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Paul McCartney performs as part of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, 2009 (© Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis)

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The following interview was conducted in 2004 and first published by Guitar World Acoustic, then later as part of The Guitarist Book Of Acoustic:

"Yesterday," sings Paul McCartney, "all my troubles seemed so far away." It is the Ed Sullivan Show, and as his fellow Beatles wait in the wings, Paul does it on his own with nothing but an Epiphone Texan acoustic guitar and an off-screen string quartet.

One month later, on 12 September, 1965, 73 million people watch the performance on TV – among them some of my American family: brother James, who is 12, cousin Goldie, just one year younger, and me, about to turn seven.

"This is so old-fashioned," complains James. "Shh," interjects the awestruck Goldie, today a grandmother who staunchly denies that she ever collected Beatles cards. I say only: "It's such a pretty song."

I know that if I were to insert my present-day self into that scene, I would say something like, He doesn't really have much of a fingerpicking technique, does he? His hands are all over the place. Or, He's playing an Epiphone acoustic. He's a Beatle – couldn't he afford a Gibson J-200, or a Martin? But I also would have admitted that McCartney's playing, for all its inelegance, was spot-perfect and beautifully conceived, with flowing chord changes effortlessly anticipated by bass runs.

The interesting thing is that while Paul McCartney himself, now 62 years old and a long way from Yesterday, would relate more to the response of my juvenile self and pre-teen brother and cousin, he would to some extent agree with the hypercritical and elitist observations his performance would probably evoke today. This is clear because McCartney met with Guitar World Acoustic recently and, for the first time, offered a detailed assessment of his acoustic guitar playing – perhaps the one aspect of his, let's face it, miraculous talent that is underrated.

Even as he speaks in considerable detail of some of the inventive and memorable acoustic guitar parts he played as a Beatle and in his solo career, he says things like, "You know, I'm not really technical," and, "I never learned the proper way of picking." With regard to his guitars, he insists, "I was never really so concerned about the instrument as I was about the song."

It's usually the case that brilliant guitarists who denigrate some aspect of their playing, or claim to be disinterested in their gear, are as believable as football strikers who claim to not worry whether they're scoring as long as the team wins. You can believe McCartney, however, a man who indeed does not play the "right" way, and who hasn't filled his basement with rare and delectable guitars – or basses, for that matter.

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