Listen To The Mysterious Ghost Guitar Solo In “Let It Be”

If you listen carefully to the “Let It Be” version from May 1970 versus the version that came out two months earlier, you would notice that the tracks do not have the same guitar solos. How could that be?

One of the main reasons for this is the creatives behind the respective versions. George Martin was responsible for the 45-RPM track while the album version was produced by Phil Spector. The song was originally incepted at the Get Back sessions, with Paul McCartney on piano and vocals, John Lennon on bass, George Harrison on lead (Stratocaster), Billy Preston on organs, and Ringo Starr on drums.

When plans for Let It Be’s release came, the tracklisting was curated by Martin and the rest of the Beatles’ members except for John Lennon. New instrumentals and vocal harmonies were also added, which came with Harrison’s new guitar solo using a Les Paul. What’s interesting is that the ghost guitar solo in either of the tracks, which was the result of Harrison’s earlier Stratocaster solo that was deleted from the mix. Some speculate that it might have leaked into the other instruments’ microphones, hence the faint but notable “ghost” notes from the solo.