George Harrison

The sound of George Harrison always had a distinct nuance within the Beatles: while John Lennon and Paul McCartney crafted pop melodies with clean guitars, he explored deeper textures. From the mid-60s, his guitar began to resonate with influences beyond British rock: the folk of Bob Dylan and the Byrds, the country of Chet Atkins, and above all, the hypnotic sound of the sitar, which he discovered on the set of Help!. That instrument led him to break away from convention in songs like Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), where the sitar riff intertwines with the rhythm of the acoustic guitar. But his quest didn’t stop there: in Within You Without You, the sitar and tanpuras created an almost meditative atmosphere, something rare in pop at the time. Even when the band leaned into psychedelic rock on Revolver, he contributed a melodic and organic counterpoint, as in Taxman, where the guitar solo has a bluesy flavor that contrasts with the rest of the album.

After the Beatles disbanded in 1970, Harrison not only found his voice as a solo artist but defined it immediately. All Things Must Pass was no ordinary album: it was a triple LP with layered guitars that glided like in My Sweet Lord, where the slide guitar and gospel choirs gave it a spiritual yet accessible air. But most importantly, with that record, he proved he could write songs that worked both on the radio and in a more intimate setting. That same year, he organized the Concert for Bangladesh alongside Ravi Shankar, an event that not only raised funds for refugees but set the foundation for future charity concerts. It wasn’t just music: it was a concrete gesture, something few artists of his time dared to do.