George Harrison, 12 String On His Solo Albums

[idealassets]

I am really getting into the good info I have collected from the blog on George Harrison playing 12 string with the Beatles. Additionally I am interested in finding out the material he did on 12 string after the Beatles.

Did he come up with some good 12 string stuff from the time of his first solo material- especially All Things Must Pass, or did he cool off the 12 string a bit?

I appreciate that on some recent albums (i.e. Jorma Kaukonan) often each musician, and model intrument played is listed on the credits. However for the earlier George Harrison solo material I am at a loss, unless its listed on the credits. But I only have about 40 years of catching up to do!

Thank you,
Craig

[kennyhowes]

Except for the video for "Ding Dong Ding Dong," I doubt he picked it up much until the Cloud Nine record. Who knows?

[JakeK]

If there was any 12-string on his solo records, it was probably a Fender Electric XII. In 1986 when recording Cloud Nine, he picked up the original 360/12 and used it for a couple songs on that album. With the Wilburys, he used his new 370/12 McGuinn JG (think "End of the Line", "Seven Deadly Sins" and "You Took My Breath Away"), and when touring Japan in 1991 and at his final live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in '92, he used a Fender XII for "If I Needed Someone", probably because he thought his Rics were too valuable to be taken on the road.

[idealassets]

he used a Fender XII for "If I Needed Someone", probably because he thought his Rics were too valuable to be taken on the road.

I know the feeling. i like keeping all my instruments as "mint" as possible. If travelling, I would at least anticipate some finish checking, and would face varying climates, especially playing outdoors.

I am still trying to figure what instrument George plays the intro and outro to "It Don't Come Easy" on. It certainly sounds like a 360/12, except of course for the guitar lead. The intro certainly has a 12 string sounding chime to it.

Often I have to defend doing my 12 string songs at solo performances. The musicians in the crowd want to hear me on 6 string, and often say that 12 string materail is not so much the current thing. I disagree, but will be planning to do half 6 string and half 12 string. That should keep half the people happy half of the time at least.

[iiipopes]

I am still trying to figure what instrument George plays the intro and outro to "It Don't Come Easy" on. It certainly sounds like a 360/12, except of course for the guitar lead. The intro certainly has a 12 string sounding chime to it.

This should help clear things up:

[xpitt]

"Fish On The Sand" from the Cloud Nine album is one of my favourites. Somewhere (maybe here) I read that he used his No 2 on this one.

[idealassets]

This should help clear things up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATQ9KcELAJQ
I have viewed this clip a few times. It is still a liitle hard to determine the guitar that George is playing. At 2:17 I can see a guitar that looks a whole lot like a tan Fender Stratocaster. Either its a 12 string strat, or George has some wonderful chorus effect pedals in use. I am looking further on youtube to find out more.

I was hoping someone in the forum might have an old album with credits listed that tell which instrument was played. Recently I have seen these type of credits listed on albums by Robbie Robertson & Jorma Kaukonan. It helps.

-Craig

[sloop_john_b]

That is not a 12 string or a chorus pedal - it's a 6-string through a Leslie speaker.

[idealassets]

George was certainly a slickster to come up with that bold sound. Meanwhile, I am going to add this song to my gig material, both on acoustic 12 string for solo, and Ric 12 string in the group. I will also play the guitar solo on 12 string just because I like the retro sound.

Its funny, but when I sit on drums I don't have to worry about all this minutia. But its the very thing that could possibly make a guitar player stand out amongst all the rest of the pack.

Craig

[iiipopes]

That is not a 12 string or a chorus pedal - it's a 6-string through a Leslie speaker.

Indeed. Remember, he used the Leslie when he played the break on Cream's "Badge." Chorus pedals as we know them had not been invented yet at that point.

[JakeK]

Ever since Clapton gave him his Leslie speaker for Get Back/Let It Be, he put it to good use, for "Badge", some Abbey Road tracks and some songs on All Things Must Pass and "It Don't Come Easy". What I want to know is, how did he do it? Forgive me for sounding dumb, but wouldn't he run an amp from it's external speaker jack or does he plug his guitar straight into the speaker?

[ken_j]

Jake, through the amp then on to the Leslie.

[iiipopes]

I had Fender Vibratone for awhile, then gave it to a friend of mine. It's not like a Hammond organ version of a leslie with the multi-pin plug and a separate amplifier in the cabinet. At least, in mine, as made by Fender, had the motor and baffle, and a foot pedal setup with a guitar input and a mid crossover. In other words, with the Leslie "off," if functioned just like any conventional cabinet with one speaker. With the Leslie on, the speaker had both low and high speeds, and there was a the mid crossover so the guitar sound would "shimmer" more. This is why folks think it sounds like a 12-string. The maintenance issues are of significant magnitude. Mine had a blown speaker, which I replaced with a Carvin PA 10" which really helped out the tone.

Everthing you ever wanted to know about a Fender Vibratone:
http://www.nmia.com/~vrbass/vibratone/

And here's a link to the owner's manual:
http://www.nmia.com/~vrbass/vibratone/Vibratone.pdf