The Lasting Legacy of Buddy Holly: George Harrison’s Guitar Inspiration
This week, the iconic music of The Beatles is back in the limelight with the re-launch of their 1995 Anthology series. Just in time for the Thanksgiving festivities, a new Episode 9 will air, highlighting the reunion of paul McCartney, George harrison, and Ringo Starr during the 1990s, along with the recent completion of “Now & Then,” a track that McCartney and Starr finished from a John Lennon demo that the trio initially worked on in 1995.
the Anthology series serves as a powerful reminder of the groundbreaking nature of the Fab Four. However, it’s important to note that there was a time when these legends looked up to others. For George Harrison, Buddy Holly stood out as a meaningful influence.
Buddy Holly: The Guiding star for The Beatles
Holly’s impact was felt across the entire band. Actually, John Lennon and original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe drew inspiration for the name “The Beatles” from Holly’s band, The Crickets. His innovative songwriting also played a crucial role in shaping the early works of Lennon and McCartney.
Yet, it was Harrison, as the lead guitarist, who felt Holly’s influence most profoundly in his own guitar work.”Buddy Holly was one of my greatest inspirations,” he shared in a 1974 interview with Rock Around the World. “He was incredibly talented-exceptionally so.”
Learning the Craft: Harrison’s Journey
Harrison recounted his early struggles with guitar, revealing that he learned from an incomplete manual. “A few months later, I realized, ’These idiots gave me a book that doesn’t cover all the notes!’” he lamented. This realization led him to seek out additional resources,with Holly’s music filling in the gaps in his education.
“Holly was the first artist to introduce me to the chords from A to F-sharp minor,” he explained to the BBC in 1974. “It was groundbreaking! He opened up new musical horizons for me.”
Harrison’s Continued Admiration for Holly
In a 1987 interview with Guitar Player,Harrison’s admiration for Holly remained evident. he discussed how he crafted the emotive volume-swelling chords in The Beatles’ 1965 songs ”Yes It Is,” “Wait,” and “I Need You.” Struggling to coordinate strumming and adjusting his guitar’s volume,he enlisted Lennon to assist him with the knob. ”John would kneel in front of me and turn the volume control while I played,” he recalled.
Interestingly, Dan Forte, the interviewer, pointed out that Holly had done something similar during his 1957 hit “Peggy sue,” where he relied on Crickets guitarist Niki Sullivan to switch his pickup settings at critical moments.
“Yeah, that’s incredible music, isn’t it?” Harrison remarked. “To this day, I can play the ‘Peggy Sue’ solo or ‘Think It Over’ or ‘It’s So Easy.’ I know all those tunes.”
The First Electric Guitar: A Nod to Holly
Harrison’s first electric guitar, a Futurama, was purchased in 1958 because it resembled the Fender Stratocaster that Holly played. He used this guitar during many of The Beatles’ early performances in Hamburg and on their first professional recordings with Tony Sheridan in June 1961. Although he initially dismissed the guitar, it is now expected to fetch between $600,000 and $800,000 at auction this November.
Harrison’s Musical Connections
Throughout his career, Harrison’s respect for fellow musicians remained strong. Former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore recently recounted a memorable moment in 1984 when Harrison shyly asked to jam with the band. the two performed a Little richard classic for an Australian audience, with Harrison so immersed in the moment that he didn’t realize blackmore was playing in the wrong key.
The Beatles Anthology will begin streaming with Episodes 1-3 on Wednesday, November 26, on Disney+, followed by Episodes 4-6 on Thursday, November 27, and Episodes 7-9 on Friday, November 28.
