The Beatles - Ticket To Ride - Full Band Cover - Guitar Cover

“Ticket to Ride” was the first song recorded during the sessions for the Beatles fifth album, Help! It was recorded on February 15th, 1965, and was released on April 9th with the three part harmony B-side “Yes It Is”. This song provides an indication of an important new shift in the Beatles career. Following the joyous upbeat 1964 singles of “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, and “I Feel Fine”, with their respective B-sides of “You Can’t Do That”, “Things We Said Today”, and “She’s a Woman”, “Ticket To Ride” showcases a departure from these quick aggressive songs to a very melancholy and sad drama of events exemplified both in the lyrics and instrumentation. “Ticket To Ride” is monumental as a maturity of the Beatles in the studio with multiple overdubbed guitars, tambourine and handclaps. It is arguably the first Beatles song to feature Paul on guitar as well, (There is some dispute as to who plays the acoustic guitar on “I’ll Follow The Sun”), but at the very least it’s certainly the first Beatles song to feature John, Paul and George all on guitar. John would later call “Ticket To Ride” the first heavy metal record. Harmonically the song matches it’s lyrics in being filled with longing and ambiguity. We start with a droning A chord, an A in the Bass and a droning A note on Harrison’s overdubbed Strat. The swirling riff on the Rickenbacker 12-string indicates that we are either in the key of A or E but we’re not sure which, since there is a B in the riff. The melody reinforces this by using both D and G notes. D on “go” (from “gonna”), “think”, “to” (from “today”) and G on “girl” which really creates tension. Once the chord finally changes to Bm on “away”, we must be in the key of A. Once we think we’re safe and stable in this key, the hook of the song presents itself to us on “Ride” the second time John says “She’s got a Ticket To Ri---i---ide” which is over a Gmaj7 chord, not in the keys of E or A. We are now centered around the key of D (or the parallel minor of B minor, which is the chord John is playing simultaneously on the rhythm guitar part), with a D in the bass. Up until the Gmaj7 we can sense a partial hopefulness in the melody, which can be especially felt if we swap out the Gmaj7 for an E major. As soon as the Gmaj7 hits us and all the instruments fade away, we are presented with a strong feeling of loss. A very notable part of the song is that it speeds up for the fade out and at this point all of the instruments are playing at once along with John and Paul singing in falsetto, creating quite a collage of sound compared to their previous releases. This is something that would be built upon in the following year. It is the one song on the US album which uses the duophonic “fake stereo” created from the mono mix. Personnel on the Basic Track: Paul on bass, George on Rickenbacker 360/12, John on either Sonic Blue Strat or Rickenbacker 325 (I believe it’s the Strat) Ringo on drums Personnel on overdubs: Paul on Epiphone Casino (I’m playing my 1967 Gretsch 6120 George on Sonic Blue Strat (Droning guitar and riff on “Ride” that follows the melody) John on Tambourine Ringo (handclaps? – Obviously it’s hard to say who’s clapping unless we know these were recorded at the same time) At some point the song was slowed to be pitch shifted down around 35 cents to become the final version. I didn’t do this because it reduces the audio quality when done digitally, and also it will be much easier for you to play along to. The current request list is as follows: The Beatles - She Said She Said The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night The Zombies – She Does Everything For Me The Zombies – You Make Me Feel Good The Beatles – What You’re Doing The Rolling Stones - The Last Time The Hollies - King Midas In Reverse The Beatles - The Night Before The Beatles – Thank You Girl The Beatles – Taxman The Hollies – I Take What I Want The Beatles – Michelle The Hollies – Too Young To Be Married The Beatles – I’ve Just Seen A Face The Byrds – Thoughts And Words The Beatles – In My Life The Beatles – Run For Your Life The Beatles – Here There and Everywhere The Zombies – I Love You The Beatles – One After 909 The Move – Fire Brigade The Beatles – Honey Don’t The Byrds – Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe The Beatles – Paperback Writer The Hollies – Don’t Even Think About Changing The Hollies - Gasoline Alley Bred The Hollies – Long Dark Road The Seekers – Georgy Girl The Hollies – Don’t Run And Hide The Hollies – Put Yourself In My Place The Zombies – She’s Not There The Byrds – Set You Free This Time Feel free to comment your song requests, and to ask any questions you have about chords or notes. Thanks for watching!