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[Bobber]

You haven't upset me. You have made me furious!  

[thevoid]

Ah well...I just noticed you provided the link at the bottom of the explanation of the photo. Again, I apologize for missing that bit. I have gone ahead and deleted my post so as to not make myself look stupid for reposting the same bit.  

[Bill Harry]

Re that photo by NoNamR. here is what I've written about it:

There is a colour photograph taken by Mike McCartney in 1958 showing George, John, Paul and a fourth youth. His name was Dennis Littler.

Dennis had just bought an acoustic Antoria guitar for nineteen pounds prior to the photograph being taken, although when asked if he might have joined them in the group, he says,

[pc31]

i hear everbody always felt bigger around littler....

[Bobber]

I thought I'd seen every photo available of the early, early Beatles. But this took me by surprise.

Anyone got any dates for it, or know who the fourth person is...?

Bumped into this at the Beatles Photo Blog. Paul seems to take good care of his shirts over the years.

[Kevin]

Tight northern bast*rd!
And, umm, George appears to levitating.

Bumped into this at the Beatles Photo Blog. Paul seems to take good care of his shirts over the years.

[Hello Goodbye]

Bumped into this at the Beatles Photo Blog. Paul seems to take good care of his shirts over the years.

You've got sharp eyes and memory, Cor.  The shirt still fit ten years later!

[Bobber]

You've got sharp eyes and memory, Cor.

I do. Plus I visit a lot of other sites where this was shown.

[nyfan(41)]

wow @ the shirt in the 2 photos. thanks for posting that

[larainefan]

Both of the early photos just reinforce how young little Georgie was, he hadn't even attained his full height yet!

[emmi_luvs_beatles]

Both of the early photos just reinforce how young little Georgie was, he hadn't even attained his full height yet!

Yeah, he looks as though he is my age in the first one    They're both awesome pics!

[larainefan]

It proves he was a phenomenal guitarist too, otherwise they never would have let 'that kid', as they thought of him, into the band.  They knew they didn't want some other band grabbing him up!

[Pilzkopf]

Isn't the one on the left Matt Lucas before he lost his hair? Oh no, my mistake....

[sgt. peppie]

they had such rosy cheeks back then 

[Kevin]

It proves he was a phenomenal guitarist too, otherwise they never would have let 'that kid', as they thought of him, into the band.  They knew they didn't want some other band grabbing him up!

Does it? That's a bit of a leap of faith. Wasn't he a mate of Paul's, who took a while to be accepted into the band?
In my first (awful) band our drummer couldn't keep time, but we kept him because we didn't know any others.
All it proves is that he was a good enough guitarist for The Quarrymen. Which might not have been that difficult.

[larainefan]

Kevin, we may have to respectfully disagree  .

For George to have taught himself to play guitar, and been a lead guitarist by the age of 14 and 15 is quite the accomplishment.  I have read that by the age of 16 he was the best guitarist in Liverpool, that no one up and down the Mersey River could match him.  I realize others have different opinions on George's playing, though, but he'll always be my favorite guitarist.

[Pilzkopf]

^I think that's an exaggeration. If George was ever thought of as the best guitarist in Liverpool, it was certainly after he joined the Quarrymen. More likely it was after they became the Beatles and got a larger fanbase. At the time he joined he was unknown. John thought he was too young, which wouldn't have been an argument if his playing was as exceptional as all that. My impression is the George was a so-so guitarist who got better as he went along. By the time they got a recording contract he was making a significant contribution to the classic Beatle sound. But if they'd got a contract a couple of years earlier he might have suffered the same fate as Pete Best.

[Kevin]

 I have read that by the age of 16 he was the best guitarist in Liverpool, that no one up and down the Mersey River could match him. 

Very good. You almost had me going there until I read this little gem of yours:
"he (George) was basically the first english musician to play a foreign instrument."
Excellent.
is that you Justin?

[BlueMeanie]

^ That is priceless. Little George managed to be the first person in all of Britain to buy a foreign make of guitar? What were all the others playing then? Oh yeah, Rickenbacker were English!!!

[Kevin]

^ That is priceless. Little George managed to be the first person in all of Britain to buy a foreign make of guitar? What were all the others playing then? Oh yeah, Rickenbacker were English!!!

In fairness I guess we're talking about the sitar. He does seem to hold the honour of being the first rock musician to play a sitar on a track that was actually released.
The Yardbirds and The Kinks had tried to incorporate sitar into songs before George - The Yardbirds used an Indian musician on Heart Of Glass, but the poor guy couldn't get the 4/4 beat so Jeff Beck mimicked the sound on his guitar. The Kinks also mimicked the sitar with a guitar on "See My Friends."
So I guess hats off to George, but this Indian thing wasn't him working alone in the dark. It was a general trend surfacing on both sides of the Atlantic.