This Whole World Guitar Isolation ~ re-creation ~ (Beach Boys)

When I was lucky enough to do some work for the Beach Boys in the mid-aughties, I got to hear session tape for This Whole World. I was very surprised by how cool the guitar playing was! Beach Boys stalwart sideman Jerry Cole and Ash Grove scenester David Cohen were just going to town in a way I'd never heard on a Beach Boys track!

The first take is even more raucous and exploratory, and Brian seems to have them cool it a bit for the final take, with Jerry doing less and David not playing out quite as much. What they did on the final take is still cool though--but Cohen's guitar in particular is mixed very low. You can kinda hear Jerry chugging along for the verses.

But I wanted people to hear the subtleties and hidden moments, so I've transcribed them and reproduced them for you here. Unlike some other videos, I would disclaim that my transcription here is only about 96% accurate--it felt a little stiff to hold to too close a copy of such a freewheeling style. I also decided to mix in a little of me playing the bass line and a reproduction of the drum track, very faintly, to provide a teeny bit of context.

Thanks for watching! Hopefully the new Sunflower set will release these as isolated tracks and make my work obsolete!

A few years ago, I sent the bridge guitar segment to my trusted guitar colleague, Craig Clemens, to help figure out what was going on, and his input certainly has permeated this transcription here, so hat's off to him.

And if you like what you see and hear, consider helping to make it better by contributing a small monthly gift.   / joshilyn