5 of George Harrison’s Best Guitar Riffs in The Beatles
Choosing George Harrison‘s best guitar riffs in The Beatles is challenging, considering he had so many. However, there are five unforgettable licks that George made famous. Here are his top five.
5. ‘And I Love Her’
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul McCartney wrote that George’s guitar riff in “And I Lover Her” made the song more musical. The “Yesterday” singer explained that the song needed something to lift it, and George came out of nowhere and gave a memorable riff right on the spot.
“I swear, right there and then, George Harrison went, ‘Well how about this?’ and he played the opening riff, which is such a hook; the song is nothing without it. We were working very fast and spontaneously coming up with ideas,” Paul wrote.
4. ‘Taxman’
George’s Revolver song, “Taxman,” has a driving riff that resembles the Batman theme song at the end. It’s a hard-rocking riff that’s catchy. Unfortunately, George didn’t get to play the tune’s ripping solo. According to recording engineer Geoff Emerick, George couldn’t handle the solo. So Paul intervened and played it.
“I could see from the look on Harrison’s face that he didn’t like the idea one bit, but he reluctantly agreed and proceeded to disappear for a couple of hours,” Emerick wrote in his book Here, There and Everywhere.
3. ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’
The riff of Paul’s Let It Be tune, “I’ve Got a Feeling,” sounds optimistic. As Paul gets louder and more animated, George is chugging away at his guitar strings in time. Fans saw how the song was born in a clip of Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back.
Paul led the band through a rough version, ad-libbing lyrics and calling out chord changes. George worked his guitar to find the right riff. In the background, George quipped, “Is that one called, ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’?”
2. ‘Here Comes the Sun’
“Here Comes the Sun” is one of George’s most famous songs but has one of his best guitar riffs. George wrote the song in Eric Clapton’s garden on a sunny day. He was playing hooky from one of The Beatles’ unbearable meetings.
In his memoir, I Me Mine, George wrote, “The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I was walking around the garden with one of Eric’s acoustic guitars and wrote ‘Here Comes The Sun.'”
The guitar riff is uplighting and cheery, exactly how George felt writing “Here Comes the Sun.” Meanwhile, it was hard for Ringo Starr to keep up with all the time changes.
1. ‘If I Needed Someone’
“If I Needed Someone” has one of George’s best guitar riffs. According to Beatles Bible, George said many artists had used permutations of the song’s riff. “‘If I Needed Someone‘ is like a million other songs written around a D chord,” George said.
“If you move your finger about you get various little melodies. That guitar line, or variations on it, is found in many a song, and it amazes me that people still find new permutations of the same notes.”
George said The Byrds’ “She Don’t Care About Time” and “The Bells Of Rhymney” helped him write the tune. However, it’s unmistakenly a Beatles song.
There are too many of George’s best guitar riffs in and out of his time with The Beatles. However, honorable mentions include “Hey Bulldog,” “Ticket to Ride,” and “Get Back.”
