Ask Jimmy Pou - Page 3

GIOVANNI'S QUESTION: "I have a Gibson Les Paul a rendition of 1960 and
one marshall with valv. do you think is better to use the overdrive of the
marshall or the boss DS-1 ??"
JIMMY: "Personally, I would use the Boss pedal, you have more control of
the extent of the overdrive with the pedal."

JPGR'S QUESTION: "How long did it take for you guys to learn to speak with
British accent?"
JIMMY: "We have all been doing it since we were kids, but to do it seriously
and take on the personal inflection of each individual Beatle, you have to
study their voice from films, like A Hard Day's Night and concert footage."

JJPGR'S QUESTION: "Have you seen any Beatles in person. If so, which
ones?"
JIMMY: "Yes, I have met Ringo a long time ago in England in 1980."

HOUNDDOG'S QUESTION: "Is there any possibility '1964 The Tribute' and
'Bootleg Beatles' will do a tour together? '1964' doing the early material and
'Bootleg' doing the later material. This would be awesome to say the least!!!"
JIMMY: "Good question, I don't think that would work out because they are
so far away. but the guys in The Bootleg Beatles are friends of mine, I will
e-mail them and ask what they think of the idea."

HENRY'S QUESTION: "Any updates on Puddingstone Lake....your new
proposed CD?"
JIMMY: "I start my first recording session in Nashville at The Sound
Kitchen, with the famous Chris Huston (known as Scouser in some circles)
from Liverpool, producing. I am also using Terry Manfredi on drums , who
played Ringo in 1964 for a year or two while Greg took a hiatus and went to
get his degree in college. I will be laying down drum tracks (Terry), and I will
play guitar and bass tracks for now on 6 of the songs. This CD is taking a
little longer because I have to fly to Nashville every time I do a session on
my off time from the band which is always pretty busy working, but I think
you may be impressed with this one."
LISA: "Heck, I was impressed with the last one!!!"

TUBESCREAMER'S QUESTION: "Another And Your Bird Can Sing question.
I've read the answers to the others, but I was hoping that you would tell us
which guitar you use on it. I can only assume that Paul and George used
Casinos on the original, but I haven't read mention that you use one as well.
I'm trying to figure it out myself, and my hat's off to you for nailing this
wonderful guitar piece(s)."
JIMMY: "I use the Gretsch Country Gent on that one. I use an equalizer foot
pedal to get that turned up Vox amp sound. It is true that George and Paul
used the Epiphone Casinos, I think you may have that info correct, I would
have to check my Beatles Gear book, but I'm too tired to right now, I am
answering these questions in my pajamas, getting ready for bed, but I hope I
answered your question, and thanks for the compliment."

TUBESCREAMER'S QUESTION: "Also, is the big white The Beatles Complete
Scores book a good source for accuracy on this?"
JIMMY: "In a word NO. Try the Beatles gear book (Revised edition) by Andy
Babiuk, great book, the author is a friend of mine and happens to be well
informed."

DAVE'S QUESTION: "When you think of all the great guitarists of his time,
George Harrison doesn't really get as much credit as he's due. Playing his
rifts mist be a thrill. Do you think he gets overlooked sometimes when the
subject of great guitarists is discussed?"
JIMMY: "It amazes me how many people come up to me night after night to
tell me after our show, how they really appreciate now what George did for
the Beatles. They say they never really listened closely to the solos, or they
thought that John Lennon was the lead guitarist. He really was an important
part to the band, but then I am 50 years old, and I dissected every Beatle
album when they came out, and learned every guitar part, and every bass
part, so I was able to recognize George's ability as a player way back when."

BRIDGET'S QUESTION: "Do you ever take over playing GEORGE in any other
bands?"
JIMMY: "I have played George for the last 25 years now, and I have only
played another Beatle once. I sat in with a group in Detroit about 4 or 5 years
ago, and I played Lennon for one night, it was a real challenge and it was a
lot of fun. But to answer your question, basically, yes, I have played George
in all the Beatle groups I've played with. The other groups I played a
character named Jimmy Pou."

IHL'S (& SONNY'S) QUESTION:"What kind of pedals you use?"
JIMMY:"I use a Boss compressor and a Boss equalizer. The only time I use
them both is on Nowhere Man I use the equalizer on And Your Bird Can Sing
and Taxman."

