George Harrison Ukulele: The Beatle’s Secret Love
George Harrison was one of the greatest guitarists of the 20th century, and he spent the last two decades of his life quietly obsessed with a four-stringed instrument most people had dismissed as a novelty. The George Harrison ukulele story is genuinely surprising: it’s not a footnote in a Beatle’s biography — it’s a full chapter, running from a Liverpool cinema in the 1940s through smoke-filled rooms at Friar Park, across the cliff-tops of Maui, and all the way to a weeping Royal Albert Hall in 2002. Most histories of Harrison mention the uke in passing, usually alongside the sitar and the Moog. That’s the wrong frame. For Harrison, the ukulele wasn’t a curiosity — it became his primary instrument, the thing he reached for at dinner parties, on the Concorde, and at the end of his life when almost nothing else could lift his spirits. What’s rarely told is how a single childhood memory of a Lancashire comedian set this entire chain in motion.
Key takeaways:
- Harrison’s love of the ukulele traces directly to George Formby, the Lancashire entertainer whose 1930s–40s films played constantly at Liverpool cinemas
- By the early 1980s, the uke had become Harrison’s main private instrument; he collected hundreds and gave most away
- Five tracks on his posthumously released Brainwashed (2002) include ukulele — the first time the instrument appeared on any Harrison record
- His 1994 appearance strumming “Ain’t She Sweet” in the Beatles Anthology footage is widely credited as a catalyst for the modern ukulele revival
- Jake Shimabukuro’s 2006 viral cover of Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” brought the connection full circle, reaching over 17 million YouTube views
Why did George Harrison love the ukulele?
Harrison’s affection for the ukulele was rooted in something deeply personal: childhood, joy, and a specific type of music that refused to take itself seriously. He said so himself, in a handwritten note in 1999 that has since been shared millions of times online — “Everybody should have and play a UKE — its so simple to carry with you and it is one instrument you can’t play and not laugh! It’s so sweet and also very old.” That combination of simplicity, portability, and irresistible cheerfulness was what kept drawing him back. The guitar was his profession; the ukulele was his delight.
The George Formby connection: where it all started
George Harrison grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, in the 1940s and 1950s — a working-class neighborhood about 20 miles from Wigan, the birthplace of George Formby. This proximity matters. Formby, the gap-toothed, banjo-ukulele-playing comedian and film star, was the most popular entertainer in England during those decades. His face was on cinema screens, his records were on every wireless set, and his gloriously silly songs — riddled with double-entendres and performed with a strumming technique that still baffles advanced players today — were something like cultural wallpaper for an entire generation of northern English children.
Harrison later recalled that while working a teenage job delivering meat by bicycle in Liverpool, he would save a portion of his pay and slip into the local cinema on his lunch break, specifically to watch George Formby films. He told George Formby Society president John Croft, as recorded in Croft’s 2018 book All About the Banjo Uke, that he couldn’t wait to watch Formby play and had vowed to himself that one day he’d learn to play just like him. Decades passed before he acted on that vow. But when he did, the commitment was total.
John Lennon had a parallel but more direct ukulele education: his mother Julia, who reconnected with him in his mid-teens, had learned basic chords from her own father — a banjo and ukulele player — and was a Formby admirer herself. As producer Douglas Rae described the biographical drama Nowhere Boy: a 15-year-old Lennon in the front room with his mother teaching him to play the ukulele and singing George Formby was the direct forerunner of John Lennon the Beatle. The ukulele was already embedded in the fabric of what would become the Beatles — they just hadn’t made it public.
The Greek islands, summer 1967
The Beatles’ ukulele connection first surfaced in a small but telling way during a summer 1967 sailing trip around the Greek islands. Harrison recalled the episode in the Beatles Anthology: “It was a great trip. John and I were on acid all the time, sitting on the front of the ship playing ukuleles. Greece was on the left, a big island on the right. The sun was shining and we sang ‘Hare Krishna’ for hours and hours.” In a separate account in a 1982 Krishna Consciousness magazine, he added that they couldn’t stop because stopping felt like the lights going out. It’s an image that tells you something important about what the instrument meant to him — not performance, not craft, just a kind of continuous, unselfconscious joy.
Harrison’s ukulele collection: instruments, obsessions, and gifts
Harrison didn’t just play the ukulele — he collected it with the single-minded intensity he brought to everything from gardening to Formula One. Understanding the range of instruments he owned, and the sheer scale of his generosity with them, is essential to grasping how unusual his relationship with the uke actually was.
