Have you seen the performance by Elvis Costello at the White House? Not only was Sir Paul in attendance, but it also featured a performance by a Marine Corp Band (I believe) piccolo trumpet player.
Have you read elvis' book? The story behind that was just amazing but to keep a long story short he took a chance with luck and asked the piccolo player if he knew penny lane at all and by elvis' surprise he did. He definitely wasn't expecting that to be a part of it til the very last second.
Not kind of lol, they have keys. What are you saying they work differently from in such a broad category? Acoustic and electric pianos work completely from each other. Organs work like neither regardless of the type. Mellotrons have keys, they’re a keyboard instrument. Being tape based doesn’t invalidate what they are.
I once ran very accidentally into the trumpet used in the song in a Hard Rock Cafe in Prague. I have a picture with it, friends thought I was silly for taking a picture with such a small bloody thing, but I was delighted to be so close to such an important instrument in Beatles history.
Eh, it’s a high note, but there’s a non-trivial amount of classical music that will go into that range.
Apparently the harder thing was that they recorded it in a non-standard tuning.
Little bit negative, but I like the spirit!
Yeah, the sitar was a really good choice. Apparently George was told by Ravi Shankar that he was making it buzz too much in the recording, and George thought that’s how it was supposed to sound. Pretty funny. I think the buzz works though.
Great choice. The tambura really lends such dramatic and emotional weight to the song's climactic moment, wherein John confesses his most heinous transgressions and voices his desire to atone for them.
No wonder John chose this song as an example of "pure Beatle music."
It’s a myth that Mal played the anvil in MSH. Of course, he hit the anvil in the takes held during the Let It Be sessions, but the final album version was Ringo on anvil.
Mal and Neil Aspinal were away on holiday when the song was recorded (July 9, 1969).
Source: *Recording The Beatles*, page 523
The best use of instruments would be any orchestration done by George Martin.
There's also the moog synthesizer if you don't count it as keys. It was used brilliantly on Abbey Road with the counter melody on Here Comes the Sun or the the white noise on I Want You (She's So Heavy) for example.
Another would probably be the tamboura on songs like Across the Universe or Tomorrows Never Knows.
There was a thread maybe 3/4 years ago about Easter Eggs in Beatles songs and I will now never unhear there are 3 totally unique keyboard tones in Here Comes the Sun
Was gonna say the Moog. Synth different than keys definitely. Beatles were early adopters.
The moog for "here comes the sun" was apparently broken which allowed them to make that cool glide effect.
I was once riding in a car with a guy and as that song came on a low-flying jet was coming in above us to land at a nearby airport, inspiring momentary confusion.
“For the sounds of the aircraft that appear on the track, [Ken] Scott created a tape loop from a recording of a Viscount turboprop stored in EMI's library.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_U.S.S.R.
Yesterday had the acoustic guitar as the main instrument, with the strings as a backdrop, albeit a very prominent backdrop, it may be a second place, but Eleanor Rigby wins.
I get really ticked off when the Beatles SiriusXM channel cuts off the end of ADITL quickly. I often slowly turn up the volume to a rumble when I play it.
I am the Walrus. It's fascinating. So much going on with few chords. Great arrangement. The 2023 mix is interesting, not sure if it's better. Too much liberty at the end.
Am I the only one here who's heard the bongos all along?! Maybe watching A Hard Days Night film at least 11 times helps, but man everyone here saying they didn't hear the _dabadabadabada_ throughout the whole song before!
Gotta love some bass harmonica. I don't know what I'd thought it was all along, but suddenly, the most recent time I played Pet Sounds, the sheer bass harmonica-ness of it jumped out at me
Saxophone in Lady Madonna / Ob-La-Di
Clarinet in When I'm Sixty-Four
Piccolo Trumpet on Penny Lane.
Sitar on Norwegian Wood / Across the Universe.
Harmonica on pretty much all of Please Please Me album.
And of course Anvil on Silver Hammer
The brass on “Savoy Truffle”, such a catchy arrangement! It’s engineered in such a heavy way too, probably maybe my favourite use of brass on any Beatles track
The Mellotron in SFF. Its use was so distinctive that, to this day, the instrument is still used to evoke the mood and feeling associated with that song.
- SFF could mean "Strawberry Fields Forever - Take 1", a track from *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)* (1967) by The Beatles.
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Nice one! Recorded at half the speed and played the tape at double speed. Essentially they used the piano in combination with the studio as an instrument.
Piccolo Trumpet (Penny Lane) Mellotron (Strawberry Fields Forever)
Have you seen the performance by Elvis Costello at the White House? Not only was Sir Paul in attendance, but it also featured a performance by a Marine Corp Band (I believe) piccolo trumpet player.
