The Most Successful Band in the History of Popular Music
The Beatles are arguably the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music.
According to EMI, The Beatles have sold more than one billion discs and tapes worldwide, while their influence reaches far beyond record sales. Alongside The Kinks, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Cream, The Yardbirds and Dusty Springfield, they became the leaders of the so-called British Invasion, taking America by storm and turning Beatlemania into a worldwide phenomenon.
But there is another reason The Beatles are so important to guitarists. They had the tunes. And lots of them.
Before Beatlemania
It’s easy to look at The Beatles from the perspective of what they eventually became and forget that they didn’t simply appear fully formed. They were a working band.
Before the hits, the television appearances and the screaming crowds, they spent years playing wherever they could — particularly in Hamburg, where they developed their ability to perform for hours at a time.
They played covers. Lots of covers. That experience mattered.
When you hear early Beatles recordings such as I Saw Her Standing There or Twist & Shout, you’re hearing musicians who understood how to make a room move.
And that’s an important lesson for any guitarist hoping to play in bands. You don’t skip the apprenticeship.
The Beatles didn’t become the biggest band in the world by writing songs in their bedroom. They spent years learning other people’s music, developing their arrangements and playing together.
That experience would become the foundation for everything that followed.
The Beginning of the Hit Machine
The Beatles’ debut album, Please Please Me, arrived in 1963. It was an extraordinary introduction.
Alongside the title track were I Saw Her Standing There, Love Me Do, Do You Want to Know a Secret and Twist & Shout.
The album also demonstrated something that would become increasingly important throughout their career: The Beatles weren’t afraid to record other people’s songs.
Twist & Shout and Baby It’s You, written by Burt Bacharach and others, sat alongside Lennon-McCartney originals.
That was normal for a working band. And it is still useful to remember. Learning someone else’s song isn’t somehow less musical than writing your own. Quite the opposite. It’s the best ways to learn.
Twist & Shout
The Beatles’ version of Twist & Shout was based heavily on the Isley Brothers’ interpretation rather than simply copying the earlier recording by the Top Notes.
The Isley Brothers had taken the song somewhere new, including the bridge that helped shape the version The Beatles heard. The Beatles then made it their own.
John Lennon’s vocal was recorded towards the end of the Please Please Me sessions, and the performance sounds like a band trying to tear the roof off the place. That’s what years of playing live can do.
The lesson here isn’t just “learn Twist & Shout”. It’s: Listen to the version that inspired the version you love. That’s how you begin to understand musical interpretation.
The Explosion of Beatlemania
Just six months later came With The Beatles. Again, the album mixed original songs with covers, including Money (That’s What I Want), You Really Got a Hold on Me, Please Mr. Postman and Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry. Meanwhile, songs such as She Loves You were turning The Beatles into a global phenomenon.
She Loves You was one of their early worldwide hits and became a defining example of the rock-and-roll-infused pop sound that dominated the first part of their career.
If you’re playing in a band, these early Beatles songs are incredibly useful. They are energetic. They are recognisable. And audiences know them immediately.
I Saw Her Standing There: A Cover-Band Essential
If I had to choose one early Beatles song that every working guitarist should know, I Saw Her Standing There would be very high on the list.
It’s the opening track on Please Please Me and has become a cover-band classic. I’d put it in the same general category as Sweet Home Alabama, Sex on Fire, Valerie, Respect and Superstition. These are songs you must know if you want to work as a guitarist.
And here’s the funny thing. A band can probably pull I Saw Her Standing There together fairly quickly. That’s not an insult. It’s a sign of how well the song is constructed.
A Hard Day’s Night: Suddenly, It’s All Original
In 1964, The Beatles released A Hard Day’s Night, which also served as the soundtrack to their film. This time, the album consisted entirely of original Beatles material.
The title track, And I Love Her, Can’t Buy Me Love and If I Fell demonstrated how rapidly Lennon and McCartney were developing as songwriters.
