Tenor Guitar: For You Blue

For our second installment regarding the tenor guitar we turn to George Harrison’s son Dhani and his rendition of his father’s composition from The Beatles’ “Let it Be” album. The Gap utilized this 12-bar blues for one of its 2013 commercials.

Dhani plays a Gibson EST-150 electric archtop tenor guitar on this cut. From the pickup and the headstock decal, it appears that this particular guitar was manufactured in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Dhani uses an open “D” tuning (D-F#-A-D) on this cut and it lends itself quite well to the feeling on this song.

Additionally, there is a slide guitar on this tune playing similar to the lap guitar that John Lennon played on the original. Aaron Embry, who also plays tenor guitar and piano, plays on this cut but I am not sure which instrument(s) he is playing. I would venture that he is emulating Paul McCartney’s piano track. McCartney put paper in the strings to get the honky-tonk sound.

Dhani doesn’t typically play his father’s tunes because of the automatic comparison. The unmistakable resemblance in looks and sound to his dad makes you wonder if he inherited any DNA from his mother.

Gap Commercial