Aside from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, numerous musicians and other people featured on official recordings by the Beatles. These include friends and family of the group, the band's entourage, and numerous session musicians. Original members Pete Best (drums) and Stuart Sutcliffe (bass guitar) appeared on early recordings; the former on the group's recording of "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan, and both on various tracks released on Anthology 1.

The instruments contributed to Beatles recordings range from traditional orchestral instruments—such as violin, viola and cello—to an alarm clock and a pile of gravel.

The first half of the Beatles' career—from the early 1960s until 1966—rarely saw the band use any extra musicians, though George Martin (their producer) occasionally added keyboard instruments to augment their sound. As their career progressed and their influences widened, the group began to experiment in the studio. Martin started to orchestrate for the band; his first major orchestration for the group was the string quartet on "Yesterday". In 1966, the band stopped touring and concentrated on studio experimentation, creating soundscapes and orchestrations that required numerous musicians (the orchestra on 1967's "A Day in the Life" was accommodated in Abbey Road's large Studio One, rather than the group's usual room in Studio Two). It was also around this time that the Beatles visited India, and—particularly Harrison—became influenced by Indian culture and music, leading to the group's use of traditional Indian instruments in their arrangements. Shortly before the group's demise at the end of the decade, keyboardist Billy Preston was brought in to add to their sound while they tried to return to their rock 'n' roll roots. The group wanted what was to become their final album, Let It Be, to be raw with minimal overdubs. After producer Glyn Johns left the project, Phil Spector hired in numerous session musicians to provide orchestral overdubs, in contrast to the group's original back-to-basics ideas.

Omissions Session musicians' names and roles for some performances were not recorded or have been lost—this is the case for the recordings of "Good Night" and "Yellow Submarine"; Phil Spector's orchestral overdubs for "The Long and Winding Road", "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine"; the string sections on "Something", "Here Comes the Sun", "Carry That Weight", "Golden Slumbers" and "The End"; the orchestra on "Hey Jude"; the saxophonists on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"; the trumpeters and trombonists on "Mother Nature's Son"; the brass and string players on "Let It Be"; the cellist on "Blue Jay Way" and the Asian Music Circle musicians on "Love You To" (performing on sitar and tambura) and "Within You Without You" (performing on dilruba, swarmandal, tabla and tambura).

In February 1978, session drummer Bernard Purdie claimed that he had overdubbed drums for 21 Beatles recordings in the summer of 1963, the veracity of which remaining unsubstantiated. He stated that Brian Epstein paid him a five-figure sum to overdub a drum track at Capitol Records' West 46th Street studios in New York City, and that the payment also bought his silence. Purdie has also implied that some guitar parts for early Beatles recordings were also overdubbed, and there are also suggestions that Purdie and Cornell Dupree overdubbed drums and guitar parts for the Tony Sheridan recordings. His claim was repeated in Max Weinberg's 1984 book The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Greatest Drummers, where he refused to name which songs he had played on and stated that "Ringo never played on anything [...] not the early Beatles stuff." Barry Miles wrote that Purdie was hired in 1962 to replace Pete Best's drumming from some of the band's recording sessions that had taken place in Hamburg.

Also omitted from this list are the instances where people's voices are captured on the recordings, but do not constitute part of the musical performance, such as Geoff Emerick's announcement of "take two" at the beginning of "Revolution 1", and the various announcers, interviewers and presenters on Live at the BBC.

Jimmie Nicol stood in for Starr for eight performances during the band's 1964 tour. He did not feature on record, but his performances were captured by audience bootlegs and broadcasts by AVRO in the Netherlands and 5DN in Australia.

Indirect performances By the mid-1960s, the Beatles became interested in tape loops and found sounds. Early examples of the group sampling existing recordings include loops on "Revolution 9" (the repetitive "number nine" is from a Royal Academy of Music examination tape, some chatter is from a conversation between George Martin and Apple office manager Alistair Taylor, and a chord from a recording of Sibelius's Symphony No. 7 is also included) and "I Am the Walrus", which contained a radio broadcast of the BBC Third Programme's production of King Lear. The part of the broadcast included on the record features John Hollis as Oswald, John Rye as Edgar, and Brewster Mason as the Earl of Gloucester.

For the introduction to "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill", a stock Mellotron sample of a Spanish guitar was used. The recording, performed by an unknown guitarist, was supervised by Eric Robinson.

A Frederick Alexander—cellist; session musician. Contributed cello to "Martha My Dear" Peggie Allen—vocalist; session musician and member of the Mike Sammes Singers. Contributed vocals to "I Am the Walrus" Jane Asher—Paul McCartney's then-girlfriend. Contributed vocals to "All You Need Is Love" Neil Aspinall—the group's road manager and business partner. Contributed guiro to "Strawberry Fields Forever" and vocals to "Yellow Submarine"

