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Abstrakt View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Lucy in the sky with Diamonds
    Posted: January 08 2009 at 08:29
Do any of you know what instrument is playing in the intro & verses of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"?
I think it's a harpsichord, but i can't really get the right sound when i try to play it on my keyboard.
There's some vibrato and delay on the sound aswell. Any other effects?

Thanks! Tongue
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2009 at 08:56
According to wikipedia:

It consists of a very simple melody (reminiscent of a nursery song), sung by Lennon over an increasingly complicated underlying arrangement which features a tamboura, played by George Harrison, and a counter melody on Lowrey organ played by Paul McCartney being taped with a special organ stop to give it a sound like a celeste.[2]

Hope that helps. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2009 at 14:23
But in the intro, is it the Tamboura or Lowrey Organ playing?
I just love that song!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2009 at 15:40
The intro is definitely the organ! The string instrument playing in the background at 20 seconds in is most likely the tamboura.

Edited by Swan Song - January 08 2009 at 15:43
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2009 at 16:11
I think Swan Song is correct, the tamboura is a drone instrument I believe.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2009 at 12:04
Alright... Lowrey organ with delay & vibrato... I'll see if i can get it right now.
Thanks!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2009 at 12:55
Yeah, it's organ.  I can get my organ to do exactly that song.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2009 at 14:59
It's organ, and I can't get that sound either.

Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2009 at 06:35

That's because you don't have George Martin (do you?).

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2009 at 09:17
According to the book I'm currently enjoying by Geoff Emerick (the studio engineer on Sgt. Pepper's) it is a combo of Lennon's guitar and George Martin's harpsicord.  The book is "Here, there and everywhere" and I highly recommend it to studio techies because he leaves nothing out.  How about 18 pages on the recording of "A Day in the Life" alone?
"Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2009 at 12:06
^^^^ Yeah, i thought it sounded like a harpsichord!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2009 at 13:52
A thousand pardons.  I just checked and the book doesn't reveal the source of the intro to the song.  I got it mixed up with "Because" from Abbey Road so let the speculations continue.  My bad.
 
As far as LSD goes, though, that was the song that Lennon wanted to be tethered to a rope hung by from the ceiling so he could circle the mike while recording his vocal.  (Cooler heads prevailed, however, and that brainstorm was ditched.)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2009 at 14:15
I still think it sounds like a harpsichord!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2009 at 16:18
I was reading about LSD in the Beatles Rough Guide last night and it also says it was a Lowrey organ on the intro.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 18 2009 at 13:41
This song... I'm speachless...
HeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeart
HeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeart
HeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeartHeart

Only Black Sabbath is better... and perhaps Led Zeppelin
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