Even if they don’t play the piano regularly, several members of The Beatles are proficient in the instrument. When preparing to perform “Don’t Let Me Down” live, these artists considered a pianist they previously worked with — Nicky Hopkins.
The Beatles each played different instruments
The Beatles continue to be one of the world’s most influential and impactful rock bands. Since they officially formed in the 1960s, the group released songs like “Here Comes the Sun,” “Let It Be,” and “In My Life.” As a four-piece band, these artists sometimes swapped instruments to get new and unique sounds.
According to their IMDb page, in addition to playing lead guitar for the group, Harrison “introduced such exotic instruments as ukulele, Indian sitars, flutes, tabla, darbouka, and tampur drums.”
McCartney mostly played the bass guitar and sang for the group, sometimes jumping on the guitar or the harmonica. John Lennon also appeared as a singer and a guitarist. Lennon, Harrison, and McCartney all played the piano for The Beatles. The same website credited a Lennon-McCartney piano jam session to the creation of “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
Several members of this band often played the piano. However, they couldn’t simultaneously play guitar whenever Lennon or Harrison played the piano. For their live rooftop performance at London’s Apple Corps headquarters, this was a problem.
The Beatles needed a piano for their song ‘Don’t Let Me Down’
Thanks to the Disney+ documentary series The Beatles: Get Back, fans caught a glimpse of footage from decades before. The band rehearsed for their final live performance and even brainstormed the song “Don’t Let Me Down,” which several members thought needed a piano.
“See, if you put just a few fills in between the vocal – and the vocal being like that. And maybe we could change something, the rhythm or something,” Harrison suggested.
“Yeah, it’s really like that’s where the piano would come in,” Lennon said. “Yeah, I like the idea of piano, but how do we do that?”
“One of us play bass. George plays the bass,” McCartney suggested.
The Beatles landed on Billy Preston for the piano part of ‘Don’t Let Me Down’
Lennon responded that then they’ll be no guitars. If it wasn’t one of the three instrumentalists switching to piano, McCartney said that they would probably call on someone outside of the band.
“If we need somebody else, [it would] probably be like a guy that plays piano all the time,” Lennon said. McCartney suggested, “Somebody like Nicky Hopkins.”
According to Beatles Music History, the band previously worked with Hopkins on their song “Revolution.” With the pianist being in the United States at the time, the group eventually called on Billy Preston for “Don’t Let Me Down.”
For their live rooftop concert, Harrison and Lennon played the guitar. McCartney played the bass while Ringo Starr appeared on the drums.
