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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzJP0WoxvDI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzJP0WoxvDI)

Hey all.  Breaking out of the track-by-track sequence here to talk specifically about the slightly unusual instrument that is the Danelectro 6-string bass.  It shows up quite a bit from 64-67, and I thought it would be useful to show it off in its own video, and to talk about the difficulties of identifying when an electric bass is a Fender or when it's a Dano.  Sometimes it's easy--but not always.

But the Beach Boys' recorded oeuvre would assuredly sounds noticeably different if Brian had not discovered this bass.  Hope you enjoy it.

I definitely welcome your thoughts!  Especially people who own and have played both kinds of basses.

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How about the Sunflower "All I Wanna Do"? Jimmy Bond played upright bass on the basic track, but the AFM contract has him paid for 2 doubles. Listening through headphones, I hear the clacky sound of what might be a Dano, along with a Fender. Thoughts?

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Yeah, Jimmy and Lyle both played electric bass quite a bit in the late '60s/early '70s - probably felt they had to adapt to the times!

Great video! The Dano bass is an overlooked part of BW and The BBs sound.

I think I heard/read somewhere that Bond got out of the business pretty early.  He may have even pulled back in 65, because all of a sudden Lyle becomes the favoured son and Jimmy falls of the Beach Boys map for a good few years.

This is a fantastic video -- in fact, got me thinking to when I made a bunch of recordings with 6-string Dano + regular bass (posted an example in the "Smiley Smilers Who Make Music" forum FYI).

Also got me thinking about the bass sounds. I always assumed a lot of these examples were just Fender ... but now I'm wondering. "Let Him Run Wild" in particular does sound like Dano, but it's being doubled by I assume a string bass. How many basses are on the track? Have is been floated that maybe Fender and Dano are doubling on any tracks?

OH - I also noticed your Dano has the metal bridge. I had one like that, and the wooden bridge ones sound better/more authentic IMO). I think the individual saddles is a modern change but not sure.

Hey, yeah - I'm glad you hear what I'm talking about.  LHRW has string bass and electric, yeah.  And there are a few tracks that for sure have Fender and Dano (see my DHMLS vid, for example.)  But I think it's important to throw our preconceptions out the window for a lot of this stuff -- an attitude I learned from trying to figure out what people were playing on music from 300 years ago!!!

The wooden bridges were stock for a while.  According to Carol, who of course tends to be a bit of an absolutist, everybody changed that bridge out immediately, but I'm sure a lot of them just left it and accepted the instrument as it was.  But a wooden bridge would take a little bit of the metal off it which would definitely sound a little better, tone-wise, if not tune-wise.

Ah ... yeh I'm definitely out of the loop -- which might be beneficial in some ways, as I always based most of my opinions on listening :)

So - I would say for sure Dano on "Let Him Run Wild". I think the string bass + Dano combo sounds a lot like a Fender might in places. But it definitely sounds like a Precision in places. Which is why I wonder if there is a possibility there are *THREE* basses. But it's too "slinky" to not have a Dano in there IMO. That said, in the mono mix, I always heard this as a flatwound/Fender sound w/ highs up on amp. I had to listen to Stack-O-Tracks to hear it differently just now.

I think Today (especially) and Summer Days are pretty dark-sounding (I like that sound a lot), but it makes the Dano sound like a Fender in my mind. "I'm So Young" is a good example. I would have thought Fender but assuming it's Dano now.

TBH the easiest way to figure it out is trying to determine if it's Flatwound or Roundwound strings maybe?

... one I've always been pretty certain on is "Here Today" being Fender.

I also believe there is spring reverb on the original mono mix somewhere  - which I do not believe is coming from a guitar amp as recorded.

Listen at 1:46-1:48 for that last not before the break:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m65Q4YuSFE

... on the mono you can hear the spring "boing".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-aCa-liYfs

... on the "Stack" version, it's missing.


Which, incidentally -- not related to this topic of course -- suggests that a spring was used somewhere in the mix. Something I've been fascinated by is what studios used a spring in the '60s. I know the Rascals' "Groovin" had one of those Fisher spring units.