Can’t Buy Me Love became another worldwide hit. By this point, The Beatles had gone from promising young musicians to a global phenomenon. They were still only getting started.
Later that year came Beatles for Sale, which returned to a mixture of originals and covers, including material by Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. The standout original was Eight Days a Week.
Help! and Rubber Soul: The Music Starts Changing
By 1965, something interesting was happening. The Beatles were still producing huge pop hits, but their songwriting was becoming more sophisticated.
Help! gave us the title track, You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, Ticket to Ride, Yesterday and the cover Act Naturally.
Then came Rubber Soul. This was where the music really began to evolve.
The lyrics became more reflective. The harmony became more adventurous. And the songs started moving beyond the straightforward rock-and-roll template of the early years.
Key tracks included Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, Michelle, In My Life, Girl, We Can Work It Out and I’ve Just Seen a Face.
Most bands would be overjoyed with that many great songs in an entire career. The Beatles were only halfway through.
Drive My Car: Inspired by Soul
Drive My Car is a particularly interesting tune for guitarists.
Primarily a McCartney composition, it has an underlying sense of humour but also a sophisticated harmonic edge. The A7#5 chord adds tension without making the song sound complicated, and the groove has a strong soul influence.
The song has often been connected to Otis Redding’s version of Respect, which is another reminder that The Beatles were constantly listening to what other musicians were doing.
And that’s something I would encourage you to do too. Don’t just listen to guitarists. Listen to Soul singers. Listen to bass players. Listen to drummers. Listen to records from completely different genres. That’s how you develop musical vocabulary.
Revolver: The Beatles Enter a New World
Next came Revolver in 1966. The difference between this album and Please Please Me only three years earlier is remarkable.
Taxman, Eleanor Rigby, Here, There and Everywhere, Yellow Submarine, Good Day Sunshine, For No One and Tomorrow Never Knows all sound like they belong to a completely different musical era.
By now, The Beatles were pushing the possibilities of recording technology as hard as they were pushing songwriting. And then they stopped touring.
The Final Concert
On 29 August 1966, The Beatles played their final commercial concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The problem wasn’t that they had suddenly stopped being a great live band. The problem was that they could barely hear themselves.
The screaming crowds had become so loud that playing live was increasingly frustrating, and the equipment of the time simply couldn’t compete.
The Beatles were also becoming increasingly interested in what could be achieved inside a recording studio. So they stopped touring and went into the studio. That decision changed popular music.
What Happens When a Band Has a Studio Instead of a Stage?
How do you follow Revolver? Apparently, you make one of the most ambitious albums ever recorded, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).
The world was stunned. How could a band sound like this?
Among the key tracks were the title song, With a Little Help from My Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, Within You Without You, When I’m Sixty-Four and the monumental A Day in the Life.
And remember, this was being created with recording technology that looks primitive by today’s standards.
The limitations became part of the creativity. Instead of asking, “What can the technology do for us?”, The Beatles and their production team often asked: “What can we make this technology do?” That attitude is still useful today.
The White Album: Anything Goes
How do you follow Sgt. Pepper? With a double album, of course.
Officially called The Beatles, it became known as The White Album because of its plain white cover.
And if Sgt. Pepper felt carefully constructed, The White Album felt like four musicians with a ridiculous number of ideas fighting to get onto the record. The styles are all over the place.
Back in the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Yer Blues, Mother Nature’s Son, Helter Skelter, Revolution and Savoy Truffle could hardly be more different, and that’s what makes the album fascinating.
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Back in the U.S.S.R. is a great example of The Beatles’ sense of humour and their habit of borrowing musical ideas from everywhere. The song draws on Chuck Berry’s Back in the U.S.A., the Beach Boys’ sound and even Jerry Lee Lewis in McCartney’s vocal delivery.
McCartney had originally been working with the title I’m Backing the U.K. before the idea evolved into the parody we know.
Mike Love of the Beach Boys was also around in India when McCartney was finishing the song and suggested the “Ukraine girls” idea in response to the Beach Boys’ famous “California girls.”