DON'S QUESTION: "What do you feel was George's best and greatest solo of
all ?? I 've heard some say it was the solo from Something because it is
perfect as far as it's timing etc. It is my favorite."
JIMMY: "I would agree with you, the solo on Something is great. Some other
favorites of mine are the solos on :
Let It Be
Fixing A Hole
I Call Your Name (played on a 12 string Rickenbacker 325 )
And Your Bird Can Sing (played by George and Paul)
I'm Only Sleeping ( played and taped backwards)"

JPGR'S QUESTION: "You have toured Virginia Beach, right? If so, did you
ever meet Michael McKee, the owner of McKee's Beatles Museum? I do
know that the museum closed in December 1999."
JIMMY: "Yes, we have toured Virginia Beach. Yes, I have been to the
Beatles Museum. I did a guest appearance there with Louise Harrison
(George's sister). I'm sorry to hear it has closed down."

MIKE'S QUESTION:"When will the video of 1964 playing at the Cavern be
released?"
JIMMY: "That's a good question, it is still being worked on, the editing takes
forever, and then we have also had conversations where we have
discussed if it's even worthy of being released. We are trying to decide if is
really that good, the sound did not come out that great, but stay tuned, and
you will find out someday, and so will I."

FGM'S QUESTION: "Do you guys play You're Going To Lose That Girl?"
JIMMY: "Yes, we have played that song before. It's a great song but we felt
after a while that it wasn't really getting a great reaction from the audience,
so when that happens we pull it off of the song list. You have to realize that
if we did everybody's favorite Beatle song, we would be on stage for a good
5 to 6 hours, and I don't think our voices would hold up that long in one
night."

FGM'S QUESTION:"Even though you only play Beatle songs from the earlier
days do you all know how too play the later stuff as well like Revolution, Let
it Be, etc.???"
JIMMY: "We do know the songs from the later period. The band used to do a
symphony show, where there was a symphony orchestra added to the show,
but it takes a lot of planning, a lot of rehearsing, and a lot of temperamental
orchestra musicians who can be very touchy about loud volumes and loud
guitars. There are also a lot of other groups that do the later periods, so
that's why we stick to the early songs, which sets us apart from the other
groups. They can be found on the internet."

FGM'S QUESTION:"Does 1964 The Tribute ever plan to put out an album of
every song you guys do?"
JIMMY: "I wish I could tell you the answer to that question, but actually that
topic has never come up. We do have two CDs out that contain most of the
songs we do in our live show which is: All You Need Is Live and also a
studio CD : Nine Hours In November."
LISA: "The 1964 CDs are available at most 1964 concerts, as well as on their
website."

DORI'S QUESTION:"How did you come up with the title for A Dozen
Scrambled Daze ?"
JIMMY: "The title came to me as I was writing and recording the songs. each
one had s different flavor to them, and they sounded to me to be really in
different avenues, a calypso sounding song, a punk rock song, a lovely
lullaby, a tribute to my parents with strings much like "Yesterday", and a
raunchy fast rocker, a blues sounding sound, you kind of get the picture??
hence the name Scrambled, and there were 12 songs, (dozen), and so on."

MIKE'S QUESTION:"I have 350v63 ric in front of me right now, I know its not
a 325, but I have got to know how you play And Your Bird Can Sing. Could
you please reveal the secret tab! I want to be the envy of my buddies on this
one! I think I have some of it worked out, but it cannot be played along the
whole neck like I am trying to do!"
JIMMY: "That song And Your Bird Can Sing is not done on a 12 string. You
have to play the harmonies in a Chet Atkins style of harmonyvoicing, much
like the solo to All My Loving. I play both parts that George and Paul played
in the recording studio, they played their parts separately. You must start
out the parts real slow and gradually speed them up. It all starts on the 7th
fret, on the 'G' and 'B' strings, and there is a lot of sliding involved in order
to play them in time to the tempo of the song. I wish I could help you more,
but that's thebest way that I can explain it to you Good Luck."
LISA: "You might be interested in checking out Rob Taylor's Beatles videos
Beatles To A Tee Volumes 1 & 2. From the main page at Jimmy's site, click on
menu, then scroll down to hot links. There is a link to Rob's site under the
Music And Instruments heading. His videos even have a split screen so you
can see the different guitar parts being played at the same time (he does
not play it all at once on one guitar like Jimmy). I believe And Your Bird Can
Sing is on his first tape. Rob's tapes are truly impressive. Rob emailed me
today (because I play bass & I've been bugging him!)saying there will be a
Beatles Basslines To A Tee down the road."

MARY'S QUESTION:"Are all of your songs about real people and about more
than one person (other than the one about your parents of course) and of
real experiences ? Or, is a part of them true and the story embellishment
and fictious?"
JIMMY: "Some of my songs are real, personal love lost and gained and lost
again, others are just out of my head. I get an idea about a song , lyrics, and
then it just flows out, just like any other songwriter, you come up with an
idea, and you go with it, and you can usually tell which ones are real life
stories and which ones are embellished. The Next Time You See Me from
my Four Little Ditties CD is about the break up of my marriage."

