In the mid-sixties, there was a phenomenon known as the British invasion which was basically journalists’ way of describing the flood of British rock bands that became popular during the decade.
The Beatles, from Liverpool, were one of the most popular bands in the entire world and led this so-called invasion.
The band had two guitarists, John Lennon on rhythm and George Harrison on lead guitar.
Between the two of them, they made a formidable team and wowed audiences with their virtuosity and raw talent.
One of the main reasons behind the success of the Beatles was the fact that they chose to play music from various different genres. You name it and they played it, pretty much anything from country to classic rock, love songs to out and out psychedelia.
This meant there was something for everybody. I mean how many people do you know you wouldn’t admit to at least liking one or two of their songs?
Although the Beatles wrote and performed many of their own songs, they were also well known for performing covers of other people’s songs such as Chuck Berry’s. This also added to their appeal, bringing on board the fans of many other artists.
If you’re looking for a good example of how the two guitars of Lennon and Harrison work brilliantly well together, you need to go no further than the main riff from “I saw her standing there”.
This is a fine example of the really twangy-sounding percussive riffs that the dynamic duo was capable of.
The riff uses open chords but keeps a lid on them with heavy left-hand muting that gives the choppy sounding effect. It’s based on the twelve-bar blues and is pretty easy to play.
Take a look at the video below which explains all.
