In 2017, marking the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an extraordinary opportunity arose to perform George Harrison’s “Within You Without You” live onstage. Having previously immersed myself in Indian music, particularly tabla drumming in both California and India, singing “Within You Without You” alongside a full Indian ensemble and string quartet was an unforgettable experience. This journey into the song sparked an exploration: could this complex and evocative piece be translated to the guitar? While Harrison himself reportedly played guitar on the original Sgt. Pepper’s recording, its presence is subtle. This arrangement seeks to bring the song’s essence to the forefront on the guitar.
Drawing from Indian musical traditions, “Within You Without You” diverges from typical Western song structures by eschewing chord changes. The melody gracefully unfolds over a drone – a foundation of root and fifth intervals traditionally played on the tambura. To emulate this sonic landscape on the guitar, a unique tuning was adopted: C G D G B D, coupled with a partial capo placed at the 5th fret across the top five strings. This configuration yields open-string pitches of C C G C E G, effectively establishing an open C tuning. It’s worth noting that while the Sgt. Pepper’s track is presented in C#, the original recording was in C and subsequently sped up, making this arrangement true to the original performance key.
Throughout Harrison’s original track, the dilruba, an Indian bowed instrument, mirrors the vocal melody. This arrangement assigns that melodic role to the guitar. The melody is initially played on the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings, and then ascends an octave for the final verse and bridge. Although not fully transcribed here due to space constraints, the concluding verse’s melody primarily navigates the second string, mirroring the instrumental sections. In select passages, such as measures 31–32 and 47–49, the guitar takes on melodic fills originally performed by the string section. A flatpick is employed to articulate these lines, interwoven with open-string drones that resonate around the melodic notes. This arrangement readily lends itself to fingerstyle interpretation, offering versatility for solo guitar performance.
Rhythmically, the vocal segments of the song are structured in tintal, a 16-beat cycle, represented here in 4/4 time. Measures 7–10 serve to establish this rhythmic foundation. On the backbeats, a percussive element is introduced by thumping the picking hand’s palm on the lower strings near the bridge, adding subtle rhythmic texture. The instrumental section on Sgt. Pepper’s is based on the 10-beat cycle jhaptal. This arrangement streamlines this section with a condensed solo that remains within the 4/4 time signature for accessibility.
“Within You Without You” undeniably transcends conventional pop/rock song structures, yet it also incorporates deviations from the strictures of traditional Indian music. Harrison masterfully crafted a genuine hybrid, pioneering a path for the global music fusions that would follow.
This article was originally featured in the February 2018 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. Copyright restrictions limit the availability of the music for “Within You Without You” to that publication.