Key instruments in the collection
Harrison gravitated toward several distinct instrument types across his life. In the early 1980s, when his obsession began in earnest at Friar Park, he focused primarily on banjo ukuleles (or banjoleles) — the hybrid instrument that George Formby had made famous. One of his most prized acquisitions was a gold-plated and engraved Ludwig banjo uke, which he tracked down in late 1990. He was, according to John Croft, “like a kid at Christmas” when he collected the restored instrument.
Over time, his collection broadened to include vintage Martin and Gibson sopranos and tenors, and a range of Hawaiian-made instruments — particularly Kamakas, which he bought in quantity. On the posthumous album Brainwashed, he can be heard playing a six-string tenor uke on “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” — a performance captured at a George Formby Society convention in Blackpool in 1991, with Joe Brown on guitar and Jools Holland on piano.
He also played a Danny Ferrington custom banjolele — Ferrington being a respected guitar maker and personal friend, whose clients included Kurt Cobain and Eric Clapton. Footage shared by Harrison’s wife Olivia shows George playing a Ferrington-built instrument with uncomplicated happiness, whistling along.
| Instrument type | Notable examples | Primary era |
|---|---|---|
| Banjo ukulele (banjolele) | Ludwig gold-plated, Wendell Hall | 1980s–1990s |
| Soprano ukulele | Vintage Martins, Gibsons | 1980s–2001 |
| Tenor ukulele | Kamaka, custom instruments | 1990s–2001 |
| Six-string tenor uke | Used on Brainwashed | 1991 performance |
| Custom banjolele | Danny Ferrington “Keoki” model | Late 1990s |
The wicker basket and the ukulele gift-giving tradition
Jeff Lynne, the ELO frontman who produced Cloud Nine (1987) and became one of Harrison’s closest friends, described the dynamic precisely: “He played it brilliantly, studied it, and collected hundreds of vintage instruments. There’s not much you can do with a ukulele that doesn’t sound happy. I think that’s why he liked it.” But collecting alone doesn’t explain the behaviour — Harrison turned instrument-giving into something close to a philosophy.
Paul McCartney remembered: “Whenever you went round George’s house, after dinner the ukuleles would come out and you’d inevitably find yourself singing all these old numbers.” Tom Petty recalled Harrison arriving at his house, handing him a ukulele, teaching him the basic chord shapes that afternoon, and then, as he was leaving, opening his car trunk to reveal a sizeable stash — and insisting on leaving several behind because “you never know when we might need ’em.” His employee at Friar Park reportedly scoured the world searching for instruments on Harrison’s behalf. He bought them in batches, not singles.
Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Joe Brown, Neil Aspinall (Apple Records’ CEO), and untold others were recipients of Harrison ukuleles. He once entertained Concorde passengers by pulling out his Ludwig banjolele and playing. In November 2000, at Terry Gilliam’s dinner party, he played George Formby songs on the uke while Michael Palin and Terry Jones accompanied him on spoons.
The Formby Society and Harrison’s public uke life
Joining the George Formby Society, 1990
By 1990, Harrison’s obsession had gone fully public — at least within certain circles. He contacted the George Formby Society, which had been established in Blackpool in 1960, shortly after Formby’s death, and became a member. In March 1991, he turned up unannounced at the Society’s annual gathering at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, accompanied by Olivia and Dhani. His son Dhani later recalled that there was a huge amount of “George Formby going on” in the Harrison household, alongside “slacky hula — Bennie Nawahi kind of Hawaiian vibes.” The Society became a regular fixture in Harrison’s calendar through the late 1990s.
At the 1991 Blackpool convention, Harrison gave an interview to BBC radio presenter Russell Davies that captures his enthusiasm exactly. “It’s Formbymania!” he told Davies. “It’s sweeping the nation and that’s all there is to it. I haven’t slept for months. I’m having dreams about Ludwig banjos and these songs going through my head. The best thing about it for me is it’s just funny music. It’s very lighthearted. It’s hard to play a ukulele banjo without smiling. It tends to lighten your life a bit.”
Historian’s note: the Formby “scissor stroke” and technical study
Harrison didn’t approach the ukulele casually. He studied Formby’s technique with the same methodical focus he brought to the sitar under Ravi Shankar’s tutelage. Joe Brown, the British entertainer who became his closest uke companion from the early 1980s onwards, taught Harrison the Formby “scissor-rhythm” movement — a split-stroke technique involving both upward and downward finger rolls that Formby had developed himself and that remains genuinely difficult to execute cleanly. “You have to practice it for hours,” Brown said, “but once you’ve got it, it’s pretty cool.” Jeff Lynne received the same instruction from Brown and described it identically: “For weeks you can’t do it, and then one day you’ve got it and you don’t know why, and you can never forget it.” Harrison mastered it. This isn’t the behaviour of a dilettante — it’s the behaviour of someone who took a “simple” instrument and pushed into its real technical depth.
