The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi everybody.  Past member here, haven’t contributed for a while.  I’ve been re-reading ‘Becoming the Beach Boys’ and other accounts of their early history, and there is one point I’m not clear about:  Did Al switch to playing rhythm guitar during his first run with the band in 1961 and early 1962, or did he just play bass?

For a little background, we know that he played double-bass on ‘Surfin’ and it also seems clear that during their earliest live performances, he was on bass as well.  Obviously, when Al left, David Marks joined as a rhythm guitarist.  (We also know that when Al started playing with them again, he mostly played bass until Marks left, and even continued to play bass in the studio on some songs afterwards).  What’s unclear to me is whether 1. Brian became their bassist before Al left, or 2.  Al kept playing bass until he left the band, and then Brian took over on bass and they added Marks on second guitar.

For what it’s worth, Wikipedia and the article below states that Jardine is on rhythm guitar on the Pacific Studios version of Surfing Safari.  If that’s correct, that answers my question, but since there is a lot of misinformation about the early BB’s history, I’d be curious as to whether anybody else has any perspective on this question. 
 

https://americansongwriter.com/the-story-behind-surfin-safari-by-the-beach-boys-and-how-two-key-changes-helped-make-the-song-a-hit/

I believe Brian is posing with a bass in the January 1962 photo that I found of the group with Al (so far the only photo known to exist from Al’s first tenure in the BBs

Al switched to guitar when Brian picked up the bass in time for the Richie Valens Memorial show on New Year's Eve 1961. He was the rhythm guitarist from then until he left, but didn't attend the session at World Pacific.

Wow!  Do you have a link to that photo?  I'd love to see it.