It’s a musical collage disguised as a pop song, very Beatles!
Blackbird
Blackbird is a fascinating example of how Beatles stories develop over time:
McCartney wrote the song in India, and the guitar arrangement has become one of his most recognisable acoustic pieces.
There has long been a popular interpretation connecting the song to the civil-rights struggles taking place in America. That interpretation has been repeated so often that it has become part of the song’s mythology.
McCartney has also spoken about the civil-rights movement as an inspiration, and the song has subsequently taken on that association for many listeners.
Whatever interpretation you attach to it, the guitar arrangement is worth studying. It demonstrates something The Beatles understood extremely well: A great guitar part doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes a handful of carefully chosen notes is enough.
Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and the End
After the extraordinary Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and White Album, 1969’s Yellow Submarine felt almost like a side project.
It was primarily a soundtrack release, although it did contain All You Need Is Love. Then came Abbey Road. And what a way to approach the finish line.
Come Together, Something, I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and Here Comes the Sun are just some of the album’s highlights.
Come Together
Come Together opened Abbey Road and became another major worldwide hit.
It’s also a perfect example of how The Beatles could make something commercially successful while refusing to make it completely straightforward.
The lyrics are full of strange images and stream-of-consciousness phrases. What exactly is the song about? There are certainly suggestions and interpretations, but it doesn’t provide a neat answer. And perhaps that’s part of the appeal.
The Beatles didn’t always explain everything. Sometimes they simply gave listeners something interesting to listen to.
Let It Be
The Beatles’ final studio album, Let It Be, arrived in 1970. The album gave us Let It Be, Across the Universe, Get Back and The Long and Winding Road.
And then there’s my personal favourite, Don’t Let Me Down, which wasn’t actually on the original album but appeared as the B-side to the Get Back single.
Get Back
Get Back is another entry in the enormous Beatles hit parade. Released as a single in 1969 and later associated with Let It Be, it reached number one in numerous countries.
The song captures something important about the period. After years of increasingly elaborate studio experimentation, The Beatles were once again interested in simply playing together.
The contrast is fascinating. The same band that had created Tomorrow Never Knows and A Day in the Life could strip everything back and make a song work because four musicians were simply locking into a groove. That’s a lesson worth taking into a rehearsal room!
The Beatles Broke Up — But the Music Didn’t
The Beatles’ partnership formally unravelled around the end of the 1960s, with the band’s legal dissolution taking several years to complete.
By then, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison had all begun establishing themselves as solo artists, even Ringo Starr enjoyed a successful solo career which is still going in 2026!
But let’s not skip that far ahead, it’s interesting to look at what happened next. Because the songwriting didn’t stop.
Paul McCartney and Wings
Paul’s first major solo hit was Maybe I’m Amazed, released on his 1970 album McCartney. Then came Ram, followed by Wings.
Wings went on to produce a remarkable run of songs, including My Love, Live and Let Die, Band on the Run and Jet.
Band on the Run became the title track of their best-selling album, while Mull of Kintyre became one of the biggest singles of the late 1970s.
McCartney returned to solo work in the 1980s and scored another major success with Ebony and Ivory, a collaboration with Stevie Wonder.
He also continued playing other people’s songs, including Ain’t No Sunshine, All of Me, Blue Moon of Kentucky, Blue Suede Shoes, Ferry Cross the Mersey and What’d I Say.
Once again, the working musician’s lesson is obvious: Great musicians keep learning songs.
John Lennon
John Lennon took a very different approach. His first solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, was raw and stripped back, featuring Working Class Hero and Mother.
Then, in 1971, came Imagine. The title track became one of the most recognised songs of the modern era, while Jealous Guy would later become a favourite for other artists to reinterpret. My favourite live recordings is Donny Hathaway‘s version of Jealous Guy.
Lennon continued releasing music throughout the 1970s before returning to the studio with Yoko Ono for Double Fantasy in 1980. Tragically, he was murdered in New York on 8 December 1980.