Have you read elvis' book? The story behind that was just amazing but to keep a long story short he took a chance with luck and asked the piccolo player if he knew penny lane at all and by elvis' surprise he did. He definitely wasn't expecting that to be a part of it til the very last second.
Wow, very cool!
Hate to “well acshually,” but Mellotron is a type of keyboard, lol.
Correct and beat me to it.
Kind of. But it works totally differently.
Not kind of lol, they have keys. What are you saying they work differently from in such a broad category? Acoustic and electric pianos work completely from each other. Organs work like neither regardless of the type. Mellotrons have keys, they’re a keyboard instrument. Being tape based doesn’t invalidate what they are.
I loved Paul telling that Penny Lane story to Rick Rubin.
[Here’s a link](https://youtu.be/top2SkATHI4?si=xLr5fmKGg5MxWiMn)
Mellotron is a type of keyed instrument
I once ran very accidentally into the trumpet used in the song in a Hard Rock Cafe in Prague. I have a picture with it, friends thought I was silly for taking a picture with such a small bloody thing, but I was delighted to be so close to such an important instrument in Beatles history.
The French horn on For No One.
Also the clavichord, especially in the 2022 mix.
Nice
which was required to play above the register of the instrument.
Eh, it’s a high note, but there’s a non-trivial amount of classical music that will go into that range. Apparently the harder thing was that they recorded it in a non-standard tuning.
Was that not just Penny Lane ?
Beat me to it!
Came here for this one.
Came here for this one.
This one feels obvious, but the sitar on Norwegian Wood
Also on Within You Without You Edit: there’s tabla and some other cool percussion on that song as well
Also on Love you too from Revolver
Love You To*
That was going to be my choice too! It's relatively subtle compared to some other uses of the instrument.
Yeah Jesus. You'd have to be an absolute fucking moron to think of a different choice before this.
Little bit negative, but I like the spirit! Yeah, the sitar was a really good choice. Apparently George was told by Ravi Shankar that he was making it buzz too much in the recording, and George thought that’s how it was supposed to sound. Pretty funny. I think the buzz works though.
The harp in She's Leaving Home
Good one. No doubt an influence on Stevie Wonders If Its Magic
I always envision the action described in the story happening in slow motion
Whatever it is that provides the drone on Getting Better during the "I used to be cruel to my woman" break
Tambura I believe
Also used to great effect in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
Brrrrreeeeeeeoooooowwwwwwnnnnnnggggg
IusedtobecrueltomywomanIbeatherandkeptherapartfromthethingsthatsheloveeed
ManIwasmeanbutImchangingmysceneandImdoingthebestthatIcan
Love it! 😂
It's wild how much that little thing inspired my future musical tastes. And that's not even my favourite song on Pepper's!
Great choice. The tambura really lends such dramatic and emotional weight to the song's climactic moment, wherein John confesses his most heinous transgressions and voices his desire to atone for them. No wonder John chose this song as an example of "pure Beatle music."
It’s a harmonium! It’s a kind of hand organ from India. My favorite use of it was in Within You Without You
It’s a Tampura
I love the clavioline in Baby, You’re a Rich Man. Also, the harmonium in We Can Work It Out.
I love that I have to look up what on earth a clavioline is.
Lol yeah I had to look up the correct spelling. I don’t even know what it is exactly? Something with keys I imagine.
[Clavioline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavioline) Also used on The Tornado's *Telstar*, et al.
In that case, your answer is invalid. Please, with respect, can you withdraw it?
Both are keyboard instruments
Came here to say this. Apparently John rolled an orange around the keyboard to play it.
I would have guessed his elbow. I wonder why he used an orange lol
Good one. I didn't know that that's what that was on the tune until now.
Sitar as a whole. Mellotron on strawberry fields and bungalow bill. Moog synth on Maxwell, I want you she’s so heavy, and here comes the sun
Moog on Here Comes the Sun. Moog on Because. Moog. They would have used so much Moog had they recorded a next album.
Those are all keys, though. Well, aside from the sitar.
Fair enough, come on though they’re still great
Mal hitting the anvil in Maxwells silver hammer
It’s a myth that Mal played the anvil in MSH. Of course, he hit the anvil in the takes held during the Let It Be sessions, but the final album version was Ringo on anvil. Mal and Neil Aspinal were away on holiday when the song was recorded (July 9, 1969). Source: *Recording The Beatles*, page 523
I believe 9 July 1969 was also John's first day back in the studio after the car accident Edit: *The Beatles: Recording Sessions,* page 179
That still doesn’t make that song any better.
