I’d like to begin by saying that I think all four members of the Beatles were incredible musical talents. Really. Their abilities were unreal - even Ringo, whose simple drum parts often made a huge difference, and whose vocals were great on the parts he was given (such as “A Little Help My Friends”).
But I wonder: does anyone else here think that Harrison was, by a bit, the greatest talent in the group?
The first reason that I say this is that, when I think about why the Beatles are great, I think of a lot of things: amazing songwriting, perfect vocals, great variety, etc. But one thing that really, really comes to mind is the perfect guitar riffs. So many of their songs are just made by the guitar riffs, if you ask me: Ticket to Ride, Day Tripper, Paperback Writer are just three examples. When I listen to their songs, so many times I realize just how perfect and right the guitar-playing seems.
The second reason is that I think his vocals are really good. I like his tone - I don’t quite know how to describe it.
The third reason is that, while he didn’t write nearly as many Beatles songs as Lennon/McCartney did, I think the ones he did write were really good. I love Taxman, Savoy Truffle, Here Comes the Sun, and Something.
I don’t mean for us to take this debate too seriously, since it is so subjective. I was just wondering how anyone else feels about this.
*The one thing that never gets said about Harrison, however, is this: he was the greatest rock guitarist of all time.
It’s a contentious view, I know. I don’t suppose Harrison has topped a poll of guitarists in the past 40 years. When Rolling Stone listed the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time a few years back, he wasn’t even in the top 20. Predictably, and inevitably, Jimi Hendrix came first, with the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Duane Allman not far behind.
The usual criteria for being considered a great guitarist are clear: noise, speed, flashy showmanship and obvious virtuosity. The Rolling Stone poll, like most, chose the best guitarists in the same way a toddler would decide what to run towards on entering a new room: oooh, shiny!
Harrison wasn’t particularly loud, wasn’t particularly fast and was never knowingly flashy. While he was clearly a virtuoso on the instrument, he never did anything to draw attention to the fact. Harrison had a different talent, an extraordinary talent. Harrison never played a wrong note, and never played a note that wasn’t necessary. Every single note he ever played made the song better.
*
I think Harrison was perhaps underappreciated, but it’s hard to say if anyone had THE most talent. They sure didn’t seem all that magical as solo acts, despite a gem here and there, so it seems that they’re another case where their sum eclipsed them as individuals. After reading Clapton’s autobiography, I wondered if the drugs helped or hindered that generation’s creativity. Certainly it took its toll on their health and personal happiness.
Oh, and I definitely think Harrison was the best looking Beatle, especially after he grew into his skin.
The arguments will rage forever over whether John or Paul was the most talented songwriter. Because so few of George’s songs got on to their records, it’s really impossible to judge his contribution. The best of his stuff is up there with John and Paul’s. Given a freer rein, I think he might have equalled them.
As a guitarist, he fitted in to the songs perfectly, as did the other three; that’s partly what made them, as a group, so great. But, as has been said, he didn’t stand out. In my opinion, to be great, you’ve got to make a statement. I don’t think he did.
As regards the drugs: initially using them was very positive - they did open the doors of perception, and encouraged people to look at things in a new way. Eventually, many users got worn down by the drugs, physically and mentally.
It is true that George was constantly overshadowed by John and Paul, but this more or less had to do with the prodigious output of Lennon-McCartney as songwriters. Considering that they wrote most of the band’s output, it was they that were keeping the money rolling in. Harrison simply didn’t write songs in the same volume as they did. If he had, more of them likely would have shown up on record. However, what he did write was easily as good as what they wrote.
Harrison came late to the songwriting game, waiting until the summer of 1963, when he penned Don’t Bother Me while sick in bed in Bournemouth, where the Beatles were playing. Despite the fact that Harrison considered it to be “a fairly crappy song”, it was one that stuck out like a sore thumb from the positive and happy Lennon-McCartney songs of this period. Drearyness would become somewhat of a hallmark; see Blue Jay Way and Only A Northern Song. If Paul could be the walrus, it seemed okay that George could be Eeyore if he wanted to be.
As for his playing, this was something that was evident from the start. McCartney even gave him a songwriting credit on In Spite of All the Danger simply because of the guitar solo he played in that song. Cry For A Shadow, the instrumental he wrote with Lennon was, quite simply a near-perfect imitation of Cliff Richard’s group.
This came after long and painful attempts to teach himself the instrument from the age of 14, during which he would play until his fingers bled. Over time, he absorbed the Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins methods of playing, giving early Beatles music a somewhat country feel, and his work on the Rickenbacker 12-string influenced The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn.
Harrison was fairly business-like about what he played, and the results show in his solid, tight, near-perfect solos in songs such as A Hard Day’s Night and Can’t Buy Me Love.
“Greatest Talent”, though? No, but he was easily the equal of McCartney and Lennon.
I agree Harrison is underrated as a guitarist; people tend to favor flash over understatement. George played exactly what was needed for the song; the Beatles were all about songs, not the instruments.
As a songwriter . . . no. The reason why Harrison had only one or two songs was because he wasn’t the songwriter Lennon and McCartney was. Harrison’s early songs were nothing special, and his was often the least interesting songs on the albums. Looking over the list, only “Taxman,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Only a Northern Song,”* “Something,” and “Here Comes the Sun” rate up among the Beatles’ best. Back in the day, people figured that the Harrison songs were the weakest on the albums. If Harrison had been the group’s primary songwriter, there wouldn’t have been a British Invasion.