George Harrison
George Harrison had already started exploring solo music before The Beatles officially broke up. His early releases included Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound, but it was All Things Must Pass in 1970 that established him as a major solo artist.
My Sweet Lord became a huge international hit. Then, after several years of releases that didn’t achieve the same commercial impact, Harrison returned strongly in 1987 with Cloud Nine, produced by Jeff Lynne of ELO.
The sessions also helped lead to one of the most enjoyable supergroups in popular music: the Traveling Wilburys.
Harrison, Lynne, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty produced several memorable songs together. End of the Line is one of the highlights.
And then, decades later, The Beatles themselves would return for one final song.
Now And Then: The Beatles Return
The story of Now And Then is almost impossible to believe.
Recordings for the song began around the same period that The Beatles reunited in the 1990s to work on Free as a Bird and Real Love, using old John Lennon recordings. The problem was technology.
John’s voice was embedded in the original recording alongside the piano, and separating the two cleanly wasn’t possible with the technology available at the time.
Decades later, Peter Jackson’s work on the Get Back documentary changed that. The audio restoration technology developed for the project allowed John’s voice to be separated from the original recording.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr could then add their contributions and finally complete the song. George Harrison’s guitar from the earlier sessions could also be incorporated. The result was released in 2023 as the final Beatles single.
So a song that had begun life as a John Lennon demo eventually became a Beatles recording nearly half a century later.
There’s a wonderful moment in the story where George Harrison jokes about the possibilities of the early computer technology.
“This computer stuff… it opens up another kettle of fish”. Ringo’s response? “But will it open up another year of work?” As it turned out, it opened up considerably more than that.
The Beatles and the Working Guitarist
So, what should a guitarist actually take from all this? For me, quite a lot. Start with the learning the early songs:
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Twist & Shout
- She Loves You
- Can’t Buy Me Love
These songs teach you how to play straightforward rock and roll with a band. Then move forward:
- Drive My Car (listen to the soul influence)
- Blackbird (study how much music can come from a simple acoustic guitar arrangement)
- Come Together (listen to how the groove carries the song)
- Get Back (study how a simple band arrangement can be incredibly effective)
And don’t only learn the obvious hits.
One of my favourite things about The Beatles’ catalogue is that there are so many less obvious tunes that work brilliantly in a covers band, here are a few excellent examples:
- I Feel Fine
- Paperback Writer
- We Can Work It Out
- Don’t Let Me Down
Sometimes choosing a slightly less obvious Beatles tune can make your band’s set feel more interesting. Of course, those songs may require a little more rehearsal. That’s part of the fun.
The Beatles is a guitar education
The Beatles’ catalogue is almost a complete history of popular guitar playing compressed into seven years.
Early rock and roll. Blues. Soul. Country. Folk. Pop. R&B. Acoustic fingerstyle. Electric rhythm. Studio experimentation. And eventually music that doesn’t fit neatly into any category at all.
That’s why I think playing Beatles songs is such an important part of a guitarist’s education.
The Beatles themselves learned by playing other people’s songs. Then they wrote their own. Then they started experimenting with those songs. Then they changed what people expected a popular band to be able to do.
And throughout it all, they kept writing tunes. Lots and lots of tunes. You don’t need to learn every Beatles song. But you should learn enough of them to understand why the band changed music so profoundly.
And if you’re playing in bands, you’ll find another benefit. You will always have another Beatles tune to add to the repertoire.
The Legacy
The Beatles officially stopped being a band more than half a century ago. Yet their songs continue to be recorded, covered, taught, performed and rediscovered. That’s the real achievement.
Not the sales figures. Not the screaming crowds. Not even the mythology. The songs survived. And for a guitarist, that’s ultimately what matters.
You can learn I Saw Her Standing There for a pub gig, Blackbird for an acoustic set, Come Together for a soul or rock band. Get Back because the groove is irresistible, Don’t Let Me Down because, well, it’s brilliant.
And then you can go back to the beginning and discover another one. That’s what makes The Beatles’ catalogue so useful.
