George Harrison

George was a unique and very accomplished guitarist. He didn't play knock-em-dead solos but that wasn't his, or The Beatles', style. He played to suit the song, came up with some unique & tasty licks, and he sounded better with each album release. IMO George is/was one of the best guitarists in rock and had he lived he might have made it to "best". Not that George would have cared; he was always a generous musician & a modest man who felt most comfortable playing with artists he liked and respected and vice versa, whether they were "better" than he was nor not. I would rate his beautiful slide work second only to the late great Duane Allman.

highly influential

So very underrated and underappreciated. More signifcant musically than McCartney or Lennon, IMO...

Perhaps the greatest--and certainly the most underrated--member of the "Fab Four."

George's SOLO career, to me, was rather disappointing overall. After a couple of relatively obscure experimental/ instrumental solo albums in the late 60's, he put out " All Things Must Pass," one of the very best albums by a former Beatle. Arguably the best, in fact. Subsequent albums ranged from rather poor to at best pretty good, despite the occasional really nice tune. But really the highest points for him were The Beatles, then the first real album of songs, and then the occasional post- 1970 track.

The Beatles music was never about leads and solo's. It was about blends and sounds ..and they did that better than anyone else. George created a signature sound with that smooth slide and string bending you hear on Abbey Road.

the beatles were a great band but george was not a great guitarist.  i love him for being a member of the band and writing a handful of  truly great songs.  a wonderful human being to boot.

Anyone who played guitar in the sixties and seventies found themselves attempting to play George Harrison's leads and I know that they respected his work. The Hare Krishna stuff is not to my taste,but it isn't terrible and honestly reflects his beliefs at that time. His rescue of Monty Python's Life of Brian was brilliant. Most importantly, he could play.

he was pretty kewl

known as the the quite on in the Beatle, but dont let that fools you. This guy can rip your ears off with his riffs.

He had texture and color in his playing. Some of the stuff he did on early Beatle albums still sounds impressive. Ok, it's not full of meanness and testosterone, so what?

The eggman or the walrus?

hes the man and part of the greastest band that ever existed and if u dont agree then u have no taste in music

coolest dude ever

How could a Beatle not get five stars? Sure, there were plenty of misses - and the religion push might get a bit dreary sometimes, but the good far outweighs the dubious. Recommended song and album: "What Is Life" and "All Things Must Pass".

can't believe george is rated so low,i loved him.fave:old brown shoe

subtle is greatness. Try playing And Your Bird Can Sing EXACTLY like the album...

George was one of the great ones, his laid back style always complemented the Beatles without stomping on the music and vocals. His leads snuck in so tastefully with intricate lead ins, you knew they were coming. . His knowledge of chords and useage thereof made the Beatles sound so unique. "B+" technique, "A" tastefulness.

Better than Lennon, I guess.

Definately a key element in a great band, but I wouldn't consider him a giant with the instrument.

Definitely the most underrated Beatle.

Probably the most underrated guitarist of all time because he was overshadowed most of his career by John and Paul.

It was Paul who wrote The Day Tripper riff and had the solo in taxman. The End solo was actually in order from Paul to George to John. George Harrisons solo stuff was awesome and so very complicated using many abstract chords. He was pretty damn good. If you have never heard the song Hey Bulldog by the Beatles find it. The solo is like nothing else i ever heard

Subtle style, classy vocalist and a stage presence of a Beatle.

O...kay... Being in the Beatles gets you on ever list I guess. The list of great musicians in the Beatles begins and ends with Paul McCartney. (Who wrote the riff to "Day Tripper" by the way Leftfinger.) Did someone actually say the solo in "The End" was the greatest solo of all time? My god...is there no "end" to the unwarranted praise heaped upon everything 60s in general?

Great musician and song writer, but is not a top twenty guitarist.

