Hear George Harrison's Lost "Here Comes the Sun" Guitar Solo
This video is not new—but it wound up in my inbox today, and it's certainly worth a share. It's actually from 2012.
That's when George Harrison's son, Dhani Harrison, left (in the video), Beatles producer George Martin, center, and his son Giles Martin sat at an Abbey Road Studios mixing console in London to play and discuss the original masters of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun."
Suddenly, at 1:03, they hear a guitar solo that didn't make it onto the final Abbey Road mix of the Harrison-penned song. Dhani and George Martin are completely surprised by what they hear.
Giles Martin worked extensively on the Beatles' Love project (the Las Vegas show and the 2006 album of the same name), which involved creating unique remixes of classic Beatles songs, often blending tracks from several songs together. We assume he found Harrison's lost solo while working on Love. And of course, we don't know for a fact that the solo was played by Harrison, but it certainly sounds like it. John Lennon wasn't very involved with the session at all, and it just doesn't sound like Paul McCartney.
What's most surprising is that the solo hasn't shown up—after all these decades—on any post-breakup Beatles album, including Rarities,Anthology 3 or Love.
Harrison contributed two classic songs to Abbey Road: "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something."
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
“I don’t really relate to the guitar anymore. I don’t like its nature. Honestly, guitar is the least interesting thing about the record to me”: Mk.Gee and his Fender Jaguar take center stage on SNL – alongside a mysteriously spec'd vintage Charvel
“I used an SG Junior and it would never stay in tune. Felix had this old beat-up Junior and said, ‘Try this thing,’ and I never gave it back’”: Leslie West on giving his Gibson Les Paul Junior to Pete Townshend after tracking three songs with The Who