The Marvelous Multi-Talented Paul McCartney

■ Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney is a world famous former member of the band the Beatles, Wings, and solo artist.
When you hear the name 'Paul McCartney,' what kind of image do you have of him?
Paul when he played bass and sang with the Beatles? Paul playing acoustic guitar?
Paul playing the piano?
People have a different image of Paul that comes to mind first because he is so incredibly multi-talented. I would like to introduce the greatness of Paul McCartney from various angles.

■ Paul McCartney the bassist

Paul is known for this Hefner violin bass

HOFNER / Ignition Bass L/H SB

Paul McCartney also used Rickenbacker basses when he was in the Beatles and Wings bands.

RICKENBACKER / 4003 Walnut

Here is the performance that stands out the most among his bass playing in my opinion.

The Beatles “Something”

A song from the Beatles era. Included in the album Abbey Road.

The composer was George Harrison, but Paul's bass line is exquisite because it deviates from the usual role of the bass and stands out as a lead instrument, but it never gets in the way of the vocals.
At this time, Paul had an unusual method of recording the bass line after he had finished recording the other instruments.

■ Paul McCartney the Vocalist

Please listen to this song first.

The Beatles “Here, There And Everywhere”.

This is a great ballad with Paul's clear voice from the album Revolver.

Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, “Monkberry Moon Delight”

Included in the album Lamb that was released in 1971.

Paul can sing in a raspy voice like this, which means that he can handle a wide variety of genres.
According to one theory, his range is from A1 to E6 (C6 with falsetto).
In other words, he has the talent to produce about 5 octaves in terms of vocals.

■ Paul McCartney the composer

Paul McCartney, of course, writes his own songs, and at the time of the Beatles' debut, it was rare for a group to write their own songs and sing their own songs.
Such is the case with Paul McCartney, who is listed in the Guinness World Records as the “Most successful composer in the history of popular music.
Like his vocals, the songs he writes are of a wide variety of genres, from rock and pop to classical and experimental music, and the instruments he uses in his compositions vary from time to time, so this diversity is again due in part to his multi-instrumental talent.

Among his many songs, here are a few that I personally find Paul's compositional sense shines through.

Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, “Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey

Included on the album Lamb.

This song is characterized by the fact that it is made up of fragments of several songs strung together, and the ability to put the songs together in a medley format found in this song is still a unique talent of his.
The song won Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement and Best Singing in 1972.

Paul McCartney & Wings “Silly Love Songs”

Included in the album Speed of Sound

Paul, who had written many love songs over the years, was sometimes ridiculed as “only capable of writing ballads,” but he turned the tables with this song, “What's wrong with love songs”?
One of the areas where Paul's compositional sense shines through is in his use of polyphony, a technique in which multiple melodies are played at the same time.
Three patterns of melodies appear alternately, and finally three melodies are sung simultaneously and beautifully in this song.

■ Summary

We have looked at Paul McCartney from various angles, but there are many aspects of him that I have yet to introduce, such as Paul the pianist and Paul the guitarist.
His diverse talents, as well as his long musical career, have resulted in more than 500 songs that he released into the world. It can be both fun and daunting to follow them all.
If you are interested in Paul McCartney but don't know where to start, I hope this column will be helpful to you.

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