This is another reason why I prefer using the mono mixes as the gold standard for listening for parts -- even though it's very challenging. I remember when folks were trying to determine who sang what on "Aren't You Glad" ... there are things on the mono that are different. Multi-tracks were changed after the fact in some cases, things were added on mixdown, etc ...

Another amazing vid, thanks for these!

Early in the session on LHRW, on the very low-quality Capitol Punishment boot, Howard Roberts playing an archtop (maybe through an amp?) tries to double Carol on the elec bass, be it dano or fender, but ends up abandoning that idea after several takes.  Otherwise, personnel wise, it only works out to one electric and one upright being possible in the end.

Definitely.

Back when I first started really getting into Pet Sounds, in the 90s, my Uncle made me a cassette dub of Pet Sounds (and tacked I'm So Young on the end so I always associate it with PS now...) and one thing that immediately caught my ear was the Here Today bass line.  At the time, I'd listen to it and think it was electric guitar with amp spring reverb.  So not only was I shocked to later find out it was bass up there, but I was also weirded out that there was not spring reverb on the tracking session or the remixes.

So, that is to say, yes, I agree with you that not only did they add effects at mixdown, but they also used spring reverb.  Again, it's good to abandon our preconceived ideas.  I'm not sure what units were available then aside from guitar tanks.  The AKG BX series would not be out quite yet by then.  But in any case, we have to believe that they were using chambers, plates, and springs -- not only live, but at mixdown.

The Fisher SpaceXpander was one that I know for a fact was used in some studios. I believe there was also a Fairchild spring unit. But I would suspect studios would have custom made them too.

Fairchild 658:

https://reverb.com/item/32719367-fairchild-model-658-reverbertron-dynamic-spring-reverb-system-38910?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_fGXmq6v6QIVQgPnCh0c2w2SEAQYASABEgKqu_D_BwE&merchant_id=112143084&pla=1&utm_campaign=6481936488&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google

Those are both really cool units.

A lot of it was supply and demand. Jimmy Bond got into film/TV/soundtrack work as well as arranging (and playing) for other artists throughout the 60's - so as his demand and work in those other areas increased his availability to be on-call for Brian (and others) decreased. And prior to that, he was well-known in jazz circles as one of the better upright players especially after he migrated to the West Coast in the late 50's/early 60's when "West Coast Jazz" was at its peak. For awhile in LA there were only a few on-call upright bassists as we've discussed before, and Lyle even mentioned how much work he got after being known as an upright bassist who could cut it on sessions in LA, in his Musicians HOF interview.

So he was busy with other artists and pursuits, and as mentioned Lyle Ritz by a certain time had become Brian's go-to standup bass player anyway after Jimmy perhaps became less available to book.

As a musician Jimmy himself didn't get out of music totally until the 70's and after, when he began rehabbing properties and selling high-end real estate, and also became a preacher.

Quite a guy and quite a musician. But he remained active throughout the 60's, just not as active with the BB's sessions.

I didn't know he became a preacher!

Very interesting stuff, thanks!

Jimmy Bond is on more of the late '60s/early '70s Beach Boys records than you might think...from Friends, he's on the title track and the outtake "Our Happy Home". From 20/20, he's on "Be With Me" and "I Went To Sleep" (as well as "Cabinessence", cut two years earlier). From Sunflower, he's on "Deirdre", "It's About Time", "All I Wanna Do", and "Forever". He's also on "Break Away", "Celebrate The News", and "Loop de Loop". And years later, he turns up as part of the string section on Pacific Ocean Blue!

Finally, after years of reading about Danelectro basses - mainly on this board - I know how they look like!  :-D
I knew that picture of Elvis but didn't know it was a Danelectro he was playing. After getting an idea of it's sound through this video I now believe that the intro to 1960s "Elvis is back" album's "Like a baby" is played by a Danelectro. The sound seems to line up with what you showed in the video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkIx9TLjNZo

There’s a double bass in It’s About Time? I learn something new every day on this board.

