Harder than I expected: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

November 3, 2025
New bass cover day! I’m inching closer to the finish line of the Sgt. Pepper album. Today’s cover is the 2nd to last song, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise).” This was harder than I expected! It’s clear McCartney had a general structure in mind for this bass line, but he was improvising within that structure. Improvised bass lines are often a little harder to replicate, because rhythmic patterns tend to change slightly every measure. Getting all of those little variations and embellishments is a challenge. Watch Sgt Pepper's on YouTube

In January I will begin offering subscription content through Patreon. I’ll still be posting on YouTube and Instagram, but for the folks who want more… there will be more! Perks for subscribers will include transcription pdfs (tab and standard notation), isolated bass tracks, playalong tracks with the bass removed, lesson videos, analysis videos, and more fun things. If there are specific things you’d like to see, please let me know! I’m in the process of figuring out what all to offer and I would appreciate any suggestions. Send them here. 

In the meantime, as a way of easing into the Patreon platform, I have posted some transcriptions for sale by album. Currently you can buy transcription pdfs of every bass line from Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Please Please Me for $20 per album. I’ll be posting more in the coming weeks, so keep a look out for Beatles Bass Lines on Patreon.

A few days ago I posted a bass cover of “Nowhere Man.” I had made a video of this song earlier in the year, but my bass was slightly out of tune with the recording (as was kindly noted by some viewers, and not so kindly by others). So this was a “redo.” It’s still a fun bass line to play! And still very challenging. Watch Nowhere Man on YouTube.
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I’ll be traveling to Asbury Park, New Jersey in a few days for the Everything Fab 4 Fest: Rubber Soul. That’s right - a whole conference dedicated to Rubber Soul! I’m giving a presentation on McCartney’s bass lines on the album. (Which is also a reason I was revisiting “Nowhere Man.”) Rubber Soul is not my favorite bass album, but it was definitely a turning point for McCartney and marked the beginning of his “mature” style of melodic bass lines. Learn about Everything Fab 4 Fest

-Rob

Why "Lovely Rita" is my favorite bass line 

Oct. 1, 2025
I appreciate the positive response to my most recent video on why “Lovely Rita” is my favorite bass line. It’s not exactly a lesson on how to play the bass line–it’s more of a lesson on how we can use that bass line as a learning tool. It’s full of patterns we can use in other contexts.
Paul McCartney used many of those patterns in other songs. They became part of his bass vocabulary and it’s fun to see how we can make them part of our own vocabulary.

“Lovely Rita” bass encyclopedia
“Lovely Rita” bass cover

"Good Morning, Good Morning"
The next full bass cover video will be “Good Morning Good Morning” as I continue working my way through Sgt. Pepper. It’s a fun but challenging bass line, mainly because of all of the meter changes. It is constantly shifting between 5/4, 4/4, and 3/4. It’s a wild ride. I love the Pepper bass lines so much, I’m kinda bummed to be getting near the end of the album!

Ram and My Gear
I also have a few more short excerpts from McCartney’s Ram album I’ll be posting soon. More and more people have been asking me on YouTube and Instagram about my gear, my settings, my strings, etc., so I figure I should do a gear rundown video. I’ll try to put something together in the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of which, you can follow me on Instagram @Beatles_Bass_Lines.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beatles_bass_lines/

Buy Me a Coffee - Get a Transcription with Tab
As I mentioned in my last post, I make very little money from the work I do transcribing Paul’s bass lines, analyzing Beatles songs, making lesson videos, etc. I get zero dollars from the bass cover videos, because Beatles recordings are copyrighted. I do this because I love it and I’m going to keep doing it.

But I started a “Buy me a coffee” page for tips and donations. If you enjoy the content, this is a way you can show support. A $6 tip/donation will get you a transcription with tab. Just let me know the song you want (Love Me Do through Sgt Pepper) and where I can send a pdf. https://buymeacoffee.com/beatlesbasslines

I’ll continue posting Beatles bass covers, of course, but if there is other content you’d like to see (or see more of), please let me know. More bass lessons? More song breakdowns? More “guess the bass line” games?
-Rob