The George Harrison ukulele on record: a timeline
This is the part most articles skip. Harrison’s private relationship with the uke ran for decades before it showed up on anything formally released. Understanding the gap between his private playing and his recorded output helps explain why so many people were surprised by how seriously he took the instrument.
“All Together Now” and the Greek islands (1967)
The one confirmed instance of ukulele on a Beatles recording is John Lennon’s contribution to the chaotic outro of “All Together Now,” recorded on May 11, 1967, at EMI Abbey Road Studios for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. Banjo and ukulele sounds surface in the long, noise-drenched fade-out. Harrison isn’t the player here — but the 1967 Greek islands trip confirms he was already playing comfortably by this point.
The Anthology footage (1994)
The moment most historians point to as a turning point for the modern ukulele revival is easy to overlook because it lasted about a minute. In 1994, while filming the Beatles Anthology documentary, Paul, George, and Ringo shared a loose, impromptu session on the grounds of Friar Park, captured on camera. Harrison strummed a ukulele; McCartney sang “Ain’t She Sweet.” It’s barely a scene — three old friends in a garden, catching a tune. But it was broadcast to tens of millions of viewers worldwide, and the sight of a Beatle unselfconsciously reaching for a ukulele in a private, happy moment did more for the instrument’s reputation than almost anything that followed.
“Free as a Bird” (1995)
The reunited Beatles also worked on “Free as a Bird” for the Anthology, built around an old John Lennon demo. The uke appears at the very end, after the fade, as a ghostly little coda. The accompanying music video, which has been watched over 25 million times, closes on a George Formby impersonator strumming away on a music hall stage — a deliberate nod, and a signal of where Harrison’s head was.
Brainwashed (released 2002)
This is where it all comes together. Harrison’s final studio album, completed by Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne after his death in November 2001, includes five tracks with ukulele — the first time the instrument appeared on any Harrison record. The track listing of his uke contributions:
| Track | Instrument | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| “Any Road” | Banjolele | Propulsive, upbeat opener |
| “P2 Vatican Blues” | Ukulele | Layered in Lynne’s mix |
| “Pisces Fish” | Ukulele | Subtle texture |
| “Rocking Chair in Old Hawaii” | Ukulele | Roots in early ’70s demo |
| “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” | Six-string tenor uke | Live performance, 1991; features Joe Brown and Jools Holland |
“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” is the standout. It’s a Cab Calloway standard from 1932, and Harrison’s version — captured live at the Blackpool Formby Society convention in 1991 — is the most complete recorded picture of what he sounded like on the instrument. It’s intimate, confident, and clearly the work of someone who had been playing for years.
The Harrison framework: four phases of a private passion
Most accounts treat Harrison’s ukulele obsession as a single undifferentiated fact. But it evolved across four distinct phases, each with a different character.
Phase 1 — The Formby fascination (1940s–1960s): A Liverpool childhood spent watching Formby films plants the obsession. The first playing is casual and social — the Greek islands, the Quarrymen social world, the instrument picked up as a shared joy rather than a personal discipline.
Phase 2 — Friar Park and the serious collecting (early 1980s–1989): After John Lennon’s murder in December 1980, Harrison retreated further into Friar Park and began collecting in earnest. Joe Brown, his neighbor and fellow Formby devotee, teaches him the scissor stroke and the two begin playing together regularly. The collection grows from banjo ukes to vintage Martins and Gibsons.
Phase 3 — The public devotee (1990–2001): Harrison joins the George Formby Society, attends conventions, plays publicly at the 1991 Blackpool gathering, spreads the instrument to everyone around him — Lynne, Petty, McCartney, Aspinall, Clapton — and writes songs on the uke that end up as Brainwashed demos. The Anthology footage introduces the instrument to the global public.
Phase 4 — The legacy (2001 onwards): Harrison dies in November 2001. The Concert for George, held a year later at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2002, is bookended by ukulele — McCartney opens “Something” on the Gibson uke Harrison had given him; Joe Brown closes the night with “I’ll See You in My Dreams” on a small Martin soprano. Olivia Harrison had specifically asked Brown to close with it, because she and George had loved the song. Five years later, Jake Shimabukuro’s Central Park video goes viral and the instrument’s mainstream revival accelerates sharply.
