In some of our recent posts, we have been talking about great singers and musicians of time past. Today we will be looking at another influential singer and guitarist known as John Lennon, and what guitar did John Lennon play is one question we are going to provide answers to. Described as talented and extraordinary, John Lennon was one of the standout musicians and guitarist if his time. The Beatles group wouldn’t have their fame without John Lennon.
His unique and frenetic playing style was made all of their songs beautiful and exceptional, and the fact that John Lennon was an accomplished guitarist showed his level of versatility. You will be surprised that the lead guitar played on one of their songs titled Revolution was played by John Lennon. The solo guitar you heard on “get back” was also played by John Lennon, but what made all of these outstanding was his rhythmic playing.
Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon were the members of the group called the Beatles, and they made their way to the limelight back in 1963. The Beatles is one music band or group that was loved by everyone, and their song is still loved by most people till date. Being the first music band or group to write their own songs was what made them very popular, and they were also good at playing their own instruments.
The Beatles made use of a wide variety of instruments despite being familiar with playing the drums, bass guitars, and standard guitar. Considering the information you just read, you might wonder what instrument each member of the Beatles played specifically. Ringo was tasked with handling drumming in the group, while Paul and John were tasked with playing the bass and standard guitars. Later in their career, Paul also played the drum in some songs.
John was also good at playing the keyboard, likewise Paul, and there was a time when Ringo also handled the playing of the piano on one of their songs. You can see that everything about this group stands out and is exceptional, and they were able to blend and form this group as they all proved to be versatile with several instruments. Below is a list of the instrument played by John Lennon;
- Acoustic and Electric rhythm guitar
- Bass guitar
- Electric piano
- Harmonica
- Clavioline
The focus of this post is to show you the guitar John Lennon made use of, and he fancied using small guitars because he had small hands. Here is a list of the guitars used by John Lennon during his time;
- Rickenbacker 325 Capri
- Rickenbacker 325
- Gretsch 6120
- Vox Kesinton
- Guild Starfire Xii
- Epiphone E230TD Casino
- Fender Stratocaster
While the acoustic guitar John Lennon played includes;
- Martin D-28
- Gibson J-160E
- Ramirez A-1 Classical Guitar
- Framus 12-String Acoustic Guitar
All of the guitars used by John Lennon in his time were all small models, and this is based on the fact that he had small sized hands like we mentioned earlier. However, there was a little mystery surround one of the guitars John Lennon used.
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What Guitar Did John Lennon Play
John Lennon purchased a Gibson J-160E guitar from a store in Liverpool alongside his colleague George Harrison, and they ended up losing the guitar after they had a Christmas performance in London. This incident happened in 1962, but the guitar surfaced back in 1969 when a San Diego contractor revealed to NBC that his friend has bought the same guitar at a local store around them.
People tend to have doubts when they hear about great people like this, but it is completely okay for people to have doubts. Nowadays, question like ‘was John Lennon really good at playing the guitar’ keeps coming up, and the answer to that question is a short and simple one. John Lennon was a very skilled and good guitar player, and it is impossible to make a list of the best guitarists ever without including John Lennon in such list.
We can understand the doubts about John Lennon being very good at playing the guitar, and there is a reason for this. It is as a result of the fact that John Lennon was loved and respected more for his songwriting and singing skills, while his guitar playing skills were constantly getting underrated. Throughout John Lennon’s career, so many people and fans failed to pay attention to his guitar playing skills.
They focused more on his writing and singing skills. His songs were so good that people were eager to know what type of strings he played with. The tapewound strings were the strings available back in the 1960’s, and this is the same strings used by John Lennon. The tapewound strings were designed in Germany, but the Fender Rock n Roll strings found its way to Britain in the late 60’s. There are rumors that John Lennon made use of these too.
One surprising fact about John Lennon was the fact that he made use of effect pedals but not as many contemporary guitarists of his time. The list of effect pedals he made use of are listed below;
- Maestro Fuzz Tone
- Electro-Harmonix EH-3003
- Vox Tonebender Effect Pedals
- WEM Pep Rush
- Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
Furthermore, he used quite some amps in his time, and these amps are also listed below;
- Vox AC Twin
- Vox Conqueror
- Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp
- Fender Tweed Vibrolux
- Vox Super Beatle
- Fender Deluxe Blackface
- Fender Custom Twin Reverb
- Fender Blackface Showman Guitar Amp
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Taking a look at all what we have said about John Lennon being skilled, influential, versatile with instruments, and also being a good singer and songwriter, do you think there is a possibility anybody can play or sing like John Lennon. The way he played was like he was attacking the strings, yet his style always ended up producing great sounds.
John Lennon started playing guitar at the age of twelve, and the first instrument he learnt how to play with was the banjo instrument. It didn’t take so long after learning how to play the banjo that he learned how to play the guitar. Now that you have a very good idea of the guitars used by John Lennon in his time, and also how he was good at singing and writing, we hope we have answered all the questions you have in this post.
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