You’ve seen the photos: Paul, cradling his famous left-handed Hofner violin bass like a baby. He’s the genius who wrote “Something” and “Hey Jude,” so obviously he played bass, right? Yes, but only for the vast majority of their career. The band’s early years were a chaotic three-ring circus of borrowed instruments and “Who’s holding what?” nonsense.
Way back in the late 1950s, when the band was just a bunch of scruffy lads from Liverpool, the bassist was Stuart Sutcliffe. Stu was a talented painter who couldn’t play bass worth a darn—he’d often turn his back to the audience to hide his fumbling. But he looked impossibly cool, so John Lennon insisted he stay.
The Stu Sutcliffe Era: Cool, But Quiet
Stu’s bass playing was, let’s be honest, legendarily bad. He’d hit the wrong notes with such conviction that it sounded like a bassoon falling down stairs. The other guys would just crank their amps and hope nobody noticed.
When Stu left in 1961 to focus on art, the band was stuck without a bassist for a hot minute. Enter a guy named Chas Newby, who filled in for exactly two gigs. He played a red bass, looked confused, and then vanished into the mists of Liverpool history. He’s the bassist equivalent of a Bigfoot sighting—everyone swears he existed, but there’s very little proof.