What most people get wrong about George Harrison and the ukulele
Misconception 1: “It was just a hobby, like his gardening”
The comparison with gardening is superficially appealing — Harrison was devoted to both, and neither was his “job” — but it misses the depth of the commitment. He studied specific techniques under Joe Brown. He tracked down obscure vintage instruments. He wrote songs on the ukulele that he considered album-worthy (those Brainwashed tracks weren’t afterthoughts; Harrison left explicit instructions for how he wanted the record completed). Jeff Lynne said he “played it brilliantly.” Joe Brown, who was himself an exceptional player, treated Harrison as a genuine peer. This was not the level of engagement you’d call a hobby.
Misconception 2: “He influenced the modern ukulele revival mostly through Jake Shimabukuro”
Shimabukuro’s viral 2006 Central Park video of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is genuinely important — Harrison’s song, played on Harrison’s favourite instrument, by a Hawaiian musician who’d absorbed Harrison’s love of the uke. But Harrison’s role in the revival preceded this by a decade. The 1994 Anthology footage, watched by hundreds of millions; the Concert for George, broadcast worldwide; the release of Brainwashed in 2002 — all of these reached audiences that dwarfed a YouTube video. Shimabukuro brought the story full circle, but he didn’t start it. Harrison did.
FAQs
Did George Harrison actually play ukulele on any Beatles songs? No confirmed Beatles studio recording features Harrison on ukulele. The only documented ukulele on a Beatles record is John Lennon’s contribution to the closing section of “All Together Now” from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack in 1967. Harrison played ukulele privately during the Beatles years — most notably on the 1967 Greek islands trip — but the instrument didn’t appear on his recorded work until the posthumous Brainwashed in 2002.
What ukulele did George Harrison play most? Harrison played a range of instruments across different periods — banjo ukuleles (particularly the Ludwig gold-plated model he restored via the George Formby Society), vintage soprano and tenor ukuleles by Martin and Gibson, Kamaka instruments from Hawaii, and a custom Danny Ferrington banjolele. His most documented recording performance is on a six-string tenor uke, heard on “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” from Brainwashed.
Did George Harrison influence Paul McCartney to play ukulele? Yes, directly. McCartney has said that whenever guests visited Harrison’s home, ukuleles would come out after dinner and everyone would end up playing. McCartney has performed “Something” on a ukulele at numerous concerts, using the Gibson uke Harrison gave him. He played it that way at the Concert for George in 2002 and has continued to do so on solo tours.
What is the “scissor stroke” George Harrison learned on ukulele? The scissor stroke (also called the split stroke) is a rhythmic strumming technique developed by George Formby, involving alternating downward and upward finger rolls in rapid sequence. It produces a distinctive rhythmic attack that’s considerably harder to execute than it sounds. Joe Brown taught the technique to both Harrison and Jeff Lynne. Harrison practiced it until it was fluent, incorporating it into his playing at Formby Society events.
Why did George Harrison give so many ukuleles away? Harrison seems to have genuinely believed, as he wrote in 1999, that “everybody should have and play a UKE.” He bought instruments in batches rather than individually, kept Friar Park stocked for dinner parties, and considered ukuleles the ideal gift — portable, non-intimidating, and impossible to play without smiling. Tom Petty recalled Harrison arriving at his house with a car boot full and insisting on leaving several behind “just in case.” It was an act of proselytising, but a very warm one.
Conclusion
George Harrison’s ukulele story is ultimately a story about what serious musicians play when they’re not performing for anyone. For nearly 20 years, from the early 1980s until his death in 2001, the ukulele was what Harrison reached for in the garden, at dinner, on aeroplanes, and at the bedsides of friends. He studied it, he collected it, he gave it away by the dozen, and he left it on record precisely once — and that record wasn’t released until he was gone.
The instrument now carries part of his legacy. Joe Brown closed the Concert for George with a soprano uke and “I’ll See You in My Dreams” because Olivia Harrison asked him to. Paul McCartney still plays “Something” on the Gibson that George gave him. Jake Shimabukuro plays a Harrison song on the instrument Harrison loved, to audiences that wouldn’t exist without both of them.
At Ukulele History, we think that chain — from a Lancashire cinema in the 1940s to a Central Park rock in 2006 — is one of the more beautiful through-lines in the instrument’s story. If you want to follow it further, explore our archive on the ukulele’s journey from Liverpool to the global stage.
Sources: Ukulele Magazine, Blair Jackson, Fall 2021 (primary interview source, Jim Beloff, Joe Brown, Jeff Lynne accounts); John Croft, All About the Banjo Uke (2018); The Beatles Anthology (1994); Wikipedia credits on Brainwashed album personnel; BBC Russell Davies interview, 1991; KNKX Public Radio, Jake Shimabukuro interview; Concerts Wiki, George Harrison performance chronology; Cosmic Magazine, Jeff Lynne quote; The Beatles Story Museum, Liverpool.
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