Did you know: The solo in The Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps is played by Eric Clapton... While My Guitar Gently Weeps is not only one of the best songs George Harrison wrote with the Beatles — its also one of the greatest songs on the White Album. Whether it was jealousy, ego or apathy, the other members of the band didnt seem to care too much for the tune when Harrison introduced it to them and attempted to record initial takes on August 16. After more work on the song on September 3 and 5, he decided he didnt like what he heard and scrapped the recording. He and the Beatles then promptly started over again, nailing a new backing track in 28 takes. The initial live backing track featured Harrison on acoustic guitar and guide vocals, John Lennon on electric, Paul McCartney on piano and Ringo Starr on drums. Harrison later overdubbed double-tracked lead vocals, and McCartney recorded backing vocals and a bass line with Lennon playing in unison on either a Fender Bass VI or electric guitar. Harrisons masterstroke was inviting his friend Eric Clapton to overdub lead guitar, which was recorded on a single track with Harrisons organ accompaniment on September 6. Clapton initially refused to participate, saying, Nobody ever plays on the Beatles records. So what? Harrison countered. Its my song. Clapton finally agreed to play, but he wanted his part to sound Beatle-y. Harrisons solution was to process the track containing Claptons guitar part and the organ with Artificial Double Tracking, varying the speed to create a pitch-wobbling effect.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 21:43:28 +0000