Electric Guitars

[Danhedonia]

OK, so mastering the obvious there ... listening to a bunch of songs on which he played lately, I was struck at how instantly recognizable he is, and wondered: how the hell DID he get that "singing" sound?  You know, like the solo in "Day After Day?"  The bends are soooo particular to him ...

[kayd_mon]

George was a truly special player. Some of my favorite lines and guitar tones came from George.

[Jkater]

Underrated in some circles. but a great player in his own right. His guitar work on the later Beatles album is stellar and distinctive.

[BeanoBoy]

I liked George's contributions on the early stuff. Concise, to the point: All My Lovin', Til There Was You. He floundered a bit for awhile and Paul McCartney played a lot of the memorable bits: Ticket to Ride, Daytripper,Taxman. Geoff Emerick, in his 'Here ,There and Everywhere' book often refers to George taking a LONG time to record his lines. He even had trouble with that cool cascading lick on Help. George came into his own on Abbey Road and All Things Must Pass. He found a signature style that had great influence.

[allthumz]

I'm watching AHD'sN right now!

I love his work on the 12 string Ric.

I read something lately (can't remember where) and the writer was wondering how he managed to play the music he did on a Ric 12 string. Is it hard to play? I've never even held a 12 string.

[Dr. Scottie C]

What sucked for George is that by mid-Beatles it was pretty obvious that Paul was by a country mile the best overall musician in the group..... Paul was the best guitarist, bassist, maybe drummer (we all know of the 5 or 6 Beatles tunes where it's actually Paul playing drums, not Ringo.... some Beatles books speculate there is more) Paul was also from a technical standpoint the best singer, oh....and he was writing most of the top 10 hits by himself, and he was taking over the controls in the sound room too. For all intents and purposes, if the Beatles started off as John's band, that had certainly shifted by no later than late 1966. No wonder the other boys were feeling more and more like Paul's backup band.

Ringo was also the cool one.... the one who got the most fan mail by a 3:1 ratio.

And while Macca could match Lennon's charisma, it was hard to top John's overall presence.

Where did that leave George? Pretty much forgotten until Abbey Road (the actual final Beatles recording...eventhough Let it Be was released later) ..... George's singing, playing and writing of "Something" and "Here comes the sun" rival some of Lennon or McCartney's best work..... had George's writing ability came to the Abbey Road level, say, 4-5 years sooner......whose to say what the Beatles catalog may look like.....

[Pepi]

 A lot of the leads in the Beatles song was done by Paul.  George was the best slide player.

[allthumz]

Dr. Scottie C wrote:

"What sucked for George is that by mid-Beatles it was pretty obvious that Paul was by a country mile the best overall musician in the group..... Paul was the best guitarist, bassist, maybe drummer (we all know of the 5 or 6 Beatles tunes where it's actually Paul playing drums, not Ringo.... some Beatles books speculate there is more) Paul was also from a technical standpoint the best singer, oh....and he was writing most of the top 10 hits by himself, and he was taking over the controls in the sound room too. For all intents and purposes, if the Beatles started off as John's band, that had certainly shifted by no later than late 1966. No wonder the other boys were feeling more and more like Paul's backup band.

Ringo was also the cool one.... the one who got the most fan mail by a 3:1 ratio.

And while Macca could match Lennon's charisma, it was hard to top John's overall presence.

Where did that leave George? Pretty much forgotten until Abbey Road (the actual final Beatles recording...eventhough Let it Be was released later) ..... George's singing, playing and writing of "Something" and "Here comes the sun" rival some of Lennon or McCartney's best work..... had George's writing ability came to the Abbey Road level, say, 4-5 years sooner......whose to say what the Beatles catalog may look like....."
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Good points! And, fun to speculate.

It would have been nice if John and Paul had helped him with his writing instead of blocking him. He did have a great group of songs ready for All Things Must Pass.

[Danhedonia]

It's always fun to speculate about the Beatles, innit? They were just that great. 

If I can jack my own thread a sec, think to the solo on (Badfinger's) "Day After Day" - anyone know the precise way to get those sort of bends?  Does he slide up the fretboard, beginning the bend before 'arriving' at the note's fret?  I know that to a degree, one can't dissect playing style, but shit, I just had this four-in-the-morning realization that I LOVE THAT SOUND .... and I just want to know about it, not even sure if I want to try to emulate it.

