Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr Avoided Solos for Very Different Reasons

Paul McCartney said he avoided solos after his first performance with John Lennon, and Ringo Starr avoided them for his entire time with The Beatles. Lengthy instrumental solos aren’t necessarily a fundamental part of The Beatles’ sound, perhaps because half the members didn’t like them. The reasons they wanted to avoid solos were different, though.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney sit next to each other at a table. — Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney | Archivio Cicconi/Getty Images

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr wanted to avoid solos

When McCartney joined Lennon’s band, the Quarry Men, he had a chance to play a guitar solo during his first-ever performance with the band. He nailed the part during rehearsals but couldn’t get through it onstage.

“For my first gig, I was given a guitar solo on ‘Guitar Boogie,’” McCartney said, per The Beatles Anthology. “I could play it easily in rehearsal, so they elected that I should do it as my solo. Things were going fine, but when the moment came in the performance, I got sticky fingers; I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ I was just too frightened; it was too big a moment with everyone looking at the guitar player. I couldn’t do it. (I never played a solo again until a few years ago). That’s why George was brought in.”

While McCartney said he avoided solos for a period after this moment of stage fright, he played some with The Beatles. Starr, however, nearly managed to avoid them altogether. He finally did one on the Abbey Road song “The End,” but he wasn’t happy about it.

“Solos have never interested me,” he said. “That drum solo is still the only one I’ve done. There’s the guitar section where the three of them take in the solos, and then they thought, ‘We’ll have a drum solo as well.’ I was opposed to it: ‘I don’t want to do no bloody solo!’”

So, McCartney avoided solos because of stage fright, and Starr avoided them because he simply didn’t like them.

Solos gave George Harrison a chance to shine

The Beatles had three guitarists. While George Harrison was the lead, Lennon and McCartney were both capable players, and they both took on solos in their time with the band. As the lead guitarist, though, guitar solos gave Harrison a chance to shine.

Harrison often felt his bandmates overlooked his songwriting contributions. It was hard to overlook his skill at guitar, though. Through his guitar solos on songs like “Let It Be,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Nowhere Man,” Harrison proved he was an invaluable member of the band.

Paul McCartney admitted avoiding solos damaged Ringo Starr’s reputation

Starr’s unwillingness to play solos worked well for him, but it led some to think of him as a weak drummer.

“I think Ringo was always paranoid that he wasn’t a great drummer because he never used to solo,” McCartney said. “He hated those guys who went on and on, incessantly banging while the band goes off and has a cup of tea or something. Until Abbey Road, there was never a drum solo in The Beatles’ act, and consequently, other drummers would say that although they liked his style, Ringo wasn’t technically a very good drummer. It was a bit condescending, and I think we let it go too far.”

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