Remembering George.....

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:54 pm

George also took up sitar around the time "Super" guitarists started to pop up.

Put him a little behind.

Clapton was so-so til John Mayall forced him into a room with a bunch of old blues records and wouldn't let him come out til he could play.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:34 pm

George managed to do one more remarkable thing than most guitarists; play a wide variety of styles without sounding like a hack.

Plus he managed to get out of the touring game when his heart was no longer in it, unlike Clapton, who's spent 35 years doing boring stadium shows, and churning out uninspired work that catered to crummy American rock radio that was greased by payola.

lyle_from_minneapolis · Mon Dec 11, 2006 4:15 pm

I always get a little bent out of shape when talk turns to "best" guitarists, because what are we measuring? Wild, innovative, flowing virtuosity like Hendrix? Consummate blues perfection ala Stevie Ray (one style) or Clapton (another)? The sloppy excellence of Jimmy Page? I won't keep going with all the different virtuosos like Vai, Joe Pass, Metheney, Zappa...but I will say that they are not all vying for the title. So it gets down to what it is that is brilliant in their individual styles.

What I see and love in George's playing is a certain relaxed understatement that manages to convey the precise meaning of the song while also really nailing you with the hook. His slide work always does that, and slide is incredibly difficult to pull off---easy to be sloppy, hard to be precise without sounding mechanical. George can make it seem so simple. Then contrast the way he also nails (and conceived of!) the perfect licks in "Here Comes the Sun", especially the Sun Sun Sun part. Sure, you can play it maybe, I can too...but then listen to him do it. Relaxed precision with personality, the Holy Grail. My point is that he IS flat out one of the best guitarists we've heard, because he melds different guitar styles together and distills them into a simplicity that only the greats tend to pull off.

Complexity is easier than simplicity.

rick36 · Post by **rick36** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:57 pm

If you want to hear another great example of George's understated excellence, give a listen to the acoustic solo on "Learning How To Love You" from the "33 1/3" LP. This solo (let alone the song) is brilliant. Pure guitar bliss. God bless him.

congerz83 · Post by **congerz83** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 7:06 pm

"We're the ones with the big fat 'airy heads"

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:29 am

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:47 am

Hey, he likes friendly girls too!

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 4:36 pm

Beatles Songs Written by George Harrison

Blue Jay Way
Don't Bother Me
For You Blue
Here Comes The Sun
I Me Mine
I Need You
I Want To Tell You
If I Needed Someone
It's All Too Much
Long, Long, Long
Love You To
Old Brown Shoe
Only A Northern Song
Piggies
Savoy Truffle
Something
Taxman
The Inner Light
Think For Yourself
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Within You Without You
You Like Me Too Much

35012 · Post by **35012** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:05 pm

...And all of them are great songs(except for Piggies, but it's okay if you don't look at it as the type of serious song that George often wrote in those days.)

bosifis · Post by **bosifis** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:10 pm

I CAN'T listen to "Only A Northern Song", just too painful. "Savoy Truffle" is also painful for me. All the others I can listen to, till the day I die(Especially "I Want To Tell You").

philhowes · Post by **philhowes** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:31 pm

I love Piggies - it's a great song!

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:32 pm

There's a lot of Lennon in Taxman, though he was uncredited in it.

I doubt George wrote "declare the pennies on your eyes."

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:46 pm

I think George did write those lyrics. George was a huge penny pincher and he wrote the song because of the taxes he and the other Beatles were paying. He was very bitter about that.

He also loved Hamburgers? Those were the Good Ol' Days.

qmoder · Post by **qmoder** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:56 pm

I watched him on the concert for bangladish again last night. Sort of Lennonesqe in that white suit.

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:22 am

a really full list would include 'Cry for a Shadow' by Lennon/Harrison