The Beatles - A Day In The Life - Full Band Cover - Guitar Cover

​For the 50th Anniversary of the Sgt. Pepper album, mattiboo presents a full band cover of the album’s final track, “A Day In The Life.” The basic rhythm track (Take 4) consisted of John on acoustic guitar, Paul on piano, Ringo on congas, and George on maracas. This simple version of the song had no bass, drums, or vocals yet and is quite poignant when compared to the final overdubbed product. The song recorded during Take 4 was performed in full length, consisting of an intro, 3 verses, 24 bars of piano (where the orchestra buildup went), a middle section, a “dream” section, another verse, and 24 more bars of piano, congas, and maracas.

John begins “A Day In The Life” with what appears to be a simple “down-up” strumming pattern, but he peppers in subtle nuances to give the part movement. These include a hammer-on from the open A string to the second fret slightly before the B minor chord and hammer-ons from the open strings to the E minor chord. Throughout the verses, John plays the open strings as a passing sound during chord changes, especially G to B minor and B minor to E minor. The acoustic guitar is panned totally left in the stereo mix.

Paul’s piano begins at the C chord during the intro, playing a light fanfare during Take 4. He would later overdub extra piano at key points during the first half of the song at (0:06, 0:55, 1:08, 1:36). Since the original piano track was relatively soft, these powerful overdubs are important in adding to the drama. The original Take 4 piano can be found left in the stereo mix and the piano overdubs on the right. Paul’s piano during the verse follows the descending chord progression in the left hand while playing rhythmic patterns with the B and D notes in the right. The most noticeable pattern is during the third verse (1:11).

The remaining instruments in the original Take 4 are Ringo’s congas and George’s maracas. Heavily drenched in reverb, these percussion parts create the groove for the song during the verses. If counting the song in 2/4 as I did, George plays eighth notes during the verses, slipping in a shuffle pattern occasionally starting at the second verse. Ringo’s congas are tuned high and provide a light tapping going somewhat unnoticed in the fully produced version of the song. His congas were transcribed for this cover and are an accurate representation of what he actually played. Both of these Take 4 percussion parts are panned left in the stereo mix.

After the third verse, all instruments except the piano dropped out for 24 bars. The Beatles had decided that they would leave it to a later date to decide what would occur in this space. During Take 4, Paul gently tapped out a climbing scale on the piano consisting of F#, G, A, B, C, D in the left hand while hypnotically vamping on E and B notes in the right. Near the end of these 24 bars, Paul played random notes by hitting the keys with the palm of his hand. This charming piano bit segued directly into Paul’s middle section, a driving piece that provides a perfect counterpoint to John’s mysterious ballad. The piano and palm muted acoustic guitar begin by playing an E chord on the beats. Mal Evans’ alarm clock goes off, “waking up” Paul’s character in the song before he “fell out of bed.” John loosens up and accents beats 2 and 4, later changing to accent each beat. Paul then plays a whimsical piano figure while John strums out a Dsus4 chord. The left hand piano part starts up with a descending line from E to B, a line that Paul would double in his electric bass. Notice John’s use of a jazzy B9 chord! Throughout this section, the maracas, congas, and later overdubbed tambourine fill in the rhythm.

The dream section before orchestral overdubs involved Paul playing the beats on piano, John very lightly strumming his acoustic guitar, and percussion in full force. The chord sequence in this section is two repetitions of C, G, D, A, and E. In the second repetition, Paul lays down on the sustain pedal and really lets the low octaves ring out in formidable fashion.

The rest of the description on the bass, drums, and orchestra can be found here: http://mattiboo.weebly.com/a-day-in-t...

Instruments Used:
Acoustic Guitar: Gibson J-160E Standard
Piano: Baldwin Baby Grand
Bass: Hofner 500/1 '62 Reissue Violin Bass
Drums: Gretsch Catalina Club Classic and Sabian SR2 Cymbals
Strings: Native Instruments Session Strings Pro, Garageband Smart
Strings/String Ensemble
Woodwinds: Special guest trombonist, Native Instruments and
Garageband trumpet, French horn, flute, clarinet
Beatles Percussion: Congas, maracas, tambourine
Orchestral Percussion: Timpani, crash cymbals, Garageband harp
Final Piano Crash: Baldwin Baby Grand, Pianoteq 5 Upright Honky Tonk