I'm Looking Through You | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Here’s my take on I’m Looking Through You and the Paul played everything on it theory:

Although I do not believe Paul played everything on this track, I do believe that he played quite a bit.

Acoustic Guitar:

The acoustic guitar part is undoubtedly played by Paul, you can hear it in the style he plays it, it sounds like he didn’t use a pick and strummed the higher notes with his fingernail while playing the lower notes with his finger, similar to Yesterday , and it sounds nothing like something John would’ve played. Just to be safe, I listened to the isolated guitar track to determine whether or not there are 2 acoustic guitar parts, having previously determined that there both John and George played acoustic guitar on Nowhere Man , but to no avail which makes me believe that there is only 1 acoustic guitar part on this song, which is played by Paul.

Drums:

It seems like the drums are on the backing track, so I think Ringo would’ve played them, although it’s hard to tell because all the drummer is doing is hitting his snare twice per bar, something that just about anybody in the room could’ve done, although the reason I think it was Ringo and not John or George is because there’s a tambourine shaken during the chorus and bridge and I think that the person who was playing the drums was also simultaneously playing this, hitting the snare with one hand and shaking the tambourine with the other, something that i can only see either Paul or Ringo doing and since we’ve determined that Paul is playing acoustic guitar on the backing track, it must be Ringo.

Bass Guitar:

This is a tricky one, one might say that John or George played this instrument but the bass part is too tricky to for them, especially in one take, you could also say that Paul played it on the backing track, but that can’t be true either because he’s playing acoustic guitar on the backing track, so the only conclusion I can draw is that Paul played the bass part as an overdub, which would make sense as he did this for the majority of the tracks on Revolver .

Backing Vocals:

My guess would be John, although they do sound a little like Paul when listening to them in isolation.

Organ:

The album cover says Ringo so I’m going with this. by the way, the chord the organ is playing contains a minor second interval, which causes that odd sound.

Electric guitar:

There are 2 electric guitar parts. The first guitar, which I assume is played by George, plays the fills during the verse and bridge as well as playing (xxxx44) during the chorus. The second guitar, which I am unsure whether it’s played by Paul or George, plays the chorus lick and the little solo at the end of the song.

Now that we know this, let’s look at the instrumentation:

Instrumentation:

Backing Track:

Paul McCartney : Rhythm Guitar (1964 Epiphone FT-79 Texan)

Ringo Starr : Snare drum and Tambourine

Overdubs:

Paul McCartney : Lead Vocals (double tracked), Bass Guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 4001S), Lead Guitar (1962 Epiphone ES-230TD Casino)?

John Lennon : Backing Vocals

George Harrison : Lead Guitar (1961 Fender Stratocaster)

Ringo Starr : Hammond Organ, Matchbox tapping

Thanks for telling me that, I wasn’t hearing it because it blends in so well with the bass. I still believe that Ringo plays both the drums and tambourine at the same time due to the fact that you only need one hand to hit the snare and you can hit the bass drum with his foot. That still leaves us with this, so I think we’re good.

Instrumentation:

Paul McCartney : Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar?

John Lennon : Backing Vocals

George Harrison : Lead Guitar

Ringo Starr : Drums, Tambourine, Hammond Organ, Tapping a pack of matches

I wonder, if Paul’s playing acoustic guitar, which i’m pretty sure he is, does that mean that John or George played the bass or that the bass was recorded as an overdub. My guess is that it was recorded as an overdub.

That’s what most would say, however the acoustic guitar sounds nothing like John to me and sounds like Paul’s playing style.

So you’re saying that Paul got John to play the acoustic guitar part using Paul’s playing style. If that’s the case, then John’s a better guitarist then i put him out to be. But then again, why would Paul go out of his way to make sure John played in his playing style if they needed to song to be recorded quickly.

John must’ve learned really fast then because it’s impressive that a choppy rhythm player can play such a great playing style that involves using the finger like a pick and picking the bass notes with the thumb like in Yesterday in a single session.

He’s a great rhythm player but was he great at impersonating other guitarists.