As with the other members of the Beatles, there are separate entries for the group and each member as a solo artist, so my rating is limited to Harrison's solo career. Harrison is yet another example of how the sum is usually greater than the individual parts because as a solo artist, he doesn't even come close to his efforts with The Beatles. Moreover, comparing Harrison's contributions to Fab Four and his complete solo efforts also strongly suggests that the former were his strongest compositions (allowing his former group to disregard most of his unworthy material). In simple and crass terms, Harrison simply had difficulty carrying a full-length recording by himself. Objectively considering his post-Beatles work, one finds that Harrison typically sounded annoyingly high-pitched, metallic, and almost chalkboard scratching at times, which is not helped in any way by his singing style or his affection for the sitar. The bottom line is that, as a solo artist, Harrison pales when compare... Read more

Other than John Lennon, George was basically the only other WORTHY Beatle member. The rest were talentless. I mean George and John weren't all that hot either, but at least they did ok. But once again, this kind of music had its hey day, time to move on...bored with it, and have been for over 20 years. I really wished everyone would take the message of John Lennon...peace in the world...

Just because George Harrison WAS the quiet Beatle, it does not at all diminish the great contributions he made in music, whether it was with the Beatles or as a solo performer. From his Beatles hits such as "Here Comes the Sun" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", to his post-Beatles career with songs like "My Sweet Lord" and "Something" (a song that his contemporary, Elvis Presley, considered the greatest song ever), Harrison was among the greatest (and admired) performers of his era. Though a relatively shy man, Harrison nevertheless was able to influence the music scene and furthermore devoted much of his time for causes which were dear to him such as his legendary 'Concert for Bangladesh'. Truly, George Harrison WAS a great.

Truly innovative

One of the first players (if not THE first) to record his guitar feedingback - how cool is that?! How many people can say that they were the lead guitarist for arguably the greatest band of all time? Good songwriter, too - Daytripper is one of the best guitar riffs ever, imo.

The most under rated Beatle in every respect.

The real all round talent in The Beatles.

I like him alot and I agree he got better with age

never played same lead melody twice

He is with my sweet Lord.

I agree with Shane R. I dont think he had an impressive solo career. I think his best hit was "My Sweet Lord". Dark Horse was awful!

What???? George harrison should not even be on this list.

To prove George Harrison was the greatest guitar player of all time...listen to 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Its All Too Much', and the shared solo of John, Paul and George in the song 'The End' (the greatest solo ever recorded).

He is the best of the best

He was a terribile guitarist and him and the beatles suck

This man played guitar for ther group that put guitar bands on the map to stay and is personally responsible for selling untold millions of units of the very instrument. The fact that he could not master it's strings in the same way as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or a zillion others did does not detract from the fact that he was, in this own right, a very fine guitarist and one of the nicest people ever to grace the planet. His contribution to the instrument and to the world of music at large commands our respect. I have great pity for those who are left unmoved by the joyous sound that was, and still very much, is The Beatles. Ask the people of Berlin how much their music contributed to the Westernization of their country's political ideology and how much the Beatles meant to the 'huddled masses yearning to breathe free' in dozens of other totalitarian governments the world over. George Harrison played lead guitar for the Beatles!!!! A thousand years from now there will st... Read more

The fact that John Petrucci was lower than this guy is a disgrace.

He's the best slide0guiter player ever, so he deserves his place here

A great overall musician but not all his post Beatles work was that great. Of course All Things Must Pass was wonderful but subsequent releases were average. The poppy 1987 Cloud 9 was fun. His cover of the old 60's tune Got My Mind Set On You is a favorite of mine.

amazing he started the rock guitar but i mean hes definatly as good as other guys

The fact that Ted Nugent was in the top 5 and George Harrison number 20 at the time of this post is evidence that there are very few musicians on RIA right now.

The most under-rated guitarist of all time!

He was a great songwriter, and had a totally underrated solo career. But, he's not one of the all-time guitar greats.

This was a man who lived in the shadow of the two greatest composers of our time and he was able to write some great songs too. The concert for Bangladesh was the first Rock bennefit concert ever put on. All Things Must Pass is a great CD and some what ironic now that George has passed on. We will never see his like again