Hold Me Tight- The Beatles (Guitar Cover)

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Thanks @MichaelSokil for lending his guitars for this!

The Beatles recorded this McCartney song on September 12, 1963 for their second album-
With The Beatles. It features a standard lineup for the backing track- Paul on bass, Ringo on drums, John on rhythm guitar and George on lead guitar. But John's thumping rhythm guitar especially drives the song

I saw a theory online saying that they recorded the song in the key of E, then sped up the tape a half-step to F. I don't believe this is true:
-The outtake (take 21 on 2013's 'Bootleg Recordings 1963') is in the key of F
-You can hear John release to an open low E-string before fretting the first fret F note. If the 'E' theory is true, John would've had to have his whole guitar tuned down a half step to Eb

John used his Rickenbacker 325 guitar (the first 'Hamburg' 1958 model) into a Vox AC-30 amp. George used his Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, also into an AC-30. I believe John used the bridge pickup and George used the middle position (a combo of neck and bridge pickups)

George's guitar is buried in the mix and it took some deep listening of the isolated tracks to parse out his parts. It turns out he played very stacatto 7th bar chords, and then glissando major chords in the middle-eight

Michael's Rickenbacker is a 1982 320b model that he modded to better resemble John's original 1958. He also generously lent his 2016 Gretsch Country Gentleman, which is a great reissue. The Rickenbacker has old flatwound strings on it, while the Gretsch has Ernie Ball Power Slinky roundwounds that I put on

INTERESTING NOTES:
*John:*
0:08 An example of John releasing to the Low-E string, before the G chord. I heard this in the isolated tracks and it disproves the 'vari-speed' theory
0:22 John shuffles from 3rd to 5th frets of D
0:27 John shuffles from 1st to 4th frets of A
0:50 John shuffles from 4th to 5th frets of A, then 3rd to 5th frets of D
0:54 John plays 1st to 5th frets of the E-string only, instead of sliding from 4 to 5
0:56 John shuffles from 1st to 4th frets of A
1:00 In the middle-eights, John emphasizes the 7th chord by also playing the D and G strings
1:08 For the Gm chord, John hammers on his pinky to a C note 3555XX to 3553XX
1:32 John shuffles from 3rd to 5th frets of D
1:37 John shuffles from 3rd to 4th frets of A
1:49 For this Gm, John only plays a G5 355XXX
2:08 John plays 1st to 5th frets of the E-string only
2:12 John shuffles from 3rd to 5th frets of D
2:17 John shuffles from 3rd to 4th frets of A

*George:*
0:20 George's emphasis varies in the chorus (where he sustains chords)
0:47 For this chorus, George's playing is soft and he mostly strums up and down
1:00 Before the middle-eight George plays choppy Ab7 chords
1:02 The middle-eight features louder sustained chords from George
1:06 After playing an F chord (banjo shape style like John XX7565) George pauses and skips the Bb chord, re-entering on the Gm chord
1:39 George pauses for the beginning of this middle-eight
1:44 George re-enters on the Ab chord here
1:53 George plays two C bar chords this time
2:24 George sustains an Ab chord

GEAR USED:
2016 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman G6122-62 GE
1982 Rickenbacker 320b
2010's Vox AC-30C2X
Neumann TLM-103

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