Cover of The Beatles song "Yes It Is". This song was first released in 1965 as the B-side to "Ticket To Ride". It is however most similar to the song "I Need You" on the Help! album which was in fact recorded on the same day, featuring classical guitar rhythm and destinct volume swell on the lead. Interestingly most sources say that the lead was played on George's Gretsch Tennessean guitar, however considering the clarity of the sound and the week of recording (for the most part John and George where playing strats for the february sessions of the Help! album) I am using a Fender Stratocaster to perform the song. George also originally played the song with a Vox volume pedal, however as i don't own one I am replicating the swells manually with the volume control on my guitar, typically swelling the volume from around 0 all the way to 10 in the particular rhythm required. I am pretty certain like in the song "I Need You" there is also plate reverb added to the lead guitar, I replicated this with my Vox DelayLab using the analogue setting on regular with a speed of about 50.

The song starts with George swelling a B note, Paul also plays B on the bass giving a sense of a V chord before the start of the song implying a perfect cadence. Then we enter with the two basic lead parts (backing and overdub) playing in unison to start with apart from the G# harmonic which is strangely played in the backing part and not the overdub, evident as it is panned to the right (the overdub is panned centre and the rhythm is panned left), this is also why the chord swells start on an Amaj7 (chord IV) and not an E (chord I). After the word "tonight" george in the overdub part plays E, B, E (octave) all on harmonics, which really sets in the song's ambiguous nature, unusual in comparison to any prior Beatles songs. Perhaps the next most unusual thing of note is the stray fretted B note which comes on the first entry into the middle section whilst an E9 chord is being played, perhaps an earlier part that was mistakenly left in? The song ends on the fretted notes: D#, B, G#, C# again very ambiguos and strange as it creates dissonance with the final E chord. There are also four occasions where George misses a chord on the backing track, which I've incorporated into my performance.

John keeps the rhythm solid throughout, with the same struming pattern of down,down,up,down,up,down,down,down throughout. John in general also has a tendancy to come off the chord on the final strum resulting in basically a G6 chord, this can also be heard throughout.

The studio recording of the song (like most of the Help! album sessions) is slightly flat by about 20 cents. I pitch corrected the track and played it at concert pitch so i didn't have to de tune my guitars, I then flattened it back down to get the correct sound. The Beatles originally would have also played it at concert pitch as the flattness comes from the tape system they where recording on and not them roughly tuning their guitars. I recorded the guitars with a TASCAM DR-40 handheld digital recorder. For acoustic guitars i record them around 1 foot away from the soundhole. For electric guitars i sit the recorder right next to the amplifier.

Original Instruments And Equipment Used:

1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster
1964 Ramirez A-1 Segovia
Vox AC50
Vox Volume Pedal

Performance Instruments And Equipment Used:

2009 Classic Series 70's Reissue Fender Stratocaster
Manuel Rodriguez Model B
Vox Pathfinder 10
Vox DelayLab

Set Up Info:

Stratocaster is set up with Fender 3250 Super Bullet strings (.009-.042 gauge)
Manuel Rodriguez is set up with D'Addario Pro Arte EXP45 strings (.028-.044 gauge)