(Credits: Far Out / Brian Wilson)
Sat 6 December 2025 17:00, UK
The musical mind of Brian Wilson almost defies explanation.
Many people have tried their best to work through what makes songs like ‘California Girls’ and ‘Good Vibrations’ sound the way they do, but when looking at the raw craftsmanship behind everything, it was clear there was a certain gene that put him on the same level as the likes of Beethoven and Mozart every time he made a record. But as much as the vocals may have been the selling point, Wilson always felt that every instrument had their own part to play in making his tracks iconic.
Then again, was there any reason to buy a Beach Boys record other than for the harmonies? Wilson’s greatest strong suit was arranging the vocals so they sounded like sun-kissed California angels half the time they played, and while the opening guitar lick in a song like ‘Surfin’ USA’ got stuck in your head almost instantaneously, it’s not like Wilson was worried about trying to make the most intricate guitar part or anything.
If you look at how closely he worked with The Wrecking Crew, though, he clearly had a strong idea for what he wanted a lot of his songs to sound like. They may have helped make his dreams a reality when working on records like Pet Sounds, but before a single person’s voice appears on the record, Hal Blaine’s fantastic drum hit at the top of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ is what caught everyone off guard.
Despite being the one handling the falsetto, Wilson also knew how to round out the low end every single time he arranged a tune. Mike Love may have had that natural low voice when working on ‘Good Vibrations’, but the reason why Wilson worked so closely with Carole Kaye on the same song is that he wanted the low end to be able to dance the same way that the vocals were half the time.
And that didn’t always mean following the chords, either. While everyone can joke that the bass player’s job is easy in any rock and roll outfit since they only play the root notes, Wilson had a unique opportunity here. The bass notes always change the chord when they move, and he felt that adding bass notes that were a fifth of the chord helped give every one of his songs a lot more definition.
The musical mastermind was never one for getting technical in interviews, but he felt that some of the best bass parts he made were those that relied on the fifths of chords, saying, “It was perfect. I was taught that from Phil Spector.” Kaye also added that there was an extra weight to the sound because of those chords, explaining, “He didn’t think on the bass like I would do as a bass player: ‘I’m trying to fit something to the tune; I’m gonna go for the root.’ So a lot of times, he didn’t go for the root. He went to the 5th.”
It wasn’t exactly normal by any stretch, but what he was doing on the bass was all that different from what a pianist would play if they were writing a classical piece. The lower notes aren’t meant to be stagnant, and when listening to the way that the chords dance throughout the intro to ‘Good Vibrations’, a lot of it comes down to the way that Kaye was playing melodies up and down the fretboard.
There had already been legends like James Jamerson paving the way for what Wilson did on bass, but getting those new sounds is half the reason why Paul McCartney was a bit intimidated listening back to those tunes. Their American friends had upped the ante, and with only one note change, Wilson made every one of those early hits seem like the most euphoric pop record of all time.
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