His work as an arranger often went uncredited. For instance, it was his idea for the end-chord harmony voicing for 'She Loves You'. And the break-down of 'We Can Work It Out' into a 'German waltz' in the middle-eight was his idea.
+1 for sure. By this point, George was peaking as a musician, songwriter and collaborator; sending the other two declining talents into happy-family retreat I guess his main downside would be lack of spontaneity in his general work, so this was also in conflict with the more sloppy/spontaneous other two
George's guitar playing, both with The Beatles and solo, sounds better to me than that of many who are far more dexterous and technically proficient.
Here's George's guitar parts in 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' - the Beatles' big breakthrough hit in the States. All the melodicism and rhythmic accentuated touches are all there, and they're little piece elements we forever associate with the song. It's a veritable showcase in restraint for him. While the rest of the band plows ahead, George sits back surveying the overall landscape and taking stock of the situation while adding his accents, flourishes, and textures, sometimes behind, or leaving his sound to ring and fade while the others are rowing forward, like the ripples of a pond. He doesn't even bother playing at all in the chorus. Throughout the song, with his intermittent playing, there are almost 30 seconds in which he does not play; the literal picking of spots. And, conceptually, the twangy elements he adds here and there should not work… but of course they do, all too well. I wonder how much time he had to work his part out, or if it was even a case of that. Another guitarist might have not known instinctually what to play, and gotten the whole thing wrong. George went in the complete opposite direction. He was the secret weapon. People who think he's 'bad' or just 'adequate' just don't get it.
And how about the guitar solo in 'Can't Buy Me Love'? It goes beyond the call, and is the pure 'rock' dagger ingredient after Paul's banshee scream in the song. A wild guitar solo for the time - and five months before the Kink's 'You Really Got Me'.
Sometimes I read these threads and they seem like: I'm at a Glenn Miller concert circa 1942 and someone says 'That guitarist is lame! He can't even shread'
I really like some of the chord type solos he done on the early beatle albums. Cleverly composed. Fit the songs perfectly.
Actually, he doesn’t listen to any rap whatsoever. Did you even know I was talking about a mate and not myself because that seems like an odd assumption given the complete lack of any mention of rap. Also, goes to prove your ignorance. What do you think the music in the background is composed of, exactly?
Maybe the single version? It has a different guitar solo to the album version. I’m not saying that at all. I understand that being a good guitarist is more than playing the notes fast. I admit to my ignorance about everything else however, that’s why I’m making it clear that I don’t know what I’m talking about and that’s why I’m asking the question in the first place.
George was the Beatle who improved the most over the course of being in the band and, I believe, it happened in part due to competing with John and Paul. Just listen to "Something", from the song to his solo and everything else. He had come a long way since "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Don't Bother Me". Dan
I'm not singling you out just speaking in general. Patti Harrison once spoke about a guitar duel between George and Eric that went on for hours with Eric winning, but is that surprising? What's surprising to me is that it went on for hours and George was offering competition to what some consider one of the greatest guitarists on the planet. If he was crap the competition would have lasted about a minute...
Honestly I never think of the Beatles as a "guitar" band, even though there were often two guitars playing. It's more about the vocals/lyrics and atmosphere than anything else. Regarding George Harrison - very competent, though no guitar god. But his playing was absolutely perfect for the other talents of the group. Imagine replacing him with Hendrix or Clapton. It would have been very, very weird.
What? was he supposed to come in and shred on Love Me Do? Those simple guitar solos fit those early songs perfectly.
As a guitarist with the Beatles he was one of the best composers in rock, though he rarely got the credit he deserved. He composed beautiful melodies to go in the middle of the majority of Beatles songs and executed them perfectly on guitar. Far more impressive to me than effortlessly (and often mindlessly) running fast pentatonic scales like so many blues based guitarists that got much more acclaim in other 60s rock bands. Also tasty, flowing and precise on the Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins styled licks. The comment above that he used simple chords is ridiculous compared to what other rockers were doing in that era. Sure he was not playing jazz, but he used way more 6th, major 7ths, diminished and augmented chords than were common in rock.
And some of those are real finger breakers too; Beatles songs can sometimes be deceptively complex in their chording.
This horse has been beaten to death here many times. Poor horse. Inevitably these discussions make it sound like George Harrison and Ringo Starr were inveterate fumblers, and the luckiest people on earth to be part of the Beatles. Nonsense. George was a great rock and roll guitarist throughout Beatles career. Right from start of recording career Please Please Me lp (Saw Her Standing There solo) to end.
The deeper I get into this thread the sillier it seems. That said, I was listening to "Yer Blues" earlier this week and wondering if George played lead ? I suspect it might have been Eric, as I had also watched Clapton and Lennon play this on the Stones' Rock N Roll Circus.
Certainly good enough for his own or Beatles material. But, overall, not a jaw dropping player, but better than 'functional'. He had a good sense of melody and chording I think.
George was not a flashy player but he played with feeling which is wayyyyyyy more important than technical 'chops'. It's kinda funny about Ringo because a lot of drummers say he sucks. Ask those same drummers to play some of Ringo's drums fills and they fail MISERABLY every time. It's quite funny. A simple fills like the ones in Strawberry fields sound easy but drummers can't get the same feel or 'swing' that Ringo has. Another is She Said, She Said.. Seriously, it's funny to watch drummers fumble.. Anyway, back to George.. Great guitar player in my opinion..