Good call, and then it goes on to play tic-tac with the string bass!

The Danelectro 6-string bass sound we're discussing was practically invented in Nashville - According to Harold Bradley, both he and Hank Garland bought the first 2 Danelectro baritone/6-string bass guitars that came to Nashville in the mid-50's. The producers back then would call it "tic-tac bass" or "tic-tock bass" when they'd double an upright bass with the 6-string muted.

That sound is literally a defining sound of records made in Nashville in the mid to late 50's, it's all over the big hits...no coincidence that also all over that incredible run of hits are also guitarists Hank Garland and Harold Bradley! Often if one of them was on regular guitar, the other would be on Danelectro or "tic-tac". Other producers called it "dead string" guitar...same effect, same recipe.

So yes, what you hear on those tracks Elvis cut in Nashville both immediately before he went into the army and immediately after he got out - featuring Hank Garland, Floyd Cramer, and the other Nashville A-Team session cats - is a Danelectro baritone/6-string bass/tic-tac bass.

Interesting side note that doesn't get mentioned as much related to Hank Garland:

He had an endorsement deal with Gibson, and with Gibson being close to all the action, Hank had a working relationship with the factory and designers who he'd give ideas and feedback to almost instantly after coming up with ideas for features and designs, or feedback on road-testing a new Gibson. Hank and Billy Byrd got their signature "Byrdland" into the Gibson model line this way.

But what is lesser known is how Hank was also involved with - and owned - a prototype of the Gibson EB6 6-string bass, which was Gibson's answer to the Danelectro model that was being used all over Nashville's hit records as I mentioned earlier. It was built around the Gibson ES-345 body design and had similar features like PAF pickups...and this also lines up because one of Hank's main go-to guitars, and one which he played on and can be heard all over his tracks with Elvis, was a prototype of what would become the Gibson ES-345.

So Hank Garland had and was actively playing a Gibson version of the Danelectro 6-string bass, and this Gibson EB6 is the one heard on Elvis' records like "I Got Stung" and "Stuck On You".

Gibson wanted their own entry into the 6-string bass market, which in Nashville was *booming* in the late 50's before it even got to Los Angeles' studios in the 60's, and they had one of their main endorsers in that area and one of the busiest and best guitarists in Nashville to road-test their prototypes and get instant feedback from Hank.

So it's nearly impossible to tell without documentation, but a lot of what you hear on those Elvis records up to 1961 and Hank's accident was likely Hank's Gibson prototype rather than the Danelectro, although Hank owned and used both instruments. And on at least one of those famous Elvis Nashville cuts, Little Sister, Hank borrowed a Fender Jazzmaster from Harold Bradley (or in another version Bradley says it was his Fender Strat) to get a more twangy and piercing sound on the solo after his Gibson wasn't making the cut.

So when you hear that sound on Elvis' records from the Nashville sessions and that era of Elvis in general, consider it's more than likely Hank Garland playing tic-tac bass on either that original Danelectro he and Bradley bought in the mid-50's when they were literally brand new to Nashville, or Hank's Gibson prototype EB6 built on the ES-345 body shape.

Oh...for the musicians, the EB6 had a *metal* wraparound bridge design even on the 1958-ish prototype which could be an indication that even when the Danelectros were only a few years old, that wooden bridge design was something the regular, full-time pros like Hank did not prefer.

EDIT to add: Hank's prototype also had an adjustable felt piece under the strings, near the bridge, which could be raised in order to mute the strings for that signature muted sound on the tic-tac. Fender later incorporated this feature too as a flip-up mute near their bridges on certain models. So the Gibson version Hank played had some features that clearly came from a working player who used such an instrument and asked for these features. But this was on a prototype in 1958...