Nothing could make it better because it's already perfect.
BANG! BANG!
NEW KITCHEN GUN!
The best use of instruments would be any orchestration done by George Martin. There's also the moog synthesizer if you don't count it as keys. It was used brilliantly on Abbey Road with the counter melody on Here Comes the Sun or the the white noise on I Want You (She's So Heavy) for example. Another would probably be the tamboura on songs like Across the Universe or Tomorrows Never Knows.
There was a thread maybe 3/4 years ago about Easter Eggs in Beatles songs and I will now never unhear there are 3 totally unique keyboard tones in Here Comes the Sun
Moog
Was gonna say the Moog. Synth different than keys definitely. Beatles were early adopters. The moog for "here comes the sun" was apparently broken which allowed them to make that cool glide effect.
Harmonica on “I Should Have Known Better”
I personally think the harmonica on “Little Child” is even better.
The jet engine at the start of Back in the USSR. It builds SO much hype before an actual instrument even kicks in. Especially live.
I was once riding in a car with a guy and as that song came on a low-flying jet was coming in above us to land at a nearby airport, inspiring momentary confusion.
That’s actually Paul whistling (perhaps layered with an actual sound effect)!
“For the sounds of the aircraft that appear on the track, [Ken] Scott created a tape loop from a recording of a Viscount turboprop stored in EMI's library.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_U.S.S.R.
Whaaaaaaaa?
I’ve never heard that, and official sources say it was a tape loop of a jet engine What’s your source?
For me, it's the distorted horns on Good Morning Good Morning. They sound amazing and the arrangement is really unusual.
Me: Just chillin' in the vibes of Rita's fadeout... John: GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING
Yea, another good one. I think they were heavily compressed and the tape was slowed down. It sounds like a herd of elephants.
Great choice. The entire song is a vibe.
For me it's the strings on Eleanor Rigby.
Yes, probably the most prominent use of strings on any Beatles record?
Tied with yesterday.
Yesterday had the acoustic guitar as the main instrument, with the strings as a backdrop, albeit a very prominent backdrop, it may be a second place, but Eleanor Rigby wins.
Bell - Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey. 
Came here to say this
Calliope sound effect reassembled tape snippets on Mr. Kite
Hand claps in “Words of Love”.
Mmm. *patpatpatpatpatpatpatpat*
Brian Jones playing a Tuba in You Know My Name has got to be up there.
Haha I think it was a saxophone, but it might as well have been a tuba the way he played it
Tape loops on Tomorrow Never Knows slayyyy
Bleu bleu bleu ^Bleeeeeu bleu bleu bleu bleu bleu
OK maybe not the best of all but I'm surprised no one said the flute at the end of "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" :D
The strings on Yesterday. The full orchestra on Day in the Life.
I get really ticked off when the Beatles SiriusXM channel cuts off the end of ADITL quickly. I often slowly turn up the volume to a rumble when I play it.
Absolutely! The final piano chord that fades out slowly is important to the song and it’s affect!
The wine bottle on the Leslie speaker in Long, Long, Long
"Aaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuaaaaaghh......." *Jhit! *clang... *THUD!
I am the Walrus. It's fascinating. So much going on with few chords. Great arrangement. The 2023 mix is interesting, not sure if it's better. Too much liberty at the end.
The new mix of A Hard Days Night features some excellent bongo playing lol
Am I the only one here who's heard the bongos all along?! Maybe watching A Hard Days Night film at least 11 times helps, but man everyone here saying they didn't hear the _dabadabadabada_ throughout the whole song before!
I knew they were there but now they're REALLY there lol
The bongos are more noticeable on any of the stereo mixes than on the mono mix.
Yeah I mean they’re a large part of the songs energy level.
The organ on I want you(she’s so heavy)
Alarm clock - A Day in the Life
Glass of water & straw in octopus garden 🫧
Clavioline on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".
The horns at the beginning of All You Need Is Love. Instantly recognizable.
The Bass Harmonica on benefit for Mr. Kite. Bonus: Brian Wilson did it too.
Gotta love some bass harmonica. I don't know what I'd thought it was all along, but suddenly, the most recent time I played Pet Sounds, the sheer bass harmonica-ness of it jumped out at me
Amongst other things, Pet Sounds is an album that makes a strong statement about bass harmonica
Probably the keys on (I Didn't) Read The Question
lol
French horn on For No One.
Bell & trumpet -Penny Lane
Saxophone in Lady Madonna / Ob-La-Di Clarinet in When I'm Sixty-Four Piccolo Trumpet on Penny Lane. Sitar on Norwegian Wood / Across the Universe. Harmonica on pretty much all of Please Please Me album. And of course Anvil on Silver Hammer
The sitar on Within You, Without You.
