Not A Second Time- The Beatles (Guitar Cover)

Thanks ‪@MichaelSokil‬ for letting me borrow this 2016 Gretsch Country Gentleman!

John wrote Not a Second Time in 1963 for the album With The Beatles, and recieved a lot of acclaim from music theorists for its interesting chords and melody. However, it's one of the most overlooked Beatles songs and John admitted he just was writing a Smokey Robinson and the Miracles-style tune

The song was recorded on September 11th, 1963. The backing track had the group's usual live lineup of John on rhythm guitar, George on lead guitar, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums. Overdubs included John double-tracking his lead vocal and George Martin on a piano solo

It's unclear if John used his Rickenbacker 325, or his acoustic-electric Gibson J-160e. You hear an electrified guitar going through his Vox AC-30 amp. But if you listen to the stereo mix, you also hear some acoustic string bleed in the right channel where the vocals reside

I determined that John likely used his Gibson J-160e, especially after hearing some more isolated guitar tracks. As with the Please Please Me album, John often plugged his J-160 into his Vox amp, and the acoustic strumming got picked up in his vocal mic. George without a doubt played his Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar into his Vox AC-30, although his parts are buried in the mix. Some sources don't even list George as playing on the song

George's part is interesting, consisting mostly of little fast staccato chops on the high strings. He most likely used the middle position (bridge and neck pickups together) on his Gretsch, as it produces a quackier, scoopy tone

I'm using my real 1966 Gibson J-160e into my Vox AC-30C2x. I decided not to mic the acoustic guitar itself, as you mostly hear John's electrified tone anyway. I just have a Neumann TLM-103 condenser mic positioned in the center of the grill of the amp, close-mic'd, which was the technique they used back then

For George, I'm using Michael's 2016 Gent into the same Vox AC-30C2x. For both guitars I'm plugged into the top boost channel of the amp. The master volume is up high near noon, while the vol/gain knob is low around 9 o'clock

INTERESTING NOTES:
0:01 John starts by hitting the Low E string before strumming each chord, but for the rest of the song he mostly just strums full chords up and down
0:03 George plays a syncopated four strum pattern on E minor
0:05 George plays a difficult fast flamenco-like strum on G major
0:07 Here, George plays the main pattern that he uses for the rest of the song. Three fast strums, then a fourth staccato strum after a pause
0:14 George just strums up and down here, although he mutes with his left hand
0:33 John switches to down strums here
0:40 John returns to up and down strums
0:40 George plays a soft D chord before his usual pattern
0:43 George down-strums E minor chords before the hard stop
0:46 John plays an Am7 instead of Am- X02010, then a Bm7 instead of Bm- X24232
0:50 George plays a different pattern for this G chord
1:00 John plays a D chord ONLY here as- X04232
1:01 George plays his typical pattern on Em, but a beat too early
1:19 George plays a simpler pattern here
1:21 JOHN PLAYS AN E MAJOR, not E minor. Very odd, but I confirmed it listening to isolated guitars
1:52 George switches up his strumming pattern here
1:54 John plays E major for the rest of the song, but George continues to play E minor
1:56 George plays a fast trill on Em, similar to the beginning of the song
2:02 George plays a fast 5 strum pattern

MY GEAR:
1966 Gibson J-160e
2016 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman G6122-GE
2010's Vox AC-30C2x
Neumann TLM-103

#thebeatles #guitarcover #withthebeatles