Just as a comparison to the BB's sessions of the mid-60's and what Elvis was cutting in Nashville a few years earlier, this is a session tape of Elvis and the Nashville cats recording "His Latest Flame" in 1961. If you listen up to 5:30 or so, you hear them working out the tune on multiple takes, but then starting around 5:30 you'll hear Hank Garland start playing the Danelectro/Gibson EB6 (anyone's guess) "tic tac bass" part, and you can hear where and how the instrument sat in the full arrangement and mix of that hit song as soon as Hank started playing the part. You get to hear, via this one session out of many Nashville sessions during this era, how the "tic-tac bass" sounded in the context of these hit records before and after it was added.

Here's the track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3B5ysbInu0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3B5ysbInu0)

For reference:

The EB-6 actually owned by Hank Garland

(https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--Inr06u5F--/f_auto,t_large/v1581874836/s9ioqinbsxyzhtwt05dm.jpg)

Here's some more info about the instrument.
https://cartervintage.com/products/gibson-eb-6-1960 (https://cartervintage.com/products/gibson-eb-6-1960)

Duane Eddy might have encountered the EB-6 because his signature six-string bass is more like it than a Dano or Fender VI:

https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/build/bass/g6120tb-de-duane-eddy-6-string-bass/2406264806 (https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/build/bass/g6120tb-de-duane-eddy-6-string-bass/2406264806)

Great infos, guys! Thanks!
I always loved that percussive sound of what I now know is the Danelectro/Gibson EB 6. I never knew how they would get that sound out of a regular guitar. Now I understand, they didn't.  ;D Also I of course knew the phrase "tic-tac-bass" but never could really make much sense out of it.

Yes - There was a major sale listing a few months ago for Hank's guitar collection, through his estate, which had his key guitars that had been stored and mostly unseen for decades...it was February and kind of got lost in the shuffle, but Hank's prototype EB6 was listed as part of that sale. Very, very, very cool and amazing lot of guitars!

I'm sure Duane had his own specs when it came to his later signature model, but Duane's *original* baritone was a Danelectro, and it's that signature sound he got on one of his best records, "Because They're Young" - just classic 6-string bass lead right up front in the mix atop a full string orchestra! It's mentioned in his interview with Premier Guitar:

Are some of the songs played on a baritone or 6-string bass?
They were. In ’59, I discovered a Danelectro 6-string bass, which is an octave lower than a regular guitar. I thought, “This was made for me.” I used it on one of my bigger hits called “Because They’re Young.” On my third album, I used 6-string bass on all the songs except two.

What amp were you playing through onstage?
We all had these Magnatones with two 12" Jensens. They were about the best on the market at the time, unless you went for a really expensive amp, like the Standels that Chet used.

Did you ever use a Fender amp?
The Magnatone was bigger—65 watts or something. These two local guys would boost it up over 100 watts through a single JBL 15" speaker and a tweeter. They would cover the amp with Naugahyde and a white grille cloth and charge us $100. That’s where my sound came from. It wouldn’t break up no matter how hard you hit it. I compared it to a Standel at Manny’s Music in New York one time. I would hit the Standel real hard with a note, or turn it up beyond a certain point, and it would break up. I plugged back into mine and turned it up even louder and it would not break up. I realized I had the best amp in the world.

What gauge strings were you using at that time?
Medium gauge.

Were they flatwound or roundwound?
Roundwound.

I'd have to say that in terms of hearing the baritone or 6-string bass in that kind of context, both Duane's "Because They're Young" and especially (since it's one of my favorite records of all time that sometimes makes my cry when I hear it...) "The Lonely Surfer" by Jack Nitzsche pretty much nailed and defined the sound of a baritone/6-string lead part playing the melody on a fully orchestrated record. Simply amazing, both of those tracks...and it was Bill Pitman playing lead with his Danelectro on Lonely Surfer!

Not to muddy the waters more, but there are likely a good number of post-1961 sessions (more likely LA) to feature the Fender Bass VI too. Probably significantly less often, as the Fender was a fairly expensive instrument compared to the cheaper Danelectro.