MIKE C'S QUESTION: "I cannot remember your guitar tech's name, I
apologize for that, but he was telling me that one of the guitars that you are
currently playing on tour is a Gretch re-issue. It was the red, double
cut-away. Can you please tell me the model # of that guitar and also who I
can get in contact with about getting one of those guitars. I am having
trouble finding Gretch anywhere on the net."
JIMMY: "John Dobbertin is the name of our stage manager. I play 3 guitars
on stage. The first one I play the most is the Gretsch Country Gentleman.
Mine is a 1962 Country Classic model reissue. I do not know the model
number, every store I go into in Los Angeles where I live has them. It is
burgundy color not red,. I also play a Gretsch Tennessean, which belongs to
Mark Benson, who plays John. The 3rd guitar I play is a red reissue 12 string
Rickenbacker. I am not a technical guy, so I couldn't tell you the actual #'s of
these models of guitars, I just play them. If you want me to pass on your
e-mail address to John or Mark, let me know and I will be glad to do that."
LISA: "Gretsch's website is: http://www.gretsch.com. You may also enjoy
some of the sites I listed below for Antonello (scroll down about 4
questions)."

TONY'S QUESTION:"Have you ever given any thought to producing a video,
somewhat like Roger McGuinn did, which shows how to play some of the
great licks that you do with 1964? & Seems like a lot of folks, me included,
would love to see how you do And Your Bird Can Sing and any other number
of great riffs from your shows...Be neat to see some Ric 12 string stuff in
there too!"
JIMMY: "Yes, we have been working on a video, but it is not finished. As far
as doing one with me playing guitar parts, unfortunately there are not
enough hours in the day. With traveling, concerts, and then home for a day
or two, and when I'm home I work on my solo efforts, I have a already put out
2 solo CDs. That would take a lot of time to do, but a good idea."
LISA: "In regards to the video they are working on, I believe Jimmy is
referring to the 1964 concert at The Cavern that was taped in 2001. You may
be interested in checking out Rob Taylor's Beatles To A Tee videos. Jimmy is
currently working on his third solo CD project, tentatively titled
Puddingstone Lake."

ROBIN'S QUESTION: "You look like you probably have a little bit of Indian in
you. Do you? Also, do you ever think about getting married again?"
JIMMY: "I am of full blooded Cuban decent. Both of my parents were born in
Havana, Cuba. I even have an older brother and sister that were born there
also. I have been told that before though, and NO, I do not plan on getting
married soon at all. I've been down that road and, although I get along great
with my son's mother, I wouldn't want someone telling me when to come
home and (asking) where I've been, but I love women very, very much."

BOB's QUESTION: "If you could have anyone of the female gender serve you
breakfast in bed who would it be? Would it be someone famous? Or
someone you have met in one of your concerts?"
JIMMY: "Well, I suppose it would be my girlfriend, and if it were to be
someone famous, it would be Salma Hayek, Cindy Crawford, Elle
MacPherson, Penelope Cruz, the list could be endless, but if I don't pick my
girlfriend first I could get in trouble."

ANTONELLO'S QUESTION:"Do you know if there's someone who, like you,
made a web site answering to technical questions like tuning guitars and
setting amps in the Lennon way?"
JIMMY: "I really don't know if there is someone who does that sort of thing.
If I were you, I would just do a search on the internet, under Beatle tribute
bands, and go down the list and e-mail each band to see if they offer
something like that."
LISA: "Just a couple suggestions: You can ask questions of the 1964 Tech
guys (Dave & John), or try asking at VoxTalks, you may also enjoy the
Beatles Gear site."

MIQUEL'S QUESTION: "I am Miquel Pou. I live in Mallorca . Pou is a catalan
name (Catalonia is a state of Spain). Do you know your history? How your
family (arrived in) America?"
JIMMY: "Funny you should ask that question. I am currently planning a trip
to Barcelona, Spain next year with my sister. We found out that there is a
town outside of Barcelona called Manresa, and my grandfather's father
came from this town, and eventually moved to Cuba. He had 6 other
brothers who all moved back to Spain. He stayed in Cuba and died there in
1898. My sister and I decided we were going to go there next year and try to
search more in our family tree to see what we can find out about the family
name Pou."

MARY'S QUESTION:"I'm going to get to see Paul McCartney again...will you
be seeing him??"
JIMMY: "I was planning to go see him but I have seen him now 4 or 5 times,
so I don't think I will this time."
LISA: "I'll be at his St. Louis show October 9th! It will be my 4th time seeing
Paul in concert."

