"Here Comes the Sun" by George Harrison (cover)

[Glennwillow]

One of my YouTube friends from England asked me a couple of weeks ago if I could possibly cover "Here Comes the Sun." I finally made time to work on this a couple of days ago. For some crazy reason I never learned to play this song until now. I have spent about 3 days getting familiar with this song, which is actually more challenging than I would have thought. I enjoyed working on this and learning something new. I was not attempting to directly copy how George Harrison played this. I tried this with a flat pick, which I believe is how George played this, but I found that I could get a better sound for me if I finger picked this song. So this is my version.

I did play the song on capo 7 where George played it and I believe that the chords are pretty much what he played, also. The guitar is my Martin D-45 from 2018. I tried a bunch of guitars for this and felt that the D-45 had the best sound way up there on capo 7.

As in the "Restless" song I did recently, I used photos for my background not only from my wife but also from a sunrise photo taken from the cockpit of a commercial jet airplane by First Officer Kane Hooworth. Thanks again to First Officer Kane!

Thanks for watching!

- Glenn

[Basalt Beach]

Wow Glenn, that was amazing. Your D-45 was a perfect choice. The background of the rising sun was excellent as well! Watch out MTV!

[TBman]

That brought a smile to my face Glenn, great job!

[new2guitar_eh]

Very nice! I think I need to learn to finger pick this one.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Basalt Beach

Wow Glenn, that was amazing. Your D-45 was a perfect choice. The background of the rising sun was excellent as well! Watch out MTV!

Hi Basalt Beach!

Oh, you make me smile! Thanks so much for your kind words!

Regarding the D-45, I started out on my Gibson AJ, and I thought, man, that sounds too hard edged. So in looking for something softer sounding I tried the Olson SJ, and that sounded really good.

Down in the house I was showing my wife the arrangement on my old Martin D-35 and my wife said, you should try that on the D-45. And she was right! The perfect choice!

I was so glad I had that photo of the sunrise taken from the cockpit of the jet airplane. It worked really well for this song I thought!

Thanks so much for your very supportive comments! Much appreciated!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by TBman

That brought a smile to my face Glenn, great job!

Hi Barry!

Thanks so much! That song makes me smile, too! What a happy song!

We live in the Pacific Northwest where it rains 9 months of the year, much like it does in parts of England. So I can just imagine how George Harrison felt, out there on a picnic with Eric Clapton and their wives when the sun burst out of the clouds after a miserable winter and spring. Eric Clapton says George wrote the song right there on the spot.

Thanks very much for your comments Barry -- much appreciated!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by new2guitar_eh

Very nice! I think I need to learn to finger pick this one.

Hi new2guitar_eh!

Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment! I'm so glad you felt this came out okay!

I really tried to make this work with a flat pick, and I could do it, but I needed a whole lot of work to keep it from sounding clunky. I'm sure it can be done -- George Harrison did it.

But I thought, well, what if I finger picked this? Instantly, it sounded way better to my ears, just because finger picking is where my strength is. I'm just a so-so flat picker.

Any way you play this, it takes a little practice to get those licks down and get the little picked melodies accurate. And the song moves at a pretty quick tempo, so there are plenty of opportunities to trip all over ones self, as I did about 50 times before I got this down.

Thanks so much for your comments!

- Glenn

[guitarquango]

Simply wonderful. You really got it my friend!

Greetings, Jimmy

[bert_]

NIce, beautiful playing and sound.

[westview]

Another nice wake up song with coffee.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by guitarquango

Simply wonderful. You really got it my friend!

Greetings, Jimmy

Hi Jimmy!

Thanks so much for your supportive comments! How nice of you to take the time to watch and comment!

I'm sure you know how this works. You start out with a song, a musical piece, and it's just a string of notes. Somehow you have to turn that into something with emotional content that feels right. I put in a fair amount of work on this over the last few days trying to get the feel of the song right, at least for how I hear this song, so I really appreciate your comment that I "really got it." Thank you for that!

Thanks so much Jimmy!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by bert_

NIce, beautiful playing and sound.

Hi Bert!

Thanks so much! I appreciate those comments from someone who does as good a job on videos as you do, Bert! I have worked hard recently to improve my recording equipment with some new microphones and preamps and an updated version of my recording software. The differences are subtle but they are there, so I'm glad you noticed.

Thanks for the kind words Bert!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by westview

Another nice wake up song with coffee.

Thank you Westview!

Yes, it's a perfect song with coffee! In fact, that's where I am at right this very moment! That is such a feel-good song!

Thanks so much for watching and commenting! I hope all is well for you! I'm doing great!

- Glenn

[Organic Sounds Select Guitars]

Wow, Glenn! Fantastic! One of my favorite Beatles songs

[Carmel Cedar]

Glenn - that was wonderful! I love that you confidently worked your own timing for the tune, and your take on the middle bridge (at 2:00 mark) is a delightful one. I think it improves on the original! The sunrise photo works well, though the shiny MOP on the Martin at times shines like the sun in your close-ups.

Hard to believe this is your first 'go' at this iconic song - so glad your friend requested it.

Well done!!!