Similarly, I remember McCartney saying he started to realize there was some musical control you could have in a song, not just having to play "root of the chord" bass notes.

"Yeah, as time went on, definitely bass, I started to think, Wow, you know? Once I realized that you didn’t have to just play the root notes. If it was C, F, G, then it was normally C, F, G that I played. But I started to realize that you could be pulling on that G, or just staying on the C when it went into F. And then I took it beyond that..... Once you realized the control you had over the band, as we talked about earlier, you were in control. They can’t go anywhere, man. Ha! Power!"

(source: https://reverb.com/news/interview-paul-mccartney-on-his-life...)

100%. Every Little Thing She Does by the Police has only two chords in the verses but Stings choice of bass notes make it sound like 8+, root notes be damned.

Whenever I hear that song, I wish the intro would just go on and on and on.

Regarding the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night," George said

> It is F with a G on top (on the 12-string), but you’ll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story

Playing rootless triads really brings this home. It allows jazz guitar players to have greater better mobility by offloading the bass to the bassist, but if you play a rootless ii-V-I exclusively on the guitar, the chords loose all their color/character.

Yep, the hardest thing about learning to comp is that you can't do it alone.

Unless your name is Joe Pass.