Мой первый журнал SUNRISE November № 1 2018 | Page 58

MUSIC
John Lennon’s Nine Guitars
6) GIBSON J165E
unpainted wood were produced only by the
Rickenbacker firm. Jihn decided to turn the
Epiphone into his first Rickenbacker, and
achieved an impeccable result: now such
Epiphones are sold successfully together with
painted ones. Lennon mostly recorded songs
of The Beatles’ mature creativity period (after
1966) with that guitar.
John got this electro-acoustic guitar
i n 1 9 6 2 , f o l l o w i n g t h e R i c ke n b a c ke r.
Traditionally already, he bought it together
with George. They paid an installment for the
Gibson at the Rushworth store in Liverpool and
bought one guitar each, but they had to order
the instruments from the catalogue and to
wait because the J165E model was not
available in Britain at that time (“Gibson” is an
American firm). One of The Beatles' first
songs, Love Me Do , was performed using that
guitar. But at that moment, John didn't play it
for a long time. First, there was a confusion:
the Gibson that Harrison played had the serial
number of the guitar bought by John. They
didn't pay attention to that, and the guitars
were mixed up. And them John's guitar was
stolen. Later, in 1965, the guitar would serve
John faithfully in the Help! album, but at that
time he would share the same guitar with
George. On occasions, John would play the
Gibson J165E in The Beatles' late years and
after the group broke up. But it wasn't John's
main instrument anymore.
7) EPIPHONE CASINO
8) C.F. MARTIN D-28
In 1968, all of The Beatles went to
Rishikesh, India, to get familiar with the
Oriental culture and to take a course of
transcendental meditation from Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, a guru who was well-known in the
West. None of them was too enthusiastic
about it except George Harrison. Lennon
stayed there with George longer than the
others, but they both went away because of
suspicions related to the guru’s immoral
conduct. But even in India The Beatles never
parted with their guitars. The C.F. Martin D-28
was John’s main guitar in Rishikesh. He used it
to write most of his songs of that period. Paul
McCartney had that guitar too, and played a
number of The Beatles’ latest hits with it. John
used it to play the song Julia devoted to his
mother who had died in a car accident in 1958.
In India, the famous British musician Donovan
taught John an interesting fingerpicking
guitar style, which Lennon used in the song.
Epiphone Casino was John’s main
instrument after the Rickenbacker, and
probably another one that he made famous.
But the first Beatle with an Epiphone was Paul
McCartney. He purchased the 1964 model and
used it to play the guitar parts in several songs
( Ticket to Ride, Taxman (1965) and Drive My Car
(1966)). John liked the guitar, and was set on
getting one too. And as always, together with
George. In 1965-1966, they performed at
concerts together, playing the Casino, until
they stopped their concert activity for good in
August 1966. Later, John would record many
songs with his Epiphone, and would make the
guitar unique in 1968: grind the paint off it and
cover the bare wood with two thin layers of
nitrocellulose. Before that, guitars with
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November 2018 №1