Which Beatle played bass other than Paul (or Stu)?

Cafe Society
1

On some of the Beatles’ songs that were supposedly recorded “live” such as “Hey Jude”, “Let it Be”, and “The Long and Winding Road”, Paul is on the piano, but there is still a bass part, though it sounds inferior to Paul’s usual standard of bass playing.

  1. Was the bass overdubbed later?
  2. Was George or John playing the bass? Could it have been Ringo? Yoko?
  3. Was there a “session” bassist on the side. No one else is credited.
  4. Is Paul such a superb talent that he cal play a piano and bass simultaneously?

In the “Let It Be” footage I can’t tell if any Beatle has a bass during the song, however in “Two of Us” George seems to be playing “bass” parts on a guitar. Plus on the anthology CD I can barely make out a thudding bass in the background.

Also, while I can’t fit this in the title, who played bass for The Doors?

2

You’re correct about “Two of Us”; that’s George playing the “bass” line on a guitar. On “The Long and Winding Road,” John is playing bass, and doing a pretty lousy job of it. The bass on “Hey Jude” was dubbed on after (as was McCartney’s usual practice in the Beatles’ studio years); you can find rehearsal takes with no bass part. And that’s Lennon again on “Let It Be.” No session musician ever played bass on a Beatles track.

3

I had heard (apparently erroneously) that Klaus Voorman did some uncredited session bass-playing for the Beatles. As to the Doors question, Ray Manzarek did most of the bass parts on the organ.

4

Not actually on the organ, but on a Fender keyboard bass which sat on top of the organ. And that was live…on most of the records they used various session bass players.