop '63 Journeyman Faded Sonic Blue Stratocaster. I modded the pickups, pickguard and plastics on this- it has Fender Pure Vintage '59 pickups and originally came stock with Fender Fat 60's

My amp is a 2010's Vox AC-30C2x with alnico blue 12" speakers. I also mic'd this with the Neumann TLM-103. Here are my amp settings (I'm in the top boost channel)-
Volume- 9:30 o'clock
Treble- 2:30 o'clock
Bass- 10 o'clock
Tone Cut- 3 o'clock
Master Vol- 11:45 o'clock

I also used a lot of Abbey Road and other Waves plug-ins to get the desired electric tone. I used REQ and RCompressors, then used TG12345, REDD.17 desks and Abbey Road Plates Reverb. I made sure to crank the treble!

INTERESTING NOTES:
0:08 Lennon enters the song on his acoustic, on an upstrum
0:14 John and George's electrics enter on an E9 XX2432
0:28 John and George play an E5 022400
0:30 John strums all UPS on his acoustic, he does this often throughout the song
0:33 John plays a big upstrum on the Gsharp-minor chord and lets it ring
0:44 John does all down strums leading up to the solo
0:49 John plays an extra B-note on the solo here
0:50 George plays a high F-sharp while John hits an Eb
0:54 George plays XX21XX then a glissando XX22XX, then slides up to XX24XX, while John ends on XXX10X
0:56 George hits two A notes, while John hits A then C-sharp
1:01 They both slide down the neck, but George emphasizes slides on 7th to 5th to 4th frets. They then both play a low open-E string, then George hits a harmonic on the high E string, 5th fret
1:25 John starts to do some down-down-down-up strums here, instead of his usual down-up
1:33 John enters on B5 X2440X before George. They both end on X22XXX
1:36 John sustains a hard upstrummed E chord (D shape on capo 2)
1:48 John and George forego the E5 riff and hit single B-notes to start
2:05 George plays a glissando B5 after John already enters. George ends on a single E note, while John ends on the usual X22XXX

MY GEAR:
1966 Gibson J-160e (Ernie Ball pure nickel 11-gauge roundwounds)
2022 Fender CS '63 Journeyman Stratocaster
Vox AC-30C2x
Neumann TLM-103

Thanks for watching! Please hit subscribe and check out my other Beatle covers!

#thebeatles #nowhereman #guitarcover

[andreshernandez]

This and The Fool On The Hill seem as if they were written about me, I’m sure many can relate to that.

[BeatlesCentricUniverse]

From my perspective as a Beatles freak since 1965 and guitarist since the early 70s, my ears---and almost 60 years of obsessive listening--tells me this is EXACTLY correct. No one on YouTube does George's and John's solos like this. The subtle differences in what they're doing blows me away. Grateful for you showing us, in the exacting way you always do!

[Flasoo]

It always seems that the toughest part of doing Beatles covers is getting John's distinctive strumming down correctly. So many of the cover versions just strum up and down. John put accents in his strumming, which makes it swing and I notice you put great effort in trying to get it right. Good job!

[jprg]

John and George insisting their Strats have matching color ❤ It's like they had a guitar bromance

[kalebaldwin]

On the original stereo mix, there’s all sorts of cool anomalies buried in the left channel. Some of them were digitally “removed” when remastered for the mono CD box, though.

For example, in the intro, you can hear what I assume is John’s Strat in the left channel. Like he was trying to find the notes. On the 2009 CD, the left channel is silenced in the intro.

[cheaptricked]

That Strat tone is dead on, but then again that’s everything you do. Salude!🍷

[EricNielsen]

New subscriber and fan. Thanks Sam. As a fellow gear nerd, I'm also a fan of the Gear, There and Everywhere podcast. Keep it up! 👏👍

[riogrande]

Oh yeah, one of my favorites off of rubber soul.

The simplicity x effectiveness makes this stand as my favorite guitar solo, ever.

Great playing as usual, love that J-160e!

[MichaelSokil]

Wait you do Beatles covers too? I only know you from GTE

[GretschMan]

The clothe is nice and the guitar tones are nice! thank you Sam!

[mickeythethird-ph]

You’ve knocked it out of the park Sam! I hope you may redo your old covers in mid 2021 - 22!

[beatlesrcool]

Absolutely incredible, Sam! I’ve always found it hard to replicate the lead guitar tone(s) because of the trebly but almost “coily” and “bassy” sound

Edit:
I never realized this was a remake!

[beatlesfan_]

Fantastic playing! Spot on. Also, nice jacket!

[VenezuelaBallerV]

I waited for a renewal of this cover for so long... And it turned out phenomenal, thank you very much Sam

[elirosen]

Wow. It's almost like I'm listening to the actual recording. Great cover!

[SurferJoe]

I'm really looking forward to re-seeing/hearing this on the big TV later, as well. It's a perfect play-along.

[dann]

SAM ....here you are John and George ❤

[kbone]

Totally nailed it. Guitar tones are spot on.
I’m always taken with how different Gibson acoustics sound from Martins. I think my Martins might need a new little brother soon.

[Mopedisti]

Strat sound is so spot on! i also never thought they ever used position 2 sound-but this so convincing

[SurferJoe]

Added to favorites before it even started playing. Wonderful.