Learn the songs. Learn the arrangements. Learn the influences. Then build them into your repertoire. After all, The Beatles did exactly that themselves.
The Beatles Tunes | Related Pages
Ain’t No Sunshine | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, chord analysis, TAB, video guitar lessons, and backing tracks.
| Am7 Em G5 | Am7 | Am7 Em G5 |
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, it’s not warm when she’s away…
All Of Me | Chords + TAB
You can learn All Of Me from the Real Book using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| Bbmaj7 | Bbmaj7 | D7 | D7 |
All of me, why not take all of me…
Back In The U.S.S.R. | Chords + TAB
You can learn Back In The U.S.S.R. by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks..
| A | D | C | D7 |
Flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C. Didn’t get to bed last night…
Blackbird | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Blackbird by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, TAB, chord analysis, a chord chart, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G |
Blackbird singing in the dead of night…
Start learning with the full lesson series: Blackbird – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Be My Baby | Chords + TAB
You can learn Be My Baby by The Ronettes using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, backing tracks, chord charts, TAB, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| E | E | F#m | B7 |
The night we met I knew I, needed you so…
Check out how the verse is taught in the course for FREE here: Be My Baby | Guitar Lesson – Step 2
Blue Suede Shoes | Chords + TAB
You can learn Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis Presley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| N.C (E G) | A5 N.C (E G) | A5 N.C | N.C |
Well, it’s a one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now go, cat…
Can’t Buy Me Love | Chords + TAB
You can learn Can’t Buy Me Love by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| C | C | C | C |
I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend, if it makes you feel alright…
Come Together | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Come Together by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| Dm7 | Dm7 |
Here come old flat top, he come grooving up slowly…
Drive My Car | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Drive My Car by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| D7 | G7 | D7 | G7 |
Asked a girl what she wanted to be, she said, Baby, can’t you see…
End Of The Line | Chords + TAB
You can learn End Of The Line by the Traveling Wilburys using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| D D/A | D | D A | G |
Well, it’s alright, ridin’ around in the breeze…
Get Back | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Get Back by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| A5 (A6) | A5 (A6 A7) | D7 (D6) | A5 (A6 A7) |
Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner, but he knew it couldn’t last…
Hound Dog | Chords + TAB
You can learn Hound Dog by Elvis Presley using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| N.C | C7 | C7 | C7 | C7 |
You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time…
I Feel Fine | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play I Feel Fine by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| G7 | Gsus4 Gadd9 | G7 | Gsus4 Gadd9 | D7 | Dsus4 Dadd9 |
Baby’s good to me, you know she’s happy as can be, you know she said so…
I Saw Her Standing There | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
Well, she was just seventeen, you know what I mean…
Money (That’s What I Want) | Chords + TAB
You can learn Money (That’s What I Want) by Barrett Strong using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, backing tracks, TAB, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| F N.C | N.C Bb C |
The best things in life are free…
Check out how the verse is taught in the course for FREE here: Money (That’s What I Want) | Guitar Lesson – Step 2.
Now And Then | Chords + TAB
You can learn Now And Then by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| Am (Asus4) | G6 | Am (Asus4) | G6 |
I know it’s true. It’s all because of you…
Roll Over Beethoven | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn Roll Over Beethoven by Chuck Berry using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| D7 | G7 | D7 | D7 |
Well, I’ma write a little letter, I’m gonna mail it to my local DJ…
She Loves You | Chords + TAB
You can learn She Loves You by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and tbacking tracks.
| G | Em | Bm | D7 |
You think you’ve lost your love. Well, I saw her yesterday…
Stand By Me | Chords + TAB
You can learn Stand By Me by Ben E. King using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| A | A | F#m | F#m |
When the night has come, and the land is dark…
Twist & Shout | Chords + TAB
You can learn Twist & Shout by The Beatles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| A5 (C#) | D5 G5 A5 |
Well, shake it up, baby, now (shake it up, baby)…
The Beatles on the web