[docjeffrey]

I read Geoff Emerick's interview and I plan on getting the book. All three were very good guitarists. George was loved and appreciated by legions of fans long before Abbey Road. The Beatles core sound was heavily influenced by his playing the moment he joined the group, and his Rick 12 string heavily influenced many other bands including the Byrds-- years before they recorded their last album (Abbey Road). To say that he came into his own on their final tome is extremely biased and naive. His Buck Owens influenced riffs are all over ther early albums, and his Gretsch/Vox tone IS the sound of a lot of the early Beatles. I first saw them on the Tonight Show with Jack Parr long before Ed Sullivan brought them to the USA. I'll never forget that moment even though I eas only 8 years old.

[BeanoBoy]

George's lead skills were somewhat limited until Abbey Road. His early rhythm playing and quasi-country licks were of course integral to the Beatles' sound . I think George suffered from 'red light-itis'. Being in a band with John and Paul probably didn't help. I think when he hung out with Dylan and The Band and produced Jackie Lomax George started working from his strengths.

[docjeffrey]

We all need to back up a bit and gain some perspective here. The Beatles music from the outset was perfect within the context and the confines of the 2.5 minute radio hit. It was all about the song, not the guitar solo. In that context, all 4 of them excelled. They were hugely influenced by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds which challenged the Beatles to rethink their approach to arranging compositions and experimenting in the studio under the direction of Sir George Martin. This led to their iconic masterpieces--Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles, and eventually Abby Road. It had nothing to do with George becoming a great player--he was always outstanding. It was simply a progression of the sophistication of the genre and a reflection of what was happening in the industry at the time. George always possessed the requisite talents that propelled the Beatles into the most storied band in the history of modern music.

[docjeffrey]

By the way, if you need proof of George's skills, just listen to his 12 string work on the following:

You Can't do That

A Hard Day's Night

I Should Have Known Better

Any Time At All

I Call your Name

Eight Days a Week

Words of Love

Every Little Thing

What You're Doing

Ticket To Ride

And I Love Her

Then go back and check out his Duo Jet skills on:

Please Please Me

I saw Her Standing There

Anna

Chains

Boys

PS I Love You

A Taste of Honey

Twist and Shout

Please Mister Postman

His work on those songs among many others in the Beatles' catalog should be enough to convince anyone that Harrison was always an outstanding guitarist and a pioneer with the electric 12. 

Also, check out his Stratocaster work on Nowhere Man. He and Lennon played the solo in unison through two small amps with a mic set between them. Harrison added some fills and harmonics, and the band convinced the Abbey Road staff to keep adding more and more treble to the guitars by running them through several sets of faders in series. It's a fine example of not only Harrison's skills, but of everyone invloved including George Martin's heady contributions.

After you folks have seriously listened to the songs I've listed--I mean seriously listened--come on back and tell me that it wasn't until Abbey Road that George Harrison come into his own as a guitarist. Might as well check out Happy Just to Dance with You as well. Pull out a vintage sounding guitar and amp and try to duplicate his part and post it here. You'll find out how good George was in a hurry.

[onelife]

George Harrison once describe being in the Beatles as living life in a goldfish bowl. I think he realized that his guitar playing was also in the goldfish bowl and would be heavily scrutinized. As a result, he spent the time needed to make sure his parts were "memorable" and in support of the songs.

He also had the advantage of listening to his guitar playing as it developed because of the nature of his job.

As for the solo in "Day After Day" it sounds to me like it was played on slide guitar and the entire song was slowed down which results in some interesting sounding "bends".

[Danhedonia]

Wow, thanks for the contributions to an enjoyable thread!  KUDOS to you all ...

I got the slide part; I'm thinking more about when he does fills (whether DAD or another tune) there's that sing-songy thing ... do you know what I'm trying to say?  I know I'm doing a poor job.  Some guitarists I listen for a few seconds and I hear who it is - with very, very few, I instinctively and immediately know it's him.  I just do.  And it's a stylistic/technique thing, somehow ... it fascinates me.

I wish I were YouTube savvier, I'd find a lot of clips of him playing and look at them closely.

[Dr. Scottie C]

---

docjeffrey wrote:

By the way, if you need proof of George's skills, just listen to his 12 string work on the following:

You Can't do That

A Hard Day's Night

I Should Have Known Better

Any Time At All

I Call your Name

Eight Days a Week

Words of Love

Every Little Thing

What You're Doing

Ticket To Ride

And I Love Her

Then go back and check out his Duo Jet skills on:

Please Please Me

I saw Her Standing There

Anna

Chains

Boys

PS I Love You

A Taste of Honey

Twist and Shout

Please Mister Postman

His work on those songs among many others in the Beatles' catalog should be enough to convince anyone that Harrison was always an outstanding guitarist and a pioneer with the electric 12. 

