Was George Harrison a Good Guitarist?! | Friday Fretworks

hey guys i'm chris buck i'm very warm welcome to friday threat works and this week we're taking a look at george harrison just how good was he really a few weeks ago i was asked to contribute a few words about one of my favorite george harrison moments for an article that was to appear in guitar world magazine needless to say as an avid reader of guitar world and as a big beatles fan and as a big george harrison fan in particular i was incredibly flattered to have been asked even more so when the article was released and i saw that as well as myself they'd asked a couple of cool players to say the least andy summers paul gilbert joe satriani joe bonamassa warren haynes robin ford tommy emmanuel eric johnson zach wilde vince gill bernie marsden and ingram to name but a few needless to say all of those guys had nothing but incredible things to say about george harrison's capabilities both as a songwriter and as a guitar player but not surprisingly upon the reveal of the cover on social media they were so we say a smattering of comments from people who for one of a better phrase just don't get it and as much as that may seem sacrilegious at first glance it's important to remember that the beatles split up 52 years ago and as such the context around what they achieved for not only popular music but guitar music can sometimes be forgotten especially by the younger generation through no fault of their own i guess just due to the fact that there are so many incredible musicians and guitar players out there today that the lineage of the instruments and its forefathers it's important to remember that the beatles were initially turned down by deck of records because guitar music was on its way out it's all very easy to forget and as such today's video i'm going to be taking a look at my top five george harrison beetle moments and how he really set the standard of musicians who lived to serve the song let's delve right in first up my own personal choice for the guitar world article as well as bernie marsden and andy timmons it turns out till there was you taken from the beatles second album with the beatles released in 1963. it's a testament not only to the beatles sometimes unusual cover song choices as well as an absolute master class from george harrison when it comes to playing the changes playing the changes of course just meaning following the chord tones of the track to the relevant harmonies that you play on top now if you're on instagram at all odds on you will have become aware of this almost becoming a style of playing unto itself in recent years thanks to the explosion of neo soul but a lot of that stuff that i see is often a kind of exercise in dexterity more than it is musicality but here george absolutely nails it with a fairly ambitious solo but never was feeling contrived or calculated it's musical it's melodic and it's absolutely effortless really is a master class and remember that he was only 20 years old at the time now to approximate his guitar tone or at least the live version of this track i'm going to be using a gretch country gent sounds a little bit like this [Music] [Music] next up a track that was instrumental in catapulting the beatles into superstardom and really kickstarting beatlemania of course all my loving now it's easy to see the influence of the likes of scotly moore and chet atkins in this track especially in george's use of hybrid picking but again for a solo that is only the better part of 11 seconds long he says so much in so little time it's a master class in how to write a musically stimulating and interesting guitar part but ultimately making sure that first and foremost it serves the song it's such a small part of the track but again you can't really imagine it without it really is a brilliant use of space [Music] my next choice is a fairly unusual one i guess it's the only moment i can think of of george and john playing together in unison but the solo from nowhere man is precisely that despite i guess at first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that it's just george on a 12 string however close to listen clearly reveals the discrepancies not only in their playing but their tuning of course it was famously the two plugged into two different inputs on the same amplifier playing simultaneously both on their newly acquired 1962 sonic blue stratocasters can't find any conclusive evidence to say that it is george's part of course it's john's song but it has george harrison written all over it short and sweet brilliant use of chords within a solo something the likes of hendrix would later take to the next level and again just a brilliant use of space of course ending on that beautiful harmonic leading you perfectly into the next [Music] verse next up we have arguably my favorite george harrison solar with push game shove i guess hey bulldog not only for the brilliant guitar player which is truly amazing but the biting snarling aggressive guitar tone that he uses on the track which i guess is fairly uncharacteristic for george of course famously using his 64 gibson sg i'll be using my 61 sg reissue to try and approximate that guitar tone but as cool as the guitar tone is the real star of this solo for me is his use of repetition this is something i've spoken about at length in previous videos actually uploaded a video about repetition in guitar solos which i shall link to above if you're interested but that use of recurring themes or motifs really is the master class in this solo and to itself you pretty much split it into either two or four sections depending on how you look at it if we're thinking of as two sections the first two turnarounds are pretty much verbatim of each other however the third and fourth then resolve slightly differently and of course you have that reference to the early high b note this time as a high e note all lead into that sense of climax and tension and release that george was absolutely brilliant at it's no end of guitar solos have fallen in its wake that use very similar themes the obvious example i can think of is taken from back in black by ac dc coincidentally playing on an sg which uses that sense of recurring and developing melodic changes all around a very similar theme george wasn't the first but he was an absolute master lastly we have probably most frequently used example when it comes to demonstrating george's capabilities not only as a guitar player but as a songwriter it's not much to say about something that hasn't been said already to some degree truly is one of the most exquisite bits of guitar playing that you will ever likely hear touch tone taste no choice all combined to absolutely breathtaking effect on occasion you've got those repeated phrases in the midsection which help you transition beautifully from that first to that last section and again following the chord changes out of the solo is just absolutely effortless it truly is a master class in how to say so much but relatively speaking saying very very low you're going to hear me play it now but if by some miracle you never heard the original i implore you to go and check it out it really is [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Applause] [Music] and there you have it clearly and justifiably so there's no shortage of people bending over backwards to express their love adoration and reverence for george harrison both as a guitar player and as a songwriter but for the reasons i spoke about at the start of this video it doesn't hurt to reiterate them every now and then as ever i'm chris buck you're watching friday frat works thank you very much for watching please subscribe hit the bell icon if you haven't already and i shall see you next week for another episode cheers guys take care i'll see you soon

Channel: Chris Buck

Views: 579,262

Keywords: George Harrison, The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison Guitar, George Harrison Guitar Lesson, Gretsch George Harrison, George Harrison Rickenbacker, George Harrison Gibson SG, Hey Bulldog Guitar, Something Guitar, All My Loving Guitar, Till There Was You Guitar, Gretsch Country Gent, Nowhere Man Guitar, Rickenbacker 12 String, Hard Day's Night, Rick Beato, Pete Thorn, Paul Davids, Tim Pierce, Rhett Shull, Mary Spender, Rob Chapman

Id: EnNynxZ7lsk

Length: 8min 34sec (514 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/ronanobama]

Yes he was

[u/konajinx]

He got better as he got older. Although he could make it through an entire solo without muffing up the notes like Dave Davies during the Kinks’ early days.

[u/TheDrRudi]

TL/DW:

[u/Davidd_gillmore]

Is grass green? Is water wet? Find out on Friday fretworks

[u/tommytimbertoes]

Yes he was.

[u/JoeNScott]

Compared to his peers, not particularly.

[u/Previous-Music718]

Okay, George Harrison was a fine guitar player, but what happened to the guitar he's playing in the thumbnail. I know one of his Gretsch Country Gentleman was ran over, but what happened to the one in the thumbnail of the video, like I see a neck pickup, and a volume knob completely missing, what happened!!!

[u/Ivan_Botsky_Trollov]

yes definitely one of the greats

Although, not a virtuoso at the level of Satriani, Hendrix et al.... different kind of guitar player