McCartney Times

John Lennon was a lot of things: expert singer, clever lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, iconoclastic forward thinker, peace advocate, bread enthusiast. But in The Beatles, he was very rarely a lead guitarist.

That’s because the band already had one of the most accomplished guitar players in the world: George Harrison. Harrison was specifically picked up with the idea that he would be the band’s lead guitarist, and so Lennon never strayed too far outside the realm of rhythm.

But Lennon wasn’t exclusively a rhythm player. Every once in a while, whether it was because he already had a solo in mind or because Harrison was preoccupied, Lennon stepped up to provide lead guitar lines on Beatles songs. He and Harrison split the lead part in harmony on ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’, while Lennon took the solo on ‘You Can’t Do That’ after Harrison played the main riff.

Lennon’s stinging lead lines can be heard on ‘Revolution’, ‘Birthday’, and ‘Yer Blues’, and indeed it seemed that Lennon was eager to play lead on the dirtier, bluesier numbers within the band’s catalogue. Lennon’s lead style was aggressive and unhinged, as evidenced by his series of turns during his section of solos on ‘The End’. But Lennon could also be a restrained player: his brief solo on ‘Honey Pie’ is jazzy and indicative of a more classical ear, while his slide work on ‘For You Blue’ is his bluesier side in a more sedate setting.

Read more, click link below…

Source: Why John Lennon played lead guitar on The Beatles ‘Get Back’