NICK'S QUESTION: "I was just wondering if Jimmy will ever play around
England?"
JIMMY: "I'm so sorry you just missed us, we were just in Liverpool last week,
we will be there again next year from August 21st through August 27th, I
hope to see you then."
LISA: "Please check the Links page on this site, which has links to 1964 The
Tribute's tour schedule."

TD'S QUESTION: "Of the guitars you play in the show, which is your favorite?
and of those, which the most difficult to play? I've heard that switching from
the Ric 12 string with the smaller neck is a bit tough, compared to say, the
Country Gent."
JIMMY: "The favorite guitar to play is of course the Gretsch Country Gent.
The second fav is the Tennessean, and the least favorite to play is the 12
string Rickenbacker. It's just difficult to get a decent sound out of it, and it
happens to be a re-issue, the other two are vintage, goes to show you how
better the old vintage guitars are than the newer ones being made these
days. I personally own a re-issue Gretsch Country Gentleman (the big brown
one) and it doesn't play half as good as the one I play on stage with 1964."

AL'S QUESTION: "Do all the members of 1964 use flat wound strings on all
instruments?"
JIMMY: "Yes, all the members of 1964 use Pyramid flat wound strings from
Germany, We are endorsed by them, they are the type of strings that the
Beatles started using way back in the days of Hamburg, Germany when they
were touring there at the Reeperban."

PAIGE'S QUESTION: "I would like to (know) if playing lead guitar is hard and
how long it took (Jimmy) to get it down pat. I am thinking of playing. I really
want to."
JIMMY: "Playing the guitar I have been doing since I was 11 and 1/2 after
seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show Feb 9, 1964. I always just
learned the rhythm guitar parts back then, and when I started to play the
Beatle songs in a band, I had to learn all the lead guitar parts, and it was
difficult because when you play the lead solo part, all ears are on you and
you better get it right, so yes, it is hard to play the lead guitar parts."
LISA: "Paige, save up and get a good guitar, don't get a cheap one as it will
probably frustrate you to try to practice on a cheap guitar (they tend to be
difficult to play and often sound pretty bad). Find a good guitar teacher and
go for it. I had wanted to play bass since I was a teenager and finally bought
a bass and began taking lessons in my late 30s. I am so happy I did! I now
have 6 bass guitars and love to play!"

CHARLIE'S QUESTION: "Not really a question. At the Rams Head in Annapolis
MD on 7/17/02 my wife and I were in the very front. I got eye contact with
you during the encore and requested Drive My Car , my wife's favorite. You
looked like you were trying to remember the guitar part, the others were
mumbling about what to do. I felt bad that I had put you on the spot. But
then, out of nowhere came, 1..2..3..4.. and you guys played it flawlessly.
What professionals you guys are !!!"
JIMMY: "Yes, it is fun digging out those obscure songs that we don't play
every night, so thanks for asking for that song, it was fun!"

PEG'S QUESTION: "I really think you all do a smashing job with the Beatle
music, but do you ever get tired of playing it over and over again?"
JIMMY: "Yes, of course we get tired of the same songs, but we do mix it up
a bit, some nights we throw in some other throw away songs likePlease Mr.
Postman ,When I Get Home ,I Call Your Name. Also Peg, it is our day job, and
just like everybody else who has a job, sometimes you do have to do the
same thing over and over again, but we love what we do, we all grew up as
Beatle fans, and we loved the songs all those years ago, and there aren't
that many people who have the privilege of being able to portray the
greatest rock and roll band of all time, and have fun doing it. I also write my
own music, as you know since you've been to my web site, so there are
other outlets in my career."

LEXI'S QUESTION: "I was wondering how long does it usually take to learn for
you guys to learn the Beatles' songs? Do you each figure out your parts
individually, or do you get together and work it out?"
JIMMY: " We usually work on the songs individually at home. We learn that
parts that pertain to each individual, and then we get together before a
show at sound check and try to work it all out together. That way there is
input on all four levels. Each person can hear something different on a
recording. It's like looking at a piece of artwork at a museum, you may think
something about a certain painting, and another person can see something
totally different."

LEXI'S QUESTION: "What's your favorite guitar solo?"
JIMMY: "My favorite guitar solo would have to be on And Your Bird Can Sing
because it is such a difficult solo to do every night, it becomes a challenge.
If people in the audience know how hard that solo is, and I play it right, they
always come up and compliment me after the show for a job well done, and
that is truly gratifying."

If you have Questions for Jimmy Pou, please email them to:
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