Case in point (you don't go on the Smothers Brothers with a Dano!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU

Also want to take a minute to recognize Lee Hazlewood, a man who blended the West Coast and Nashville sounds into one!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlhJx_b3g8A

They were definitely around -- we've discussed a few times how, indeed, muddy the waters are for the Fender VI.  Because as you say, more expensive and with a potentially iffy set-up, would a pro choose it over a Dano?  I'm sure Fender gave some to their affiliates, of course.  In fact, a few months ago, somewhere, we were speculating whether the Beach Boys might have just used a Fender VI for their self-contained uses of Six-string bass because of their connection to Fender.  I wonder if Al would remember.  

Oh, yeah -- and now we're getting way off but it's my topic: Have you friends seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDW2K4zxkXw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDW2K4zxkXw)

Sadly it's not in an LA studio, but it is some great colour footage of some of our fave dudes.

yep been watching that for years! Love and Other Crimes is one of my all-time favorite records by anyone.

Also the Nancy Sinatra TV special from '68 or so has a studio session w/ Lee Hazlewood, Billy Strange, and Frank Sinatra. Not sure if that's on Youtube. Also looks to be somewhat staged but might be a real session.

found it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL50Yoi0V_0

Here's a little more lesser-known info on the origins of the Bass VI. There was definitely someone playing one who was very visible on weekly TV at the time - The late, great Neil LeVang through his work as guitarist on the Lawrence Welk show after Buddy Merrill left, then shared guitar duties with Neil when he came back in the mid-60's. I remember reaching out to C-Man when Neil passed away, as he was and is one of my favorite guitarists of all time, and Neil also played on at least one later Beach Boys session...

So Neil was directly involved with Leo Fender and specific to the Bass VI, Neil helped design an original prototype design which was more of a Telecaster shape, then later with Leo had a role in what became the offset-body Bass VI we all know. I did not know that until reading this interview with Neil which I'll post. Both Neil and Buddy Merrill would be seen and heard playing the new Bass VI on the Welk show during the 60's.

But keep in mind how the Welk weekly program showcased quite a few of the "new" Fender designs, from Buddy's original Strat in the 50's to the various new models like the Jazzmaster and Bass VI which Neil would play every week on TV. What gets written out of the so-called rock history is how many kids watching Welk with their parents were inspired to buy these new Fender products when they were new as much from watching Neil and Buddy Merrill on Welk as they were seeing, say, Buddy Holly playing his Strat on Sullivan.

It just doesn't get written as much because it's not as cool to say, but I've never been cool as much as psyched about seeing and hearing great players playing awesome guitars.  :)

Here's the interview with Neil with a lot of cool information and an aside from Seymour Duncan...

https://www.vintageguitar.com/20125/neil-levang/ (https://www.vintageguitar.com/20125/neil-levang/)

Anyone interested in great guitar playing, check out Neil LeVang's work.

Well yes - it's the only bass on the basic track. But, there's also an electric bass overdubbed, according to the track sheet. But that part where everything drops out except for the bass and Mike's bass vocal - that sounds to me like just upright bass.

That's great--I'd not seen that,I don't think.  Staged or not, it's real enough.  Great shots of Western 1 full of great people.

Off topic, but Jan Berry used the Dano 6-string bass a lot for Jan & Dean sessions, usually played by Bill Pitman.

The Dano parts were written in the treble clef, as opposed to bass clef, and they usually doubled the main bass line, note for note.

Jan's original music scores and charts from the '60s still exist. All of the bass lines for his sessions were written out, exactly as you hear them on the records.

Ooh, hey Mark -- I have been hoping you'd visit because I actually have some questions for you along this line:

One, when Jan wrote for Dano was the part labelled "Danelectro 6-string Bass" or "6-string Bass" or "dano" or what?

And also - slightly more off topic but again, it's my topic:  When he wrote for 12-string electric guitar did he differentiate between Bellzouki and generic 12-string?  I know you told me once that AACSCBRTA specifically calls for Bellzouki; was that an isolated incident or did he ever write for generic electric 12-string?

Thanks!!!

Man this thread is fascinating . I’m learning a lot and it’s making me want to go back and listen with a different ear, so to speak

aeijtzsche,

“Anaheim” example . . .