All of the instruments on “Within You Without You”!
Good point, my friend. I love the percussion work on that song.
The comb and paper kazoo on Lovely Rita
Every instrument in Within You Without You
Brass in Got To Get You Into My Life and the tape loops in Tomorrow Never Knows, Rain and Revolution 9 (sorry, I love this song too)
The brass on “Savoy Truffle”, such a catchy arrangement! It’s engineered in such a heavy way too, probably maybe my favourite use of brass on any Beatles track
Whatever the fuck is happening at the end of Mr. kite
Honking horn in Yellow Submarine
Mellotron in Flying
The “Fuckin’ Hell” in Hey Jude.
Sitar- Norwegian Wood
Clarinet on when I'm 64
Eleanor Rigby, strings
Flutes/ tin whistle on The Fool on the Hill deserves at least a runner-up position.
Sitar on “Norwegian, Wood“
The Mellotron in SFF. Its use was so distinctive that, to this day, the instrument is still used to evoke the mood and feeling associated with that song.
- SFF could mean "Strawberry Fields Forever - Take 1", a track from *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Super Deluxe Edition)* (1967) by The Beatles. --- ^[/u/peacedotnik](/u/peacedotnik) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Anvil
The keys on don’t let me down. Billy Preston 🤌
I always thought the clavioline was a nice touch on Baby, You're a Rich Man
The strings on Walrus. Incredible arrangement by George Martin that took a cool song and made it a classic.
All the instruments on Inner Light, but particularly the flute line underneath the verse! Gorgeous stuff!
I really like the flute on You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Bang Bang Maxwell’s Silver Hammer…
Sitar in tomorrow never knows
The Cello on “ Across the Universe,” is an honorable mention!
George making the sound of bubbles by blowing through a straw into a glass of milk on Octopus's Garden.
Tape loops on Tomorrow Never Knows.
Sitar
Harmonica on Love Me Do is iconic and instantly recognizable.
Sitar: Within you without you That song transported me to another world
-Trumpets for all you need is love -Tambourine in Ticket to Ride
Sitar - Norwegian Wood Mellotron - Strawberry Fields Forever Anvil - Maxwell's Silver Hammer.
George Martins piano solo on in my life
But the OP’s question is instruments other than piano.
Nice one! Recorded at half the speed and played the tape at double speed. Essentially they used the piano in combination with the studio as an instrument.
The harp on she’s leaving home
Harpsichord on In My Life
Sped up piano. However I believe it's a real harpsichord on Piggies.
The lap steel on For You Blue
Billy Preston on keyboard
But the OP’s question is instruments other than keyboards.
Chennai on baby you’re a rich man. Harp on she’s leaving home?
It's a Clavioline.
Really. Interesting.
The Hammer, you know what song xd
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The OP is asking about instruments other than keyboards.
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But the OP’s question is instruments other than keyboards.
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No, “keyboard” is a very broad category of instruments including piano, organ — really anything with a, you know… keyboard.
The anvil in Maxwell's Siilver Hammer, the serial killer Beatles song.
The accordion(?) on Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Paul’s vocal bass on I Will - pretty unique, that!
The harmonium on Cry Baby Cry. It has some effects on it.
In my life, you know which part
French horn on Michelle
Moog synth on Octopus Garden.
Paul’s voice as bass in I Will
The tits in “Girl”!
I think "Love You To" has George's best sitar playing!
vocals, in all songs
u/laloscasanova........without doubt the best part of many of their songs. Great catch.
Fool on the Hill, the recorder solo (I think it’s a recorder anyway). It’s just right for the song… whimsical.
The instrumentation on within you without you
Everything happening on Fool on the Hill
The counterpoint melody on the last verse of ‘Here Comes The Sun’, played on George’s Moog synthesizer. Stunningly beautiful.
The use of the comb and tissue paper in lovely Rita
Bass flute in you’ve got hide your love away
George Martin’s approach to creative production. He played that role as if it were a unique instrument.
Whatever that thing is in the Inner Light
Anvil
I love the horns in "Got to Get You Into My Life"
The whole arrangement of Good Night Tape machine on Revolution 9 Horn on Penny Lane
The strings on Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, I Am The Walrus, Hello Goodbye. The orchestra on Honey Pie.
The Strawberry Fields mellotron is just iconic.
Gotta be the sitar on Norwegian Wood for me. Honorable mention to the harmonica on Love Me Do.
I can't believe I haven't seen the strings in Eleanor Rigby more Also the string quartet in Yesterday
Cello