“COME TOGETHER”
The Beatles
ONE OF THE last great songs John Lennon wrote and recorded with the Beatles before the band’s hugely disappointing breakup in early 1970, this rather dark, earthy and hauntingly soulful composition and arrangement is driven mostly by Paul McCartney’s menacing melodic bass line, which kicks off the song and serves as the primary accompaniment during its verses. Lennon provided very little, if any guitar on the track, instead focusing on his vocals and letting George Harrison provide low-key rhythm guitar tracks and super-tasteful lead lines. Additionally, McCartney overdubbed a wellcrafted electric piano part that filled out the accompaniment perfectly, along with Ringo Starr’s exotic, “tribal” drumming.
During the song’s verses (see section B), Harrison employed subtle fret-hand muting with two-note chord voicings to create staccato articulations that serve the groove effectively, by keeping it crisp and uncluttered. Indicated by small black dots over certain tab numbers, these staccato articulations are performed by quickly relaxing your fret hand’s grip on the strings immediately after strumming them, just enough to cause the strings to break contact with the frets and stop ringing. Notice the pronounced contrast between this verse rhythm guitar part and what Harrison plays on the choruses, at sections C and G, where he strums the chords “wide open,” without any muting.
During the song’s interlude (section E), Harrison overdubbed two rhythmically synchronized harmony lead lines, specifically in bars 21-25 (see Gtrs. 2 and 3), for which he performs a series of perfectly in-tune bends in each part (mostly whole-step bends), adorning the held notes with impeccably executed bend vibratos. Notice how the vibratos in the two harmonizing single-note lines match up and lock in. By this point in his career, Harrison had obviously mastered and polished this technique, with some inspiration no doubt coming from his friend Eric Clapton. Each vibrato here is performed by partially releasing the bend from its “target pitch,” by only about a quarter tone, then restoring the bend back up to the target pitch, repeating the process in a smooth, even rhythm that’s quick but not too fast.