“ANAHEIM, AZUSA” (1964)

Three guitar parts:

Guitar I — Features chords with rhythm slashes when needed, when certain combinations of quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes were required. Certain lead licks are also written in pitch notation.

Guitar II — Dano Bellzouki 12-String. This is also a combination lead and rhythm part, but not the same as Guitar I. The lead licks are written in pitch notation, supplemented by rhythm slashes. Obviously, the chord progressions are the same on each guitar chart.

Guitar III — Labeled as “Bass Guitar.” Written in the treble clef, entirely in pitch notation. This was the Dano Six-String, which doubled the bass line.


Two Bass Parts:

Written in the bass clef, entirely in pitch notation. The parts were String Bass and Fender Bass. The two bass players read from the same chart. They played in unison except where the notes indicated an octave. When octaves were required, the Fender played the higher notes. Jan’s instructions on the score and charts were, “Fender Take Top Notes” and “Fender – Top Notes.”

The above example is easily at hand. Without going back and looking, I recall that Jan’s bass guitar charts are labeled in various ways. For example, “Dano,” “Bass Guitar,” and “6-String.” And sometimes just “Guitar III” or “Guitar 3.” The third guitar part is usually a dead giveaway, regardless of labeling, because it doubles the bass line in pitch notation.

“Guitar II” was not always Bellzouki, of course, which Jan used sparingly.

But he did like 12-String guitar in general, and he used it a lot in 1965. For example, the guitar opening to the hit single “I Found a Girl” is 12-String, played by P. F. Sloan.

The opening of Jan’s cover of “Norwegian Wood” (signature riff), which he began recording in late ’65, is also 12-String, played by Don Peake.

This is fascinating - I had not known about any of this. I’m a mega fan of PF Sloan however and have read his book too ... while Jan & Dean’s version of “I Found A Girl” is one of their greatest cuts IMO, I do prefer the PF Sloan version! But that’s the case with most of his songs for me.

PF did claim that he sang some major parts on many Jan & Dean records. Is this validated?

P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri were Screen Gems songwriters hired by Lou Adler, Jan & Dean’s manager and head of the West Coast Office of Screen Gems. They later followed Adler to Dunhill Productions and Trousdale Music.

Jan Berry was signed to Screen Gems, with three separate contracts as an artist, songwriter, and record producer.

Sloan and Barri began singing harmonies for Jan & Dean in 1964 while still at Screen Gems, after the Matadors—who sang harmonies on the Surf City and Drag City LPs—went their separate way.

Jan Berry tapped Sloan to sing the falsetto lead on several well-known Jan & Dean tracks, including “The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena),” “Anaheim, Azusa,” “Sidewalk Surfin’,” “Hey Little Freshman,” and “Freeway Flyer.”

Thanks, Mark -- that's helpful.

What I'm after in particular is to get a sense of how people, arrangers, producers, etc, thought about these instruments.  The Bellzouki, for example--when it essentially was the only commercially available electric 12-string guitar out there, did that carry over to when more of those became available so that arrangers were still calling for the Bellzouki as a sort of catch-all term for electric 12?  And as such, on the sort of negative side of that, did people like Jan consider the Bellzouki unique enough that it could not have a substitute 12-string stand in for it on a session.

Also, who played Bellzouki on Anaheim?

Sweet - thanks for that quick and informative response. Sounds like Sloan was well within his rights to note his contributions.

I corresponded a lot with Sloan over the years. He was always good to me. His contributions to Jan & Dean are indelible. But in terms of bragging, he went too far in his memoir. For example, he claimed that Dean never sang falsetto again after Sloan did, and that simply was not true.

I'm not sure why Sloan felt the need to inflate and embellish his accomplishments, but I strongly suspect it was rooted in his bitter conflict with Lou Adler.

Looking at the session contract, we can narrow it down.

Bass — Jimmy Bond, Lyle Ritz

Keyboards — Leon Russell (tack piano, and later harpsichord)

Drums — Earl Palmer, Hal Blaine (playing in tandem, in unison)

Guitars — Glen Campbell, Billy Strange, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Pitman


Looking at the guitar players . . .

