“To put it simply: no Beatles, no George, no me. I still feel very privileged to have called him a friend”: Bernie Marsden on the genius of George Harrison

At the end of last month, the guitar community was shocked and saddened by the surprise announcement of Bernie Marsden’s passing. Tributes came flooding in from far and wide, praising the guitarist for his timeless work in bands like Whitesnake, The Moody Marsden Band and Paice Ashton Lord, as well as the six-string delights he’d given us over a long and fruitful solo career.

Look up any interview with the man on his primary influences and you’re bound to see names like Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton and Peter Green. But his biggest guitar hero was someone who, much to his own amazement, also became a good friend to him – George Harrison of The Beatles.

“He was terrific,” Marsden told Classic Rock in 2020. “I never stopped pinching myself, really, because he was the man. George invited me to [Harrison’s mansion] Friar Park and ribbed me about my fondness for Beatles memorabilia and trivia. Then he took me into his studio and showed me the Fender Stratocaster that he’d played on Magical Mystery Tour, plus his Sgt. Pepper suit.

“It was magical. I remember him saying to me once: ‘You’ve been in a lot of bands, haven’t you? I envy you for that, because I was only ever in one.’”

When Guitar World was planning its George Harrison tribute cover back in September 2021, I was contacted by my editor to conduct a series of interviews with various guitar heroes – using key tracks to emphasize what Harrison brought to the Fab Four and help further examine his genius [the final article is available online as George Harrison's 24 greatest guitar moments – as chosen by his guitar hero fans – Ed].

I was also asked to suggest any musicians who might be a good fit and able to participate, and ended up contacting Kim Thayil, Zakk Wylde, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani and Rick Nielsen to name but a few. 

Another person who came to mind was Bernie Marsden, who I’d met a few times backstage when blues giants like Joe Bonamassa and Steve Lukather were performing in London. He always came across as a terrifically kind man with the warmest of hearts, and we ended up loosely staying in touch. I emailed him straight away about the George Harrison tribute and heard back the very same day.

Being the true gent that he was, he was very thankful for the invitation and sent his warmest regards while “freezing in Buckinghamshire”. And even though we’d only asked for a paragraph or two, the man famous for writing some of Whitesnake’s biggest hits and playing a 1959 Les Paul Standard affectionately known as ‘The Beast’ found the time to write a detailed reply that retraced his deep connection to The Beatles – and George Harrison in particular. Here is his response in full:

“Over the years, I’ve been asked many times about the influences I had when I started playing the guitar as a young boy in the 1960s. The truth is that there are a few, but something I can easily trace and pinpoint is the very moment I knew that I wanted to play the guitar. It was the day I saved up my pocket money, plus a little extra from my parents, to purchase the first Beatles LP, Please Please Me, in March 1963. I was about to have my 12th birthday.

“Cradling the shiny new disc, I remember rushing home to the radiogram to play it. I read the sleeve notes: John Lennon (Rhythm Guitar), Paul McCartney (Bass Guitar), Ringo Starr (Drums) and George Harrison (Lead Guitar). The word ‘lead’ grabbed my attention immediately – I liked the idea of being a leader very much...

“By the time the second album, With the Beatles, was available to buy, I had just acquired my first acoustic guitar, by no means a great instrument, but my very own guitar to play. It wasn’t easy; I only had my records to learn from – no teachers, no tabs, no music, and certainly no tutorial videos! I had the music of The Beatles, The Searchers, The Hollies, and the almost impossible-to-consider recordings of The Shadows.

“But it was definitely The Beatles who ruled my world in 1963. I always listened to George very carefully, and I practiced and practiced, as much as my fingers could take. I would play the guitar with the album and hear George play the solo in All My Loving and then the impeccable guitar in Till There Was You…

“These days, we are aware of George’s love of the country guitar pickers, and the solo on All My Loving certainly has elements of Chet Atkins and Scotty Moore. It swings beautifully within the track, and I remember mastering the very last lick. All right, ‘mastering’ might be over-praising myself age 12, but it definitely made me aware that I could actually make the guitar sound a bit like George, and that was a huge moment of influence for me.

“Till There Was You is very different, and shows his vast range of playing in 1963. He has lovely phrasing, uses diminished notes, and a fantastic use of the Gretsch tremolo arm before a fabulous run into the middle eight of the song. To my young ears, this was masterful guitar playing, and he then rocked out on Roll Over Beethoven and sang!

“This was almost too much to take in as a beginner. I can understand why so many must have given up playing – I know it crossed my mind more than once as the pain increased in my young hands. Fortunately for me, and plenty of others, it went the other way and we persevered to one day be in his limelight.

“At the time, his technique and ability seemed impossible to emulate. I distinctly remember him reproducing the solos live on TV at the London Palladium, a sold-out prestige theatre, with millions of people watching in their homes, me included. George played the solos with complete confidence, and he was barely into his 20s. He was at the very top of his game.

“If I have to choose a favorite solo between the songs I’ve mentioned, I think it has to be All My Loving. It’s simply so musical. He never lost that number-one position for me. To put it simply: no Beatles, no George, no me.

“On another note, I’m proud to have gotten to know him personally when I was in Whitesnake in the 1970s. He invited me to his home where he showed me his guitars, and we listened and played to music in his studio. I still feel very privileged to this day to have gotten to call him a friend, but that’s another story…” – Bernie Marsden