Talk:John Lennon's musical instruments

Instrument List Issue Redux

 * 1) I've taken the liberty of re-formatting the mammoth list of instruments and putting them into an actual list. The only problem is: There are zero citations on this list to indicate that John Lennon ever played any one of them. I've added original research and references templates to this section (which I also created).
 * 2) On the Rickenbacker 325 page there was an excess of John Lennon trivia and so I merged all of the relevant Lennon-related content into this article, and added an article issues template to the top of the page.
 * This article requires substantial improvements in referencing before any kind of cleanup can be attempted.  bwmcmaste (talk) 15:28, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

re your edits to John Lennon
I am removing the exhaustive list of instruments added by you to the above article. The article is already very long, and the notability of Lennon as a performer relating to the majority of the list is minimal (Rickenbacher guitars notwithstanding). If you wish to recreate the list as a small article to be linked from the main then please go ahead. LessHeard vanU (talk) 21:31, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No problem. I've answered on your talk page. However, the article looked more complete and accurate with the list of instruments John Lennon played, that was his job - playing musical instruments, so the list of his instruments might be helpful, like in other articles about musicians in Wikipedia. Steve  shelok  honov  21:52, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Re: my edits to list of musical instruments played by John Lennon
This is not trivia.

I provided the list of his instruments to illustrate the fact that John Lennon was a multi-instrumetalist who experimented with variety of sounds and contributed to the uniqueness of many tracks (with The Beatles, and after). His many creative ideas were recorded with introduction of sounds from a variety of his instruments, like bringing his own Mellotron to the Abbey Road Studios for the recording of Starwberry Fields, and many other facts. However, you have full rights to believe that the article size should be imposing a restriction, even on essential facts about a figure of such caliber as John Lennon.

His main job was playing musical instruments. That's why I added the list of instruments played by John Lennon. Steve shelok  honov  16:04, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Multi-instrumentalist
John Lennon was a multi-instrumenatlist. He played various guitars with The Beatles, and during his solo career, most notably the Epiphone Casino and Sheraton models, Rickenbacker, various models of Gibson guitars, and Fender guitars. Lennon also played several other instruments to a professionally acceptable standard. His piano playing was different from that of Paul McCartney's, and according to George Martin, Lennon was using piano mostly for striking chords to support his various ideas for melodies. However, John Lennon composed several songs on the piano. Lennon's jamming on a piano together with Paul McCartney led to creation of their first best-selling hit 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' in 1963. Most famously, Lennon composed his greatest hit "Imagine" (song) on the Steinway in 1971, and the Lennon's piano was bought later by George Michael at an auction for $2 mil. George Michael buys Lennon's piano
 * Who owns the Lennon's Steinway now?

John Lennon's guitar
Lennon's influence continues today with the reissue of his guitar, Gibson J - 160E. Yoko Ono took part in this too, because she was with Lennon when he played the guitar. A limited edition of 750 replicas of Lennon's 1969 guitar made of authentic wood body binding and strap. Lennon's guitar reissue has his signature and Certificate of Authenticity. This may be included in the article, to show that Lennon's musical legacy lives through the musical instrument he played. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.34.80.73 (talk) 23:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

List of instruments
There´s a lot of pages and fan web sites and other stuff who insist in give all the details about brands of the instrumets: if you played lead guitar in a Fender Telecaster or in a Stratocaster, is the same from a technical point of view. The important thing is to list what kind of instruments:


 * Guitars: acoustic and electric (both lead and rhythm). Also, the 12-string acoustic and nylon-string acoustic (spanish guitar).
 * Bass: 6 and 4-string basses (on songs on The Beatles and Let it be albums)
 * Keyboards: electric and acoustic pianos; harmonium and organ (Hammond, Vox and Lowry); mellotron, Moog synth; harpsichord and clavioline. Also clavinet on Mind games album.
 * Percussion: tambourine, maracas, congas, cowbell, handclps and fingersnaps. He, McCartney and Harrison played drums on "Back in the USSR", but is not confirmed if any of the parts from Lennon or Harrison was used.
 * Assorted: harmonica, banjo, kazoo (comb and paper), vocalizations, vocal brass and percussion impresonations; electronic and home made sound effects; tapes and tape loops. Saxophone for effects on "Helter Skelter".

He never played flute, at least on recordings. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.40.0.34 (talk) 17:32, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Good idea. A systematic list of instruments may help the article. Just add a saxophone and other instruments played by Lennon to the article. However, your point that Lennon never played a flute is wrong. I saw pictures of Lennon playing the flute in a live performance. He might have played a broader variety of instruments in live performances than in studio works, because live interaction with other musicians on stage might have been conducive to trying a new instrument or two. In fact, Yoko Ono has been experimenting with various instruments and Lennon was involved in such experiments to boost his creativity and IMAGINATION.

Thank you for your comments. I don´t add the sax because there´s just one ocassion, and he didn´t "played it", mostly he used it to create sound effects, in conjunction with Mal Evans trumpet.I said he never play flute, at least on recordings. Probably you´re right and he played it live, but I dont´t think he played a "broader variety of instruments in live performances than in studio works", because he made just a few performances, and he just played keyboards and guitars. I really would like to know where can I find this information or photos. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.40.0.34 (talk) 17:30, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

you forgot the glass of water and straw
blowing bubbles in Yellow Submarine. Hotcop2 (talk) 13:32, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Links

 * http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/adDetails/298 original poster for the guitar

Les Paul 25/50 given to Julian in 1974
I'm afraid the above statement cannot be accurate as the 25/50 was only made in 1978/79 to commemorate 25 years of Les Paul guitars and 50 years of Les Paul in the music business. Info here: http://www.lespaulforum.com/slubarticle/2550/2550.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.82.255.190 (talk) 10:49, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Instruments
Hello. John Lennon's white Steinway piano is iconic, as much as McCartney's Hofner bass, that's why I edited the "Piano" part placing "The White Piano" as a title, AND put its caracteristic color (white) before "Steinway piano" (which has been reverted). Another MAIN instrument of his was the harmonica. Lennon's use of the harmonica was very present in the early records, and you're putting it in the same category as the percussion, by saying: "He also played harmonica, percussion and flute". Percussion instruments were just played by him (and the other Beatles) in the studio to support/enhance the rhythm. About the other instruments, I don't believe there's prove that he played flute, and he didn't really play the oboe or saxophone, just made some noise with either one on 'Helter Skelter', and that's it. I hope you take this into consideration, I'm just trying to help improve the information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tableclothes (talk • contribs) 01:36, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

External links modified
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"Pianos and keyboards" Vs just "keyboards"
"Pianos and keyboards" is redundant as a piano is a keyboard. So I changed the section heading to just "keyboards" because I don't think we should be using redundancy.--71.200.106.166 (talk) 11:54, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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Chronology
I think this list would benefit greatly if all the instruments would be sorted chronologically, based on the time when he bought or was given the guitar, or when he started playing it. Some people above thought the only difference between guitars would be how many strings they have, but I doubt it. I think it can be heard and make for distinct styles or style periods in a musician's work. --2003:DA:CF4E:6356:9D10:9351:C0A6:2C6A (talk) 01:42, 23 February 2024 (UTC)