The Yardbirds' first attempt to record "Heart Full of Soul" was on 13 April 1965 at Advision Studios in London. The session began with the sitar player playing the distinctive instrumental hook or riff. However, he was unfamiliar with the type of rock sound the group was trying to achieve"It just didn't have any groove to it", Beck felt. McCarty added: "It was fine in principle, but while the tablas sounded OK, the sitar just wasn't up front enough. It just didn't cut through." Beck developed a riff on guitar to replace the sitar line. He elaborated in an interview: