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8.10pm
9 March 2017
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I really like this song, although part of me wishes George or Paul played the solo instead. I know this was mentioned a couple of posts ago, but I am really curious about who played the guitar part doubling the bass during the chorus, beatlesebooks says that it was Paul doubling his bassline on guitar, Joe doesn’t mention it, but what I think is going on is this:
Backing Track:
George Harrison : Guide Vocals, Rhythm Guitar (Gibson J-200)
John Lennon : Rhythm Guitar mostly obscured by Eric’s guitar overdub (Epiphone Casino)
Paul McCartney : Piano
Ringo Starr : Drums
Overdubs:
George Harrison : Lead Vocals, Lead guitar doubling bass during bridge (not sure what guitar he used, possibly Gibson Les Paul)
John Lennon : Organ
Paul McCartney : Bass Guitar (Fender Jazz Bass), Backing Vocals
Ringo Starr : Tambourine, Castanets
Eric Clapton: Lead Guitar (Gibson Les Paul)
Although it’s possible that Paul’s playing the part, it seems more likely that George would do it.
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11.46am
26 January 2017
Offline I don’t wish George or Paul played the solo, because Clapton’s contribution is a really cool piece of Beatles history.
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2.08pm
9 March 2017
Offline As much as I love the solo, I hate how people consider it the best Beatles solo, because it makes The Beatles look bad to have a guest solo being considered the best and also, I prefer the solo on Something . Maybe they could’ve done the song so Paul, George, and Eric each had a solo, similar to Yer Blues or The End .
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2.44pm
27 February 2017
Offline The greatness of a solo is subjective anyway so why does it bother you when people call it the greatest solo on a Beatles record? Only because their taste is different, it doesn’t need to affect your perception and it certainly doesn’t change the Beatles’ ability as musicians.
What you can’t argue though is that WMGGW sounds again very different to other Beatles record because of Clapton’s different style and therefore it is a great contribution to the diversity the Beatles achieved in their music. So, the canon would probably be a little bit less colourful without Clapton’s solo and that would be a pity.
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2.50pm
26 January 2017
Offline While My Guitar Gently Weeps is performed by Clapton near his peak. Not only is it arguably the best Beatles guitar solo, but one of Claptons best. He has superior performances with Cream, but I wouldn’t have much trouble calling WMGGW one of the all time great solos.
Claptons ability in no way puts down The Beatles. He was a tecnical wiz in a way the Beatles weren’t and never tried to be. Its as if they used a power up on the song bringing only improvement.
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3.19pm
27 February 2017
Offline That’s so true! Though I can’t assess the technical achievement of Clapton as a layperson the impact the solo has on the listener is profound. I have always had the impression the guitar itself would be talking to me when I listened to WMGGW and its voice sounded so mournful and wailing it gave me goosebumps. Never before and after has a guitar solo caused similar feelings.
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3.29pm
14 February 2016
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Besides the fact that Eric helped ease the tension in the studio.
Even if it was plausible, I don’t think George would’ve allowed Paul to do the solo.
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7.29pm
9 March 2017
Offline He let Paul play on Taxman , as well as several other Beatles songs that weren’t his and also, he has claimed that Paul played guitar on It’s All Too Much . Even though he seemed unsure about this, it shows that he is willing to let other members play the solo sometimes.
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7.50pm
14 February 2016
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Dark Overlord said
He let Paul play on Taxman , as well as several other Beatles songs that weren’t his and also, he has claimed that Paul played guitar on It’s All Too Much . Even though he seemed unsure about this, it shows that he is willing to let other members play the solo sometimes.
1966/67 was when the band was still on okay terms.
n 1968 the band was not getting on, and George especially felt Paul was being overly pushy on everyone.
Besides that George felt like he was being pushed aside at that point (when he started to become a prolific songwriter) and became more seclusive about his songs.
Eric was also a friend of his, so that’s another reason he might’ve been picked as the guitarist.
Therefore, he wouldn’t have let Paul play the solo because Paul would probably get bossy over how the song was arranged/played/sung and would basically take George’s song over. (Presumption on my part.)
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5.54pm
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14 April 2010
Offline Martha said
…the impact the solo has on the listener is profound.
Bingo! I leave the technical bullshit to the critics. Music, like any other art form, is subjective. I may not know how it’s made, buy I know what I like. As much as I love George as a Beatle, there are only a handful or so of his solos that turn me on. With Clapton, there are far too many to count. This by far is my favorite solo on any Beatles record.
