McCartney was definitely the better musician even Lennon said his guitar skills were only average while McCartney can play over 40 instruments.
Conclusion: Paul Was The Greatest Beatle
There simply is no clear winner, but if pressed, I would say this analysis shows Paul as the slightly better song writer.
McCartney was more melodic and covered a broader range of topics in his lyrics. Lennon was more musically raw and his lyrics more personal. If that analysis failed, the song's lead vocalist was usually the primary writer.
Paul McCartney is unquestionably the best musician of The Beatles. He is the one who has achieved the most musically, as he plays the widest range of instruments, has created the most music in the widest variety of styles and genres, and has received the most recognition.
An analysis of the median number of song counts shows some interesting facts: Paul was the most popular Beatle! His median stream count is almost double that of John's.
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), McCartney is the most commercially successful songwriter in the history of popular music, according to Guinness World Records.
With some 60 gold records and sales of more than 100 million singles in the course of his career, McCartney is arguably the most commercially successful performer and composer in popular music.
In many respects Paul McCartney was the group's most rounded musician, and possibly even its best guitarist. It was he that devised many of the riffs and even played some of the most memorable solos, such as on Taxman (Revolver), Ticket To Ride and his killer Epiphone Casino riff on Paperback Writer.
It's easy to see why those two extremely popular British bands were pitted against each other, but when it came to innovations in the songwriting, arrangements, and production of pop music in the 1960s, The Beatles' greatest rivals were The Beach Boys.
George was recognised as the best guitarist by John and Paul. Paul was the best bass player - he was one of the best players in the world. Ringo was a brilliant drummer.
In fact, for much of The Beatles early songwriting career, he and Paul McCartney would trade their lyrics and songs and they'd both be undoubtedly influenced by one man, Chuck Berry.
Why did George Harrison believe that Paul McCartney had "ruined" him as a guitarist, as he purportedly said in an interview in the seventies? Not at all. Paul was the better at the standard blues rock leads of the day, but Harrison was a more versatile player and his playing was the result of more influences.
McCartney's genius goes well beyond 'catchy tunes' or studio-based wizardry. Composer Howard Goodall argues that The Beatles single-handedly re-established the power of melody for a mass audience, in the way classical composers had done previously.
Harrison later went on record stating he was frustrated because he had a growing backlog of new material, but constantly had to work on Lennon and McCartney's songs before the group could begin rehearsing his.
Ringo was kind, warm, had no ego issues and always looked fondly towards the other band members.
Jimi Hendrix is the most skilled and innovative guitar player of all time, and it's not particularly close.
Whilst there are a couple of figures that made strong claims, including Chuck Berry whom Lennon once described as rock and roll incarnate, we think it's safe to say that old 'Slowhand' himself, Eric Clapton, was Lennon's favourite ever guitarist.
The Beatles
“None of us could read music… None of us can write it.” John Lennon admitted this about the band in a 1980 Playboy interview, “but as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they [Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr] are as good as anybody.”
Although their intimate conversations remained private, Paul's wife Linda McCartney once revealed John Lennon's last words to his former band mate. As Ultimate Classic Rock reveal, they were: “Think about me every now and then, old friend.”
I owe a lot of what I do to Little Richard and his style, and he knew it. He would say, 'I taught Paul everything he knows'”.
The band Paul McCartney said could “out sing” The Beatles
He wrote: “I'm lucky, I have a friend who sends me new music which helps me keep in touch with the modern scene. So I listen to people like Dominic Fike, Beck, St Vincent, and Khruangbin.
In a decade that produced countless hits for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard and many more, Ken Dodd's track outsold them all – except for two songs by The Beatles: She Loves You and I Want to Hold Your Hand, both released in 1963.
Elvis Presley, recognised as the best-selling solo music artist of all time by Guinness World Records, sold over 400.