Once they broke up, Paul McCartney still wrote many better songs than Harrison.
*From the Yellow Submarine album. It was supposed to be on Sgt. Pepper, but was dropped in favor of the vastly inferior “Within You Without You.”
First of all: John and Paul wrote 99% of the famous guitar hooks in their songs.
Harrison’s growth as a musician was intriguing:
Young Paul and John were impressed enough with the 14 year-old George to ask him to become the proto-Beatles lead guitarist.
John and Paul’s musical skills seemed to grow exponentially, while George plodded along playing rockabilly guitar licks, awkward guitar solos and contributing inferior songs to the albums (inferior compared to LM).
He persevered, and kept his own path (e.g. Indian music). Impressive and unique songs like “Within You, Without You”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Long, Long, Long” came out.
By Abbey Road, he had arguably the best two songs (“Something”, “Here Comes The Sun”) and contributed immensely to “Octopus’s Garden” and others. His tasteful guitar solo on Something was an example of the highest taste and refinement in Pop/Rock.
Look at it this way: Take Lennon or McCartney out of the Beatles and there are no Beatles. That’s guaranteed. As for Harrison/Starr… harder to say but musically the group would not be diminished much if they were replaced… especially in the early days. So, as much as I like George he was not the Beatles greatest talent.
Maybe I’m being influenced by the last book I read on the Beatles: Geoff Emerick’s “Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles”. Emerick never misses an opportunity to point out George’s failings as a musician and praise Paul’s. One example: George stubbornly tried for days to get a good solo in his own song “Taxman”. Finally he reluctantly let Paul give it a go and the now famous blistering solo was done on the first take. Emerick was biased: he had a grudge with George and a hardon for Paul, but there is a lot of truth (it seems to me) that George was an average musician compared to the stellar Lennon and McCartney.
Yeah, Harrison is getting credit in the OP for riffs that were devised by the other two.
I think they were all talented, but it’s crazy to say that he was on the same level as Lennon and McCartney. And I think that had he not been associated with those two fro so long he might never have developed the song-writing chops that he eventiually did.
One then that never gets said: Snarky_Kong is the best guitar player of all time. For good reason too, it’s not even remotely true.
Not being the greatest talent in the Beatles isn’t a knock on Harrison. Everybody in the past 50 years is, rightly, overshadowed by McCartney and Lennon.
John and Paul wrote all the guitar riffs mentioned in the OP.
Harrison was to the guitar what Ringo was to the drums – professional, tight, tasteful, understated and in service to the song rather than seeking attention.
He was not a virtuoso, and while he wrote a handful of legitimately classic songs, he was not close to being in the Lennon-McCartney league of songwriters.
I sometimes read or hear it said that George was the best pure instrumentalist in the band, but I think I would dispute that too. Ringo was at least good (if not better) at his own instrument as George was, John had a raw (if unlettered) facility with the guitar that was often more interesting to listen to than George, and Paul could play anything and was a hell of a bassist.
Nothing against George. I appreciate him for what he was. I appreciate the tastefulness of his solos and I appreciate the best of his songwriting, but if we’re talking about the best of the BEATLES, he’s got Mt. Everest to climb to get past those other two guys and I don’t think he gets anywhere near that peak.
Harrison’s songs are my favourite Beatles songs. Harrison is my favourite Beatle. But I still have to say that Lennon and McCartney are just in a class of their own when it comes to pure songwriting talent.
Nope. Nothing against George, but saying that doesn’t give enough credit to Paul or John.
As others have pointed out, you can’t assume that George wrote those riffs.
FWIW, to my untrained ear, solo George has one of the most distinctive and recognizable styles of any guitarist.
There’s some subjectivity here. I like George’s vocals too, but not everybody does. But I don’t think he was nearly as skillful a vocalist as John or Paul. Their vocals sound more assured, and they were definitely more versatile as vocalists: George’s vocals come a lot closer to all sounding the same than John’s or Paul’s.
Really good? Absolutely. Better than the best Lennon-McCartney songs? No. And it took him longer to get up to speed as a songwriter.
When I heard the guitar solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” I fell head over heels for lostchild George. (Plus he had that kind werewolf thingy going on in those days and I was into “Dark Shadows.”)
Image my disillusionment years later when I found out that it was Clapton who had done the guitar solo. Shoulda recognized the guitar. Odd, isn’t it? And probably speaks for the level of confidence George had in his own guitar.
Harrison and Starr were two guys who got lucky enough to be in a band with McCartney and Lennon. I think the fact that Harrison’s parents let them practice in the basement got him into the band. Just look at how his tribute song to Lennon “All Those Years Ago” pales in comparison to McCartney’s “Here Today”.
Harrison didn’t write nearly as many songs, but his best songs were as good as the best Lennon/McCartney songs. He wasn’t as good a singer, but at least he didn’t spend the first few years of the band like John and Paul did trying to sound like each other. His post Beatles career was similar, first with the triple album All Things Must Pass, which had a lot of great material that the Beatles passed on. I especially love Give Me Hope and Crackerbox Palace.