“He was very exceptionally good. To this day, I could play that solo to you any time.” George Harrison on the “greatest guitar solo of all time” and the player who left a lasting impression on him

All musicians, no matter how big or small, have their influences, and The Beatles were no exception.

While the Fab Four are rightly considered trailblazers, there was a time when Liverpudlians idolized them. For George Harrison, no one was better than Buddy Holly.

To be clear, Holly was in control of the entire group. John Lennon and founding bassist Stuart Sutcliffe were inspired by Holly’s group, the Crickets, for the Beatles’ name. His songwriting style would inspire the early compositions of Lennon and Paul McCartney alike.

But it was Harrison, as the group’s lead guitarist, who most clearly felt Holly’s influence on his playing.

“I think one of the greatest people to me was Buddy Holly,” he said Rock around the world in 1974. “He was very good – exceptionally good.”

Harrison recalled trying to learn guitar from a book that was far from complete. “A few months or a year later I realized, ‘These stupid guys gave me a manual that doesn’t show me all the notes!’ ” he complained. “So I had to start studying again.”

Holly’s influence was paramount in bridging the gaps in his knowledge.

“Buddy Holly was the first time I heard A to F sharp minor,” he told the BBC in 1974. “Fantastic! He opened up new worlds there. And then A to F, A, D, E, F and F sharp minor. He was sensational.”

In conversation with guitarist Thirteen years later, in an interview in the November 1987 issue of the magazine, Harrison revealed that his passion for Holly’s music had not waned. He told contributing writer Dan Forte how he created the emotional, volume-swelling chords on the Beatles’ 1965 tracks “Yes It Is,” “Wait” and “I Need You”: He knew how to strum the chords and not coordinating increasing the volume of his guitar. Just then, Harrison told Lennon to turn the knob.

“For some of them,” he said, “I played the part and John knelt down in front of me and turned the volume control on my guitar.”

It was Forte who pointed out that Holly had done something similar for his 1957 hit “Peggy Sue.” Since Holly couldn’t flip his pickup switch in time for his solo, he had Crickets guitarist Niki Sullivan move the switch from neck position to bridge position and back again at key points.

Yes It Is (Remastered 2009) – YouTube

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“Yeah, that’s a great thing, isn’t it?” Harrison replied. “This is still one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. To this day, I could play you the “Peggy Sue” solo or “Think It Over” or “It’s So Easy” any time. I knew all the tunes.”

And lest anyone forget, Harrison bought his first electric guitar – a Futurama – in 1958 because it was similar to the Fender Stratocaster that Holly played. Harrison used the Futurama at many of the Beatles’ early Hamburg performances and on their first professional recordings with Tony Sheridan in June 1961. Although Harrison thought little of the guitar, it is expected to fetch between $600,000 and $800,000 at auction November.

Even after Harrison retired from music, his admiration for other musicians was as strong as ever. Former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore recently recalled the time in 1984 when Harrison sheepishly asked to jam with the band. Together they presented a Little Richard classic to an Australian audience, with Harrison so completely in his element that he failed to notice that Blackmore was playing in the wrong key.

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