Also, check out his Stratocaster work on Nowhere Man. He and Lennon played the solo in unison through two small amps with a mic set between them. Harrison added some fills and harmonics, and the band convinced the Abbey Road staff to keep adding more and more treble to the guitars by running them through several sets of faders in series. It's a fine example of not only Harrison's skills, but of everyone invloved including George Martin's heady contributions.

After you folks have seriously listened to the songs I've listed--I mean seriously listened--come on back and tell me that it wasn't until Abbey Road that George Harrison come into his own as a guitarist. Might as well check out Happy Just to Dance with You as well. Pull out a vintage sounding guitar and amp and try to duplicate his part and post it here. You'll find out how good George was in a hurry.

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Some very good points here.....let me counterpoint some:

1) George Martin has said that Paul was very particular about songs he wrote, or wrote most of( ie: "Hey Jude" is 100% Paul, "Penny Lane" 100% Paul, "What your doing".."Let it be".. 100% Paul...etc...) and in many cases would show George exactly what he wanted played....and was "kinda smarmy in that he would make it clear to George what he wanted and if George didn't feel he was up to the task, Paul would play it himself." 

2) Purely subjective....but in the song "The End" each McCartney, Harrison, and Lennon take 2 turns soloing (in that order).... one could argue that Paul outshines the other two.

3) Perhaps the Beatles 3 most memorable acoustic tracks feature Macca solo: Yesterday, I'll follow the sun, Blackbird

4) Heavy guitar work?? Macca was the guitarist on Helter Skelter, Taxman solo, Sgt Pepper, etc..

5) What about post Beatles work?? Mayhaps the 2 solos in Macca's "Maybe I'm Amazed" is the most humable guitar piece of any ex-Beatle after their official breakup.

6) In my opinion..... one of the Beatles best songs is George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"..... NOW I REALIZE that George didn't have the ego of Lennon or Macca.....and I realize that he brought Clapton in as a secret weapon to make sure that his song was put on the White Album...... BUT George should have worked out the parts and played it himself.

[larry50]

If Harrison hadn't had the chops, all the way around, he would have been dismissed from the group.  As it is, as noted by several posters, his guitar work, always underrated, was generally stellar with nary a note or chord out of place and was integral to and part and parcel of the classic Beatle sounds.  He appeared to have subordinated himself for the good of the group, surely recognizing that Paul and John were better songwriters than he.  He always came off as the good soldier, never complaining even during the public turmoil that enveloped them all, or if he did, it was concealed and done quietly in-house.  He was beloved. 

Even then, Harrison produced many Beatle and non-Beatle hits that continue to be as popular today as the day or days they were recorded.

[HeatherAnnePeel · Accepted solution]

George was one of the most tasteful guitarists, ever, period.

[wankdeplank]

Everything I've ever read regarding the band suggested that at the time John and Paul enlisted George he was considered the best guitarist around and was brought in specifically to infuse their melodies with fills and solos.  Now the fact that Lennon and McCarthy were the established songwriters of the band made Harrison's job very subordinate to the other two and I believe his job was to listen and regurgitate rather than create.  No one has mentioned the fact that whether or not Paul subbed for George in the studio to get what he wanted , Harrison played the bits live. 

I believe Harrison was always a gifted guitarist, but as the youngest member with little more than sideman status, it probably wasn't the best vehicle for his own development as an artist.  Still, when he did get around to it, his compositions were iconic and evocative.  While my guitar..., Here comes the sun, and Beware of Darkness are some of my faves. 

[BeanoBoy]

I saw the Beatles on the Jack Paar show as well. It whet my appetite for the Sullivan phenomena. I couldn't wait. As a teenaged fan/guitarist, I was (and remain) a dedicated "fan". As I got better on my instrument, I got a bit more objective in all of the Beatles' skills. Why did these guys mean so much to me? Before I read Geoff Emerick's book I had already felt that George , at times, struggled. I'm talking from a technical/ creative view. To be fair, Geoff comes across as a Paul McCartney fan, he admits his relationship with George was strained, so I take his account with a grain of salt. George WAS integral to the whole Beatles mystique/chemistry. As Dr. Scottie noted, I think very often George was given very specific direction by John and (especially) Paul. I'm looking at George's skills from purely an objective viewpoint, not a 'fan's" view.  Very often a person's limitations and flaws adds a human, sympathetic vibe to their music. I view some of George's Beatles work this way. I've listened to those songs most of my life, I wouldn't want ANYTHING changed. I dug the whole journey, warts and all.