Did Paul mute his bass strings with his hand/foam, or did his Hofner naturally just not have very much sustain?

Hi, fellow "The Word"-liker!

This is one of Paul's most "standard" bass lines, so I never spent much thinking on it, either.

But it's the Hofner, no doubt.

I don't think he muted the bass all the time.

1.) The Hofner indeed didn't have that much sustain.

2.) This is still before "Paperback writer" when they finally figured out how to record Paul's bass (inventing the DI-box along the way), so his bass sound had never been that good up to that point.

Wonder how close this is to the final version.

I don't think he went to the Rickenbaker until later; right?

In any case, I'd never paid attention to the bass in this particular song. Thanks for sharing.

No sir, he got his Rickenbacker later in 1965, between "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" (I think he got it either during or right after their U.S. tour). Additionally, I believe this is from the final version – there''s slight bleed-through from the vocals, and it sounds just like the album track.

Incidentally, this was the first song I learned how to play ...]]> Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:02:23 +0000 http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/paul-mccartney/bass-question/#p49022 Paul McCartney http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/paul-mccartney/bass-question/#p49022 Wonder how close this is to the final version.

I don't think he went to the Rickenbaker until later; right?

In any case, I'd never paid attention to the bass in this particular song. Thanks for sharing.

Did Paul mute his bass strings with his hand/foam, or did his Hofner naturally just not have very much sustain?