#i wonder if the sgt pepper-era photographs of them side-by-side at the piano are from this session

[sounwise]

[“Fixing a Hole” is] a very simply constructed song, built around a harpsichord and a bass guitar. Even before we got into the studio, Paul wanted to use a harpsichord as the mainstay of his rhythm; even so, the bass line is more important than the harpsichord line. Paul had to play bass guitar on it, because nobody could (or can) play that instrument quite like him. That meant somebody else was going to have to play keyboards. This was unusual, because Paul always liked to play his own keyboards on his own compositions. The part of honorary stand-in keyboard player to the greatest group in the world was offered to me. It wasn’t too difficult, and it didn’t seem likely to tax my non-virtuoso technique too much. Paul let rip with a superb and melodic bass line—something that was rapidly becoming his style. He used the instrument like a voice: he was never content to just use the dominant and tonic—the normal plodding sequences of a bass—as many others did. He wanted to make that bass sing. Whenever he had something to say, he said it most eloquently using the instrument he loved the best. […] Of all the Beatles, Paul was the most talented musician. When I first met him he could not play the piano at all. It was a very short time indeed from then to ‘Lady Madonna’, which is a very complicated and extremely good piano track played entirely by Paul, and a measure of his musicianship. Paul could play the drums, technically, better than any of the others, including Ringo (although he could never get anything like the distinctive sound Ringo got from his kit). So, by default, Paul took over the most difficult instrument to play with any originality in a rock ’n’ roll band: the bass guitar.

[—from With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper, George Martin]

#george martin speaks so highly of paul in every book it is very sweet #i wonder if the sgt pepper-era photographs of them side-by-side at the piano are from this session #also the fact that in george martin’s assessment paul couldn't play the piano in '62 always makes me think that #in hamburg paul's piano game was uhhh not so good lol #(george martin similarly mentions in All You Need Is Ears that after he signed them he started learning guitar for the sake of having a #mutually familiar instrument through which they could communicate but paul and john learned piano so quickly it became unnecessary) #with a little help from my friends: the making of sgt. pepper #george martin #paul mccartney #the beatles #sgt. pepper sessions #paul's musicianship