Don't worry about it..unless you are going "Whole Hog", in that case get a lefty and play it lefty. --And get a mop top! Invalid Link Removed
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Can you play Beatles without a Hofner?
- Thread starter rickenhawk
- Start date
Yes. Buy a Jay Turser clone Beatle bass for $200, put some Labella Deep Talkin' Flats on it. It will sound EXACTLY the same as the high-dollar Hofner, and have better fit and finish than the Ignition or Contemporary Series.
Are ya'll a Beatles Tribute band? If so, be authentic and get a Beatle Bass or Ric. If not, play what you want. My opinion and experience......those Beatle basses are horrible. Others like them though.
Paul McCartney played Beatles without a Hofner, and so can you.
Me too. I have a hard enough time dealing with all of the other aspects of playing bass that need to be addressed. I can’t even imagine learning to play left-handed.
My Rogue VB100-L sounds more like McCartney than I do. Bought used for $150 and refurbed. Another $40 for laBellas.
Looking at the Jay Turser, its clear they come off exactly the same assembly line.
Can you play Beatles without a Hofner?
Yes.
Another string and a lot more hair than the Beatles I remember.
For what it’s worth… I’ve got a Beatles gig in July and the band leader specifically asked me to play my 5 string Spector and he’s been doing this gig for 20 years. The dude I’m replacing used a Lakland. So unless you’re doing the whole costume thing then I think it’s more important to put your energy into playing as close to note for note as possible. People love the music and have so many memories attached to those songs. They know what the tune is supposed to sound like and that’s what they’re going to react to. That’s just my 2 cents tho’ 
Can you play Beatles without a Hofner?
Yes.
Seems like such an off the Wal choice for someone who's so well known for playing a Hofner ....
If you like the aesthetic and the sound of the Höfner, and you have the $$ or $$$ hanging around to buy one, go for it. However, you don't need to have a Höfner to play Beatles tunes. I've played Beatles songs with a Jazz Bass since 1966 when I bought my '65 Jazz (high school), and it worked just fine. Although it does have a distinctive sound, you can come close to that with a lot of basses. You'll notice that a LOT of the parts he plays he plays up around the 7th fret...a LOT!
The aesthetic of playing it is more important than the sound for many audiences because that Höfner violin bass that Paul played was so visually different than the typical Fender P-bass or Jazz bass that most bands were using back in 1964. So it became known as the "Beatle Bass". He's been quoted as saying that he bought that bass because the Fender basses were too expensive in England for him to buy one. And of course, he eventually did get a Jazz bass and used it on some of the White album recordings as well as at least some of the Get Back and Let it Be albums.
Last October, my wife and I went on an Alaska cruise as a gift from our three kids for our 50th wedding anniversary. One of the events they had going there was a Beatles Tribute group on board that did shows in a "Liverpool Cavern" type of setting. They were excellent and played different eras dressed in what the Beatles wore during those era's. The bass player of this tribute group also had a Rickenbacker besides his Höfner that he'd play too. As Part of their setup they not only had a couple of Vox AC 30's for the guitars, they also had a Vox T60 for the bass. After their Sgt. Pepper's show I walked up to the stage for a closer look at their set-up. I asked the bass player if he was actually using that Vox bass amp. He smiled and said, " no, it's just for show. I'm not even sure it works. They were very tempermental. I've got a 115 combo behind it in the shadows of the stage I'm that I'm actually playing through."
He only had the Vox bass amp up there as a prop because Vox were the only amps that the Beatles used then through an arrangement they made with Vox when they first started getting popular. So the Höfner bass will help you sell the look pretty well, but other basses will work fine for playing the songs.
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Had to laugh because I actually bought a "Beatle Wig" in 1964 and I did pay $4.98 for it, which was pretty expensive back then. A local store got in a couple of shipments of them. You had to brush it a lot to get it into a shape that would actually look like a Beatle's haircut. You have to remember that, back in the early 60's, no one had long hair. Crew-cuts, flat-tops, and all around just short hair you could part on one side were the norm. Hair didn't even touch your ears let alone cover them.
I actually probably still have that around somewhere in my garage. I still have some 45's from back then tooincluding "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and a number of others.
Play whatever you want to play. There is nothing magical about any brand.
