He was a decent guitarist, but not great. I appreciate that he ventured out into exploring the ukulele and the sitar. But he was no virtuoso either. The best licks were often done by visiting artists. Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, for instance. And that great in-your-face guitar on the single, Revolution? That's John Lennon. So Harrison served the group's purpose, but he was never one music's great guitarists.
Check this out. It's a perfect example of playing what the song needs, no more or less. He was only 25 years old playing this. I keep harping on his age, but it's hard to conceive somebody so young having the mindset to come up with this stuff.
I think it needs to be considered that George was playing solos showcasing a fairly wide range of styles in the early days, Rock & Roll, Country, Jazz, R&B, Standards, and started to explore Indian sounds. Occasionally, his solos sounded a little rough around the edges, but I give him the benefit of the doubt for being able to mostly pull off all of those styles at a young age.
As a non-guitar player (I'm a drummer), I have to say that while early George never blew the socks off his solos, some were a little lame as mentioned, by the middle sixties, he had discovered a tone on his guitar that still rings quite clearly through the years. There is no mistaking George's guitar on I Feel Fine, Paperback Writer, Ticket to Ride, as soon as any of them come on the radio (or whatever passes for radio these days) you know that it is George and the Beatles. By the way, it was true then as now, when a new song came on the radio those days, you could tell almost immediately that it was the Beatles, and you could tell by the way the guitar sounded--no one else sounded like that. I would hazard a guess that when someone says that a song sounds "Beatelesque" what they are really saying is that the band has a George Harrison guitar sound. His influence on guitarists over the years has been well established, his influence on what we mean when we say that someone sounds like the Beatles has been less overtly stated but his introductions to songs, especially in the middle period, established right off the bat who this was and why we should listen, which we did and still do. Well done, and nice thread.
I’ll go to bat for George as a player.... While George was never going to be a Clapton or a Beck or a Hendrix, he was nonetheless a good player, he knew how to craft a strong lead or solo that served the song, and indeed, when Paul’s Guy was getting together Beatles song to work through, he realized that George’s parts could not improved upon, they were perfect the way they were, and were a key part of the structure.
thats like saying James Burton wasnt any good because Joe Maphis played the solo on Waitin in School. Which visiting artists played the best licks? Sir Paul? Clapton was on one song, right? I'm unaware of this list of ghost sessions players you refer to. I cant disagree with your opinion more. oh well.
How about his solos in "Fixing a Hole", "Old Brown Shoe", "Something"? Who came up with that? These are the most brilliant guitar solos -- hard to find the equivalent in any other band's catalog.
The Ticket To Ride solo/riffs were Paul after the bridge and on the outro, and Paperback Writer features Paul playing the main guitar riff. I love George Harrison's guitar playing. Listening to his acoustic playing from the Esher Demos throughout the 70s, and especially his slide from ATMP on. Great stuff.
Okay.....sounds like you're sincere.....hard to tell sometimes. I'd say George was never a poor guitarist.......I think some inconsistencies early on were down to being uncomfortable........also Paul was still carping on his playing as late as Jan 1969 until John gently talked Paul into giving George more freedom mid-way thru the Get Back sessions (which is fascinating given John and George had recently been fighting too----maybe causing John to reflect and sober up a bit). There's no question that George improved as a guitarist throughout the 60s (aside from going thru a somewhat disinterested period in 1967)......and by Abbey Road he was a playing at an even higher level (but still humbly servicing the song).
not saying he didn't have great moments (although I don't think the 'Something' solo is one of them) , and the Beatles were always MUCH greater than the sum of their parts. But listen here (if the link works) as he tries a second solo on "TTWY" at the 2 minute mark on the Decca auditions. Its understandable why he would muffle his well thought out solo he would always play with the tune (audition nerves) , but at 1:59 he attempts a second one, this seems more like I would expect him to play on his own and on the spot.
Because I have heard people cite those two instances as examples of how good Harrison is. Could you cite a few examples of his work that shows him to be a virtuoso on his instrument as opposed to being merely serviceable? I'm surprised you can say that you couldn't disagree more. I mean, you could disagree, but not more. That would mean you think he was one of the world's greatest guitarists.
As a solo artist George was known for his tone in slide, but I’ll never forget this Carl Perkins special. Tons of guitarists in stage and his licks, played on a huge hollow body Gretsch just cut right through the mix. The sound he got out of that guitar was amazing - just an amazing rockabilly sound - and he know every Scotty Moore and James Burton lick cold. Stole the show. God, what a special guitarist.
Agree completely with everything you said about George. But implying that Hendrix & Page weren't listening, playing for the song, or thinking in terms of texture and color, is wrong. Just because they did have that higher gear as soloists and improvisers doesn't mean they didn't have the overall vision to apply more subtle techniques to their studio work.
Listen to "Things We Said Today" - is George's 12-string part not the coolest thing you've ever heard?
I have yet to find a guitar virtuoso who could pull off George's intro lick on "Octopuss's Garden". Sounds like a children's song on a casual listen, but try and play it the way George played it. I can replicate almost anything Clapton played, or Santana or many other guitar gods. But I tend to fail miserably when trying to nail some the stuff George played in the Beatles. I remain mystified -- how was he doing it? So I don't think someone of that stature could be labeled as a 'decent, but not great guitarist'.
George Harrison was considered to be a very good guitarist by the standards of the day (1964), but by 1968 he was pretty average when compared to his peers. Harrison was rather limited technically, which he admitted himself. Some of his early solos are almost embarrassingly bad. He developed his slide playing (with some help from Delaney, apparently) to compensate for the fact that he never expanded his soloing repertoire.
There was a great interview when Harrison and Clapton toured Japan in 1991. Clapton is describing George’s playing to the reporter then suddenly turns to George and says “I thought I heard you the other day in a video by this red haired girl.” George says he thinks it might have been him, but neither can remember her name. It was Belinda Carlisle and George’s solo begins at 3:03. I saw her last month and her guitarist played the solo verbatim - like most of George’s solos, it doesn’t make sense to change anything. The other slide solo I love is Badfinger’s “Day After Day.”
So....virtuoso or merely serviceable, nothing in between? OK. And who in this thread is claiming George was a virtuoso?? First of all, there aren't many virtuoso rock guitarists to begin with. Lots of no-name jazz players who studied music formally can play rings around some of my rock heroes. Not that it actually matters at all. Second, "merely serviceable" is the solid guy playing rhythm in a local cover band who can get through a bunch of 3 or 4 chord tunes and take a few solos without screwing up. If you can't hear that George was so much more than that, I honestly wonder what you are actually hearing.
I'm not impressed with Paul as a lead guitarist. Listen to his solos in the albums "McCartney" and "Ram." It so happened that Paul had a different idea on how to play the lead guitar on "Taxman" but that does not make him a better guitarist than George. Just listen to George's own guitar lead on the song "And Your Bird Can Sing," it's brilliant even though he admitted that he overdubbed it. The most important is George was a very creative, innovative and original guitarist. All in all, George Harrison is the better guitarist than Paul.