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6.44pm
9 March 2017
Offline To be fair, I dedicate my life to The Beatles and only know about 10 or so of Eric’s songs, so I am going to prefer George over Eric but even I will admit, this is a great solo and I’m impressed with how high Eric gets those bends. I personally prefer the solo to Something , mainly because it’s George and not a guest guitarist but also it feels more heartfelt and it shows that you don’t need to be fast or heavy to make a great guitar solo but regardless, they both are great solos and both deserve to be a top guitar solos list anytime along with the album version of Let It Be .
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3.06pm
9 March 2017
Offline Quarryman said in another thread
You know a lot about this, so correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t there only two guitars on While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Eric and George? That is, only two people playing, but overdubbing multiple sections.
Hope you don’t mind me moving this to the appropriate thread. Anyways, there’s 4 guitar parts in the song.
First of all, there’s George’s acoustic rhythm guitar, which can clearly be heard throughout the song, then there’s John’s electric rhythm guitar, which is also on the backing track but is barely audible, so i don’t blame you for not hearing it.
Now we come to the overdubs, first we have Eric Clapton’s lead guitar parts that are heard throughout and are played on George’s Gibson Les Paul, this one is very easy to spot. However, we have another guitar overdub that i wasn’t even aware about until beatlesebooks brought it up to me. You see, during the B section, there’s an electric guitar doubling Paul’s Jazz Bass, i’m not sure whether this is George or Paul though, the site claims that this was most likely done by Paul but is unsure and i know that George was more than capable of doing this part, as seen with Drive My Car and Old Brown Shoe .
So that leaves us with George on acoustic rhythm guitar, John on Epiphone Casino, Eric on Gibson Les Paul, and bass doubling on guitar.
If we want to look at it compared with everything else in the personnel, it would look like this:
George Harrison : Lead vocals, Gibson J-200 rhythm guitar, Bass doubling on electric guitar?, Hammond organ
John Lennon : Epiphone Casino rhythm guitar, Hammond organ
Paul McCartney : Fender Jazz Bass, Harmony vocals, Piano, Bass doubling on electric guitar?
Ringo Starr : Drums, Tambourine
Eric Clapton: Gibson Les Paul lead guitar
Maybe @Ron Nasty can help me out here, i hope he doesn’t mind if i at him whenever i need some fact checking, if he does then i’ll stop doing it.
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3.22pm
9 March 2017
Offline I think this topic needs to go to the polls. You see, during the chorus, Paul’s fuzz bass is being doubled by an electric guitar but i don’t know whether it’s George or Paul playing the electric guitar part so i’m taking it to the polls.
[sp_show_poll id=”219″]
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4.44pm
9 March 2017
Offline I almost forgot to mention who i think it is. Although i am pretty much unsure, i’m leaning slightly more towards it being George because he’s the lead guitarist and this is his song, although i’m 60% George and 40% Paul on this one.
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2.13am
26 January 2017
Offline I don’t really see how a poll helps decide this but I voted George.
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
4.19am
24 March 2014
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QuarryMan said
I don’t really see how a poll helps decide this […]
+1
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11.12am
9 March 2017
Offline QuarryMan said
I don’t really see how a poll helps decide this but I voted George.
It’s just that i have no idea who did it and don’t have a good source to say anything about it, so i’m stuck with giving a poll. Maybe someone like @Ron Nasty can tell me who’s doubling Paul’s Fender Jazz Bass with an electric guitar but for now, we just have a poll and no idea. It’s like the ahhhs in A Day In The Life but at least with those, we have Geoff Emmerick claiming it was John whereas this we got nothing.
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8.45am
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20 August 2013
Offline I am totally in to this live version with Eric Clapton, Ringo, and the other musicians.
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9.37am
Moderators
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20 August 2013
Offline Since first hearing this song, I have thought that the piano part is the most exquisite part of the song. I just assumed George Martin was playing the part. I just looked at Joe’s page for the song and saw that Paul is playing the piano part.
Ahhh, Paul, you know how to reach into my very soul. 
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9.52am
26 January 2017
Offline Ahhh Girl said
Since first hearing this song, I have thought that the piano part is the most exquisite part of the song. I just assumed George Martin was playing the part. I just looked at Joe’s page for the song and saw that Paul is playing the piano part.Ahhh, Paul, you know how to reach into my very soul.
I feel the same about Sexy Sadie . I really enjoyed discovering that Paul plays that piano. Best part of the song, and it is quite a song.
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