Did Brian Know How To Play Guitar?

[Da Doo Ron Ron]

Did Brian know how to play guitar in the '60s? If so, did he ever write a song on one? I've never ever seen him play one. I saw what looked like a publicity shot of him holding an acoustic guitar sometime in the '00s.

If he doesn't know how why do you think he never tried to learn? Did he feel being able to write on piano was good enough and was just more interested in writing?

I know he taught himself bass guitar well enough to play live.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

He can play guitar.  He is attested to being the guitarist on "After the Game," the Survivors B-side, and played guitar on a few other things over the years.  Of course, with the guitar and bass sharing the same tuning system, it's not that hard to learn the basics of both.  I can't imagine him sitting around strumming aimlessly, but he knew enough to do what he sort of wanted to do to to add to his own songs when it was necessary.

[joe_blow]

https://youtu.be/_eAfe4RS97E?t=1186

[UEF]

https://youtu.be/_eAfe4RS97E?t=1186

That F chord is the only evidence I’ve seen of him playing one

[Robbie Mac]

https://youtu.be/_eAfe4RS97E?t=1186

That F chord is the only evidence I’ve seen of him playing one

Don’t forget those awesome Elvis moves!

[maggie]

Did Brian know how to play guitar in the '60s? If so, did he ever write a song on one? I've never ever seen him play one. I saw what looked like a publicity shot of him holding an acoustic guitar sometime in the '00s.

If he doesn't know how why do you think he never tried to learn? Did he feel being able to write on piano was good enough and was just more interested in writing?

I know he taught himself bass guitar well enough to play live.

As Joshilyn notes, he played guitar on "After the Game" (not sure if rhythm or lead or both). He also played the lead guitar parts on "Where Is She?" apparently.

So he clearly knew the instrument reasonably well.

It is true that he seldom played guitar with the Beach Boys but it was probably because there was no need to. Carl and Dave were much more practiced and confident on the instrument. Mike obviously made the same kind of calculus at the time: I think he was capable of playing some chords on a piano or guitar but there was no need for either in the band, and he was the only one with a saxophone (which in the early '60s was as important an accoutrement for rock and roll as guitar).

Brian was obviously much more confident on piano or organ and when Al rejoined, he didn't play much bass in the studio anymore either.

The keys in which the band's songs were performed would suggest that very few of them were written on guitar (and the band rarely used capos). One possible candidate for being written on guitar is "Girl Don't Tell Me." "All I Wanna Do" was apparently also conceived for guitar, but that doesn't mean it was written on one.

[Da Doo Ron Ron]

The keys in which the band's songs were performed would suggest that very few of them were written on guitar (and the band rarely used capos). One possible candidate for being written on guitar is "Girl Don't Tell Me." "All I Wanna Do" was apparently also conceived for guitar, but that doesn't mean it was written on one.

Could you elaborate what you mean by this.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

The keys in which the band's songs were performed would suggest that very few of them were written on guitar (and the band rarely used capos). One possible candidate for being written on guitar is "Girl Don't Tell Me." "All I Wanna Do" was apparently also conceived for guitar, but that doesn't mean it was written on one.

Could you elaborate what you mean by this.

Assuming you're asking about the keys / instrument thing, if you take a cross section of Beach Boys songs, you'll find that a surprising number of them are in keys like E-flat major, B-flat major, A-flat major, D-flat major, etc.  Flat keys.  This makes a lot of sense because Brian was the one supplying the chords most of the time, and writing at the piano, as he did, these keys have some black keys in them.  Some of the chords fit really nicely under the hand, and are really easy to switch back and forth between chord shapes because you can kind of pivot on a set black key and camp out and not have to move much.

But the guitar does not have this feature, and flat keys can be difficult for novice guitarists because they generally allow no strings to be allowed to played open, so the guitarist has to press down all the strings (or avoid some of them) to form the chords, which takes a little more hand strength and coördination.  Plus, regardless of difficulty, the guitar shines as a chordal instrument when allowed to ring out with the nice open strings sending out rich overtones, which guitarists instinctively exploit.

Girl Don't Tell Me is a very "Guitarey" song with open chords and full-on strumming.  An oddly rare feature for this band!

[maggie]

What Joshilyn said. I think it's significant that Carl's songs are almost all in easy keys on the guitar -- D, G, and such. Whereas Brian tends to favor flat keys, which are easy on piano. Songwriting tends to come out of noodling and it's natural to noodle in easy keys.

I mentioned capos because there's no sign that (m)any BBs songs were written on a guitar but transposed for vocal purposes. Although the keys sometimes did change over the years.

And of course sometimes a song will start In a familiar key for guitar but quickly modulate. "Don't Worry Baby" starts in E but moves up a tone for the chorus to F#, "Surfer Girl" starts in D but moves up to Eb, and "Warmth of the Sun" starts in C but keeps moving around to various remote keys. None of those qualities are indicative of being composed on guitar, but they're also quite formally explicable, so who knows.

Another consideration early on was that the songs had to be in keys that were workable for Mike's horn. D, G, and E are fiendish for a beginner saxophonist.

[c-man]

...I think it's significant that Carl's songs are almost all in easy keys on the guitar -- D, G, and such...

Interestingly, Carl (a guitarist) apparently wrote a lot on the piano: LONG PROMISED ROAD, FEEL FLOWS, ALL THIS IS THAT and THE TRADER are all songs which seem to have been written on piano, and for which he played electric piano while performing them onstage. ANGEL COME HOME, on the other hand, was definitely written on guitar, using a modal tuning (and a capo!). Likewise, he seemingly wrote all (or most) of the songs on his solo albums on guitar. And, interestingly, he stated that his songs on the 1985 BBs album were written on guitar, but transposed for keyboard (synths being the dominant instrument on those tracks, as it is for the whole album).

[sloopjohnb72]

Brian has explained that Girl Don't Tell Me was one of the few songs he didn't write on a keyboard- but he didn't write it on a guitar either! He came up with the melody just on his own, and later arranged and taught the tune from a piano. That song, Surfer Girl, and Be True To Your School are the only ones he didn't conceive of at a keyboard, as far as I'm aware.

Brian could play guitar in the same way any bassist could play guitar. All he's ever played on recordings are simple melodies and bass lines. The Honeys' "The Love Of A Boy And A Girl" is a good indicator of what he can do (along with The Survivors' After The Game, American Spring's Tennessee Waltz, and The Beach Boys' Where Is She).

[Rebel]

Didn’t he also play guitar on the unreleased ‘Thank him’?