{ Lick That Riff! }

Hello everyone, hope you had a fantastic weekend. Mine was ok, felt a bit ill Saturday though so didn’t do too much.

Anyway lets get back into a new week with another Hero Worship post. And this week’s Hero comes in the form of the Legendary George Harrison. The lead guitarist in the Beatles and a great solo artist aswell. Great friends with legends such as Clapton, even after Eric had an affair with George’s missus.

What Total Guitar said:

You know him by his: Beautifully constructed ‘song within a song’ solos, exquisite slide guitar style that owes nothing to blues of country, and the convoluted, weaving chord sequences of each of his songs.

Greatest Moment: The monumental solo on Something, from the album, Abbey Road. It builds into a glorious, sweeping sequence of notes that’s almost impossible to out-do.

George Harrison was only 19-years-old when The Beatles first single, Love Me Do, limped into the UK charts at No.17, in November 1962, and a mere 24-years-old when Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band crushed all-comers in 1967′s Summer of Love. By this time, the Liverpool foursome was the biggest pop group the world would ever see.

George met Paul McCartney at school and impressed him with his single-string skills. Lennon and McCartney – already playing together in The Quarrymen – could only strum chords, so it wasn’t long before Harrison joined them as lead guitarist. The Quarrymen eventually became The Beatles and the rest, as they say…

The band’s rise was spectacular. By 1963, single after single smashed straight to the the No.1 spot, with their first album, Please, Please Me, doing the same. American success came the following year and at one point the fab four dominated all top five positions in the Billboard ‘Hot 100′.

Harrison’s musical contribution was inventive and concise. His own heroes were rockabilly guitarist Carl Perkins and country picker Chet Atkins, and both players’ styles figured in George’s early playing. His interest in Eastern music and philosophy also gave The Beatles’ music a surprising twist. When he bought sitar sounds to the band’s music in the mid 60′s he created, at a stroke, the sound of British hippydom.

When differences split The Beatles in 1970, George was the first to gain solo success. His triple album, All Things Must Pass, and the first single from it, My Sweet Lord, both topped the charts. The album revealed Harrison’s stunning slide playing : a style never heard in The Beatles, but undeniably original in every respect. It became a style that would dominate his many solo albums, and indeed The Beatles surprise 1995 single, Free As A Bird (made from a lost Lennon demo).

When George died from Cancer on 29 November 2001, the guitar world lost one of its most important figures – a man whose contribution was simple, but unforgettable.

So that’s what TG had to say about the amazing George Harrison. This guy was probably one of my biggest inspirations as a guitarist. He was the quiet Beatle who pretty much just got on with his guitar playing, and that’s what I admire about him. Anyway I am going to leave you with a live version of his great song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, in the Concert For Bangladesh.

Peace and Love
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