I Feel Fine - Structure

Structure

The intro to "I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussive (yet pure-sounding) feedback note produced by plucking the A string on Lennon's guitar. This was the very first use of feedback preceding a song on a rock record. According to McCartney, "John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pickup on it so it could be amplified . . . We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it . . . it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!" And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp."

Although it sounded very much like an electric guitar, Lennon actually played it on an acoustic-electric guitar (a Gibson model J-160E), employing the guitar's onboard pickup. The intro riff around a D major chord progresses to a C, then a G, where the G major vocals begin. Just before the coda, Lennon's intro riff (or ostinato), is repeated with a bright sound by George Harrison on electric guitar (a Gretsch Tennessean), followed by the more "electric" sound of John's amped acoustic.

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