The Beatles’ 1970 last recording, “Let It Be,” is a favorite song of both guitarists and keyboard players, despite their differences.
In celebration of Global Beatles Day, a.k.a. June 25, Muse Group the company behind Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore released data showing “Let It Be” has had the most views on guitar tabs and scores across both platforms over the past year.
But guitarists might be wondering, Which of the “Let It Be” electric guitar solos do players prefer? After all, there are four of them, each recorded by George Harrsion.
It’s remarkable that he put so much time into the endeavor, considering his feelings toward the Beatles and particularly the song’s composer, Paul McCartney at the time. As is well known, Harrison quit the band at one point during the Let It Be sessions after he became fed up with McCartney’s bossiness, which had been growing with each album from 1967 onward.
“There came a time possibly around the time of Sgt. Pepper, where Paul had fixed an idea in his brain as to how to record one of his songs,” Harrison explained in The Beatles Anthology book. “He wasn’t open to anybody else’s suggestions. John was always much more open when it came to how to record one of his songs.
“Paul wanted nobody to play on his songs until he decided how it should go. For me, it was like, What am I doing here? This is painful!”
Despite his feelings, Harrison was committed to giving his all to the music. “Let It Be” was no exception.
To understand how four different solos came to be recorded for the song, you have to go back to January 31, 1969. That’s when the Beatles put down the basic tracks for the song, which would be heard on all subsequent versions regardless of the solo. As a quick refresher, Let It Be began as a project to record the Beatles live in the studio, with no overdubs. After years developing into one of the world’s most progressive studio acts, the Beatles decided to release an album on which they would get back (you get the reference, of course) to their roots as a rock and roll band. During the month of January 1969, they proceeded to rehearse and record and write the songs that would go on Let It Be. Getting each take as perfect as possible proved difficult, but they ended up with something that was fairly is not exactly true to their original vision.
The sessions on January 31 were the last for the album, and it was critical that the group cut a recording of “Let It Be” that would suit them all.
Take 27 was nearly the charm. There was just one problem: Harrison’s solo recorded with his Rosewood Fender Telecaster wasn’t particularly deft, and it included a pretty obvious clunker on the second go-through of the chord changes.
The fix? Try it again. The second attempt was the keeper, and the two takes were numbered 27-A and 27-B, the second of which had the preferred guitar solo.
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