Bill Pitman played Dano . . . reading Guitar III.

Glen Campbell could not read music, so he likely played chords, looking at Guitar I . . . That's not to say Campbell could not rip a lead solo with the best of them. He could. But these parts were specific.

That leaves Billy Strange and Tommy Tedesco. It's been a while since I listened to the session tape, but both of these guys were capable of doing it. It was one of these two, reading Guitar II. And the one who did not play Bellzouki would have read from either Guitar I or Guitar !!, as both charts had the chord progressions.

Great, thank you.  It's really helpful to get outside the Brian Wilson session routine.  It's also extraordinarily useful that you have the parts and the scores for this stuff.  Wish Brian used a copyist and kept his charts...

Mark (or anybody else), have you ever heard of any other caches of preserved scores, charts, and parts from the LA pop music scene?  That kind of thing would be...of inestimable value to my research.

That’s fair. I sensed a bit of that in some of the stories He’s told (the phone call from Brian Wilson to ask for advice on “Dont Worry Baby”, etc). He was a true original and I suspect maybe it was due to him getting slighted over the years. Also I think some of these guys believe their stories over time.

I’m not a Beach Boys expert, but I’m not sure the kinds of music scores and charts Jan created existed for the Beach Boys. It wasn’t just a matter of having a copyist.

In Jan’s case, he wrote the music scores himself—a large master document featuring bar-by-bar chords and parts for all instruments, stacked on top of one another. And then a copyist would take that score, and all of its instructions, and generate the individual charts for the musicians.

Sometimes Jan hired the best copyists in the Hollywood studio system, but sometimes he served as his own copyist. And when he did the latter, he got paid for it through the union. Just as he was paid separately though the union for his music arrangements alone (notes on paper).

And not everything was specific. The musicians often added their own tweaks just from the chord progressions.

Obviously, if a Beach Boys session featured, strings, etc., there were charts for those. But who created them, and what was the source? String parts were three-fold: violin, viola, and cello. Who conceived the individual lines and wrote them out?

I would love to learn more about Brian Wilson’s dynamic with the Wrecking Crew, beyond chord charts. For example, how much did he dictate to the musicians in terms of specific parts, and how much came from the musicians themselves?

I’ve heard the session tape of the opening to “California Girls” (for example). What are the musicians looking at during that opening?

Endlessly fascinating.

Well, in the case of rhythm section type players and horns, Brian literally sang them their part and they took dictation onto a piece of staff paper.  There are conflicting reports about Brian ever providing his own charts.  These reports range from "he never did" to "he did but they were pretty bad and we had to fix them to make them readable."

As for strings, we are conjecturing that Brian either had a ghost arranger for some of the earlier sessions, or a lot of help--and eventually may have done the same thing here he'd sing the parts to Sid Sharp and he would make up parts for the string players.  Sharpe never got a copyist payout from the union though.

But in any case, it seems likely that people just wadded up their rough charts at the end of a session and chucked 'em.

.

The notes, no, no problem -- I'm just thinking that, since Brian didn't have as much access to being around orchestral strings as he did other instruments, he may have needed some guidance as to the actual capabilities and ranges of stringed instruments.  A guitar, he was around those all the time.  Drums, he could have Hal show him, or ask Steve Douglas about a wind part.  But at some point Brian had to learn that a cello goes down to C2, a viola to C3, and that a violin in fact overlaps with these other instruments but they all have their own characteristic.

But to be fair, it's not like any of Brian's string writing is especially idiomatic or exciting.

Mark - another question while you are here:

Any indication from the contracts who played harmonica on Little Old Lady?  Believe it or not, it's pretty important information to me!

The assumption is Tommy Morgan but I've never seen it officially documented.

Yeah, I've never seen it documented, but some of the musicians remember it being Tommy. I can document him playing on the instrumental "Skateboarding."

Is it possible the harmonica solo there is two harmonica players (or one overdubbed?). There's a spot at the end of the phrases where it sounds like one of the harmonicas is not quite bending to the same pitch as the other one -- Maybe Tommy (a chromatic player) and somebody else playing diatonic doubled the line???

