How did George learn guitar?

 

Slim Whitman with his Gibson - the sound George aspired to. 

George tried to teach himself [the guitar]. But he wasn’t making much headway. ‘I’ll never learn this,’ he used to say. I said, ‘You will, son, you will. Just keep at it.’  Louise Harrison, mother of George

For all his passion for the instrument, George was no guitar prodigy. He wasn't helped by his 'horrible...cheapo' Egmond but playing came less easily to him than to Paul

Practice

His difficulties were partly due to growing up in a (comparatively) no musical household. Thirteen was a relatively late age to start learning from scratch, especially without formal tuition. Unlike Paul he had no family role model. Progress was painfully slow. 

In an era long before online guitar lessons George initially had a an isolated learning experience. His method — later repeated when learning the sitar — came down to careful imitation and relentless practice.

With characteristic doggedness, George stuck to the task until his fingers bled from the effort. A family friend then showed him some basic chords. Once he had these memorized, he moved onto a Spanish guitar manual Modern Guitar Chord Progressions.

And he met this older kid call Paul McCartney. 

An extended version of this post is available here