John Lennon’s Guitar Legacy, 45 Years On

John Winston Ono Lennon was born on 9th October 1940 in Liverpool during a period of wartime instability. His mother, Julia, and father, Alfred, struggled to maintain a stable family environment, which ultimately resulted in Lennon being raised mostly by his Aunt Mimi at Mendips, her home in Woolton. Despite her strict upbringing, Mimi encouraged his artistic curiosity, while his mother nurtured his musical instincts by teaching him early banjo-style chord shapes, beginning with Fats Domino songs.

By the mid-1950s, skiffle music surged in the UK, inspiring thousands of young teenagers to form bands. Lennon, captivated by the stripped-back energy of Lead Belly’s recordings and the rebellious spirit of early American rock music, formed The Quarrymen in 1956. The band initially leaned into acoustic skiffle before moving toward electric guitars. The pivotal moment for the future of rock music arrived on 6th July 1957, when Lennon met Paul McCartney at St. Peter’s Church Fête. McCartney impressed Lennon with his ability to tune a guitar by ear and play Eddie Cochran’s 'Twenty Flight Rock’ flawlessly. The pair formed an immediate creative bond, initiating one of the most prolific songwriting partnerships in history.

After George Harrison joined The Quarrymen in 1958, the band began transitioning into a tighter rock ’n’ roll direction. By 1960, after considering various band names, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and drummer Pete Best became known as The Beatles. Their formative years in Hamburg performing long nightly sets sharpened their rhythmic precision, performance stamina, and improvisational instincts.

Brian Epstein became their manager in late 1961, guiding them toward mainstream appeal. Once Ringo Starr replaced Best in 1962, the definitive Beatles line-up was complete. Their breakout UK album release, ‘Please Please Me’ in 1963 ignited Beatlemania. The band’s unprecedented rise was fuelled by Lennon’s raw vocal urgency and rhythmic drive, McCartney’s melodic balance, Harrison’s rockabilly influenced guitar textures, and Starr’s charismatic backbeat.

Lennon’s role in the guitar dynamic focused primarily on rhythm rather than lead. The front line of guitars in early Beatles music leaned heavily on his 1958 Rickenbacker 325 Capri short-scale hollow body, which gave him comfort for fast tempo strumming patterns and live performance intensity. Songs like ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Twist and Shout’ demanded relentless down-stroke attack, techniques that would influence punk, metal, and alternative rock decades later.

Lennon’s songwriting underwent multiple creative phases:

1963–1964: Youth appeal dominated this phase, borrowing heavily from their collective pop and rock ’n’ roll heroes, as demonstrated in tracks such as ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘All My Loving’, and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. Although Lennon frequently used open chords, he mostly preferred barre chords to work his way around the fretboard; and to allow the strumming hand to be more ferocious and visceral without hitting unwanted strings, adding to the youthful energy the songs called for.

1965–1966: During the ‘Help!’ (1965), ‘Rubber Soul’ (1965) and ‘Revolver’ (1966) era, songs became more personal and experimental. The eponymous ‘Help!’ reflected his growing emotional transparency, while ‘Norwegian Wood’ introduced Eastern musical influences layered over acoustic progressions (though the sitar hook was recorded by George Harrison). This era marked Lennon’s adoption of his newly acquired 1965 Epiphone Casino hollow body, his most iconic electric guitar, offering greater resonance and comfort.

1968–1969: Lennon pushed guitar into rawer, more message-heavy territory.

‘Revolution’ and ‘Helter Skelter’ delivered some of the earliest examples of intentional heavy guitar distortion in mainstream rock, while ‘Come Together’ built its entire aura around a syncopated blues riff that values groove, attitude, and minimal movement over complexity.

1970–1980: After The Beatles disbanded in April 1970, Lennon released his first official solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970). The record emphasised emotional minimalism, raw tones, and responsive playing. Songs like ‘Working Class Hero’ cemented his acoustic folk protest voice, built around a simple Travis-picked progression played on his 1952 Gibson J-160E.

In 1971, ‘Imagine' became his most enduring solo anthem. Though piano based, the song has become a staple for acoustic guitar arrangements, alongside many Beatles songs that have become finger-style standards, and a right of passage for aspiring acoustic guitarists.

Lennon's guitar playing defined what it means to be a rhythm voice in a band setting. A lot of what us rhythm guitarists in any genre take for granted can be traced back to Lennon’s style and musical personality.

The use of consistent down strumming, iconic riff writing, and almost reckless abandon in his pick attack can be heard throughout rock, metal, and punk. His appreciation of blues and rock ’n’ roll chord voicings is still prevalent in today’s pop, rock, soul and R&B records. The first recorded feedback in 1964’s ‘I Feel Fine’ knocked down the door of what was ‘acceptable’ in the studio. His unique chord progressions and use of studio effects can still be heard in modern progressive rock (1967’s ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is considered by some to be the first progressive rock album).

Yet the emotion displayed in tender acoustic tracks such as ‘Across the Universe’ and ‘Julia’ remind us that our rhythm playing can evoke any feeling we want to convey to the lister, alongside such rock ’n’ roll belters as 'Back in the USSR' and ‘Get Back’.

Lennon attacked rhythm guitar like a second vocal—punctuating lyrical cadence and supporting the emotion of the song. He often strummed ahead of the beat to create forward motion that pulled the band into momentum—a characteristic especially audible in early Beatles live footage.