Who plays the theremin on ‘Good Vibrations’?

Brian Wilson used an Electro-Theremin on The Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations’, played by its co-inventor Paul Tanner. The distinction matters because the instrument is often mistaken for a conventional theremin, although its controls and design were different.

Tanner, a former trombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, developed the device with engineer Bob Whitsell to make theremin-like sounds easier to control. He had also played it on ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’ and ‘Wild Honey’; only two units were made, and Tanner later sold them to a hospital. The song’s success helped popularise the conventional theremin, which Moog subsequently began mass-producing.