B

Mia Barcia-Colombo–cellist; session musician. Contributed cello to "Now and Then" Ted Barker—trombonist; session musician. Contributed trombone to "Martha My Dear" Michael Barnes—tuba player; session musician. Contributed tuba to "A Day in the Life" Ken Barrie—vocalist; session musician and member of the Mike Sammes Singers. Contributed vocals to "Good Night" Peter Beavan—cellist; session musician. Contributed cello to "Within You Without You" Lionel Bentley—violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "A Day in the Life" Pete Best—drummer; original member. Contributed drums to "Ain't She Sweet", "Bésame Mucho", "Cry for a Shadow", "Hello Little Girl", "Like Dreamers Do", "Love Me Do", "My Bonnie", "Searchin'", "The Sheik of Araby", and "Three Cool Cats" on Anthology 1 Anil Bhagwat—tabla player; session musician. Contributed tabla to "Love You To" Leo Birnbaum—violist; session musician. Contributed viola to "Hello, Goodbye" and "Martha My Dear" Charlie Bisharat–violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "Now and Then" Greg Bowen—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet to "Strawberry Fields Forever" Eric Bowie—violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "All You Need Is Love", "Glass Onion" and "Piggies" Pattie Boyd—George Harrison's wife from 1966 until after the Beatles' split. Contributed vocals to "All You Need Is Love", "Birthday" and "Yellow Submarine" Desmond Bradley—violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "A Day in the Life" Alan Branscombe—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed tenor saxophone to "Got to Get You into My Life" Lizzie Bravo—vocalist; Apple scruff. Contributed vocals to "Across the Universe" Jack Bremer—clarinettist; session musician. Contributed clarinet to "A Day in the Life" Sheila Bromberg—harpist; session musician. Contributed harp to "She's Leaving Home" Raymond Brown—trombonist; session musician. Contributed trombone to "A Day in the Life" James W. Buck—horn player; session musician. Contributed French horn to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" Caroline Buckman–violist; session musician. Contributed viola to "Now and Then" Andrew Bulbrook–violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "Now and Then" John Burden—horn player; session musician. Contributed French horn to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" Robert Burns—clarinettist; session musician. Contributed clarinet to "When I'm Sixty-Four"

C

Leon Calvert—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet and flugelhorn to "Martha My Dear" and trumpet to "Penny Lane" Barrie Cameron—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed saxophone to "Good Morning Good Morning" Duncan Campbell—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet to "Penny Lane" Ronald Chamberlain—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed saxophone to "Honey Pie" Hariprasad Chaurasia—flautist; session musician. MacDonald credits the shehnai on "The Inner Light" to Chaurasia or S. R. Kenkare Jim Chester—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed saxophone to "Honey Pie" Alan Civil—horn player; session musician. Contributed French horn to "A Day in the Life" and "For No One" Eric Clapton—guitarist and then-member of Cream. Contributed vocals to "All You Need Is Love" and electric guitar to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Frank Clarke—bassist; session musician. Contributed double bass to "Penny Lane" Freddy Clayton—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet to "Penny Lane" and trumpet to "Revolution 1" Giovanna Clayton–cellist; session musician. Contributed cello to "Now and Then" Peter Coe—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed tenor saxophone to "Got to Get You into My Life" Derek Collins—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed tenor saxophone to "Savoy Truffle" Les Condon—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet to "Got to Get You into My Life" Roy Copestake—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet to "Magical Mystery Tour" Bert Courtley—trumpeter; session musician. Contributed trumpet and flugelhorn to "Penny Lane" Keith Cummings—violist; session musician. Contributed viola to "Glass Onion" and "Piggies"

D Fred Dachtler—vocalist; session musician and member of the Mike Sammes Singers. Contributed vocals to "I Am the Walrus" Alan Dalziel—cellist; session musician. Contributed cello to "A Day in the Life" and "She's Leaving Home" Hunter Davies—journalist. Contributed vocals to "All You Need Is Love" Bernard Davis—violist; session musician. Contributed viola to "A Day in the Life" Henry Datyner—violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "A Day in the Life", "Glass Onion" and "Piggies" June Day—vocalist; session musician and member of the Mike Sammes Singers. Contributed vocals to "I Am the Walrus" Rijram Desad—harmonium player; session musician. Contributed harmonium to "The Inner Light" Donovan—folk singer-songwriter. Contributed vocals to "Yellow Submarine"

E Rose Eccles—wife of Graham Nash. Contributed vocals "All You Need Is Love" Gwynne Edwards—violist; session musician. Contributed viola to "A Day in the Life" Art Ellefson—saxophonist; session musician. Contributed tenor saxophone to "Savoy Truffle" Jack Ellory—flautist; session musician. Contributed flute to "The Fool on the Hill" Ralph Elman—violinist; session musician. Contributed violin to "I Am the Walrus" and "Within You Without You" Jack Emblow—accordionist; session musician. Contributed accordion to "All You Need Is Love" Geoff Emerick—one of the group's engineers. Contributed vocals to "Yellow Submarine" Ken Essex—violist; session musician. Contributed viola to "Hello, Goodbye" and "Yesterday" Mal Evans—the group's road manager. Contributed harmonica to "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"; alarm clock and piano to "A Day in the Life"; hand claps to "Dear Prudence" and "Birthday"; trumpet to "Helter Skelter", anvil to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"; handbell to "What's the New Mary Jane"; tambourine to "Strawberry Fields Forever"; bass drum and vocals to "Yellow Submarine"; a pile of gravel dug with a shovel to "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"; and Hammond organ to "You Won't See Me"

F

Marianne Faithfull—pop singer. Contributed vocals to "All You Need Is Love" and "Yellow Submarine"