I've been transcribing Help Me Ronda, which has me thinking hard about harmonicas, which is why I'm so interested in this at the moment.

Mark, does a written part exist for the harmonica solo?

Just adding a bit onto this regarding Glen and what he played in general, it ties in to the description of this session for a lot of what Glen played overall in the 60's.

Glen could read the basics, it's not that he was musically illiterate as some descriptions from the past may lead non-musicians to believe, but his skill was not reading notes on the staff. Amazingly a lot of well-known session guitarists self-admit that reading traditional notation for guitar was their weakness, while other guys were specialists at it.

Glen had the innate ability to come up with a hook or a key riff in his head and deliver it on the spot during a session. That was his calling card, and besides having an amazing touch and feel for the guitar, that was why he was so in demand. A lot of the hooks and solos he played were not written or created before he sat down at the session to play the song, and a lot of them could not have been written by a traditional arranger unless it was a skeleton of an idea that Glen would flesh out.

The more I read and heard his fellow players talk about what Glen could do, the more respect I had for him. I think it was Jimmy Bond who said "Glen could do things no one else could do", and that about summed it up.

So Glen would and could read a chord or form chart, with appropriate rhythmic "hits" and rests the whole band would need to hit together, and if needed he would add solo fills or add a hook even, besides playing the chords. And if it were a specific part, all Glen would need to do is hear it, and he'd be able to play it without having to read ledger lines and all that b.s. lol

The way Jan had the guitars organized above is pretty much how those guys did sessions across the board. Players like Tommy, Bob Bain, Neil LeVang Billy Pitman, Carol Kaye, etc were "readers" for specific parts...which is why they also got very busy working in the film industry which was mostly reading specific notation. The other group was the musicians who played more by ear...who knew the theory and all the chords, but whose strengths were more creating and developing parts on the fly versus specifically notated parts.

Glen was the guy who could read through charts but not read what they called "fly sh*t" back in the day. I know some other guitarists would get calls for a date, and depending on who the arranger or composer was booking the date, they'd say if it's a date reading "fly sh*t", call Tommy.  ;D  So Glen and the others were all called to fill specific roles, in the case of Jan who notated everything he needed a "reader" like Tommy and he also needed a guy like Glen who could add a hot lick or fill or solo if needed...parts that the arrangers/composers themselves perhaps could not have envisioned or written.

And Glen had his magical capo too...which allowed him to do things no one else was doing.  :)


One studio story which I'm sure Mark has heard, as told by Glen, and worth repeating. I think it's even on video somewhere. Paraphrased:

Glen and Tommy were doing a Jan Berry date. Jan walked around placing all the musicians' parts on the music stands. They go to run down the song, and Tommy starts playing this awful sounding part, totally wrong in the song. Jan comes over and asks what's wrong, Tommy says to Jan: I played exactly what you gave me. Jan looks at the chart on the stand...and sees he had put Tommy's chart on the stand upside down. And Tommy played it anyway, backwards and upside down! Glen eventually asked Tommy if what he just did was all bullshit, reading and playing the part upside down. Tommy then proceeded to repeat exactly what he did with the chart upside down, the same way he had played it the first time as part of his joke on Jan.

Now that's *scary*.... :lol

For the studio version, the harmonica part is not in the score or charts. There was originally another vocal verse there, instead of an instrumental break. That alternate version still exists, and then Jan changed it to the harmonica break.

In their live version, the Beach Boys did the extra verse.

If there was ever a chart for the harmonica parts, I’ve never seen it. Could have been lost or stolen, if it ever existed. It’s possible the parts could have been doubled.

The horn parts for the studio version are tenor sax, trumpet, flugelhorn, and French horn.

In Jan’s arrangement for the live version, the instrumental break is played by horns.

Glen was a great guitarist. No doubt about it.

In case anybody needed reminding:

Glen at his best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fqN4zgqf78 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fqN4zgqf78)