<p id=”par-1_57″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/george-harrison/?swcfpc=1″>George Harrison</a> and Eric Clapton had a friendship that survived some unbearably rocky periods. Clapton, for example, actively pursued Harrison’s <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/celebrity-relationships/?swcfpc=1″>wife</a>, Pattie Boyd, while they were still married. Before this, though, he infuriated Harrison with what he thought was helpful behavior. Here’s why his way of promoting a Beatles album didn’t go over well with the band.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-george-harrison-wasn-t-happy-with-the-way-eric-clapton-promoted-an-album”>George Harrison wasn’t happy with the way Eric Clapton promoted an album</h2>
<p id=”par-2_44″>In 1968, Clapton <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/george-harrison-made-eric-claptons-guitar-solo-while-guitar-gently-weeps-sound-beatle-y.html/”>recorded a guitar solo</a> on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” a song Harrison wrote. Because of this, Harrison gave him an advance copy of <em>The White Album</em>. He took it upon himself to do a bit of promotion for the album.</p>
<p id=”par-3_53″>“When I left the following month to go to America on Cream’s farewell tour, I took these [acetates] with me,” he wrote in <em><a href=”https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clapton-eric-clapton/1100603415″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Clapton: The Autobiography</a></em>. “While I was in LA, I had been playing some of the songs on the album to various friends when I got a phone call from George.”</p>
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<p id=”par-4_18″>Harrison had become aware that Clapton was showing others the album, and he was not happy about it. </p>
<p id=”par-5_76″>“Word had got back to him that I was playing the album around town, and he was furious and gave me a huge bollocking,” Clapton wrote. “I remember being incredibly hurt because I thought I’d been doing a grand job of promoting their music to really discriminating people. It brought me down to earth with a bang, and it was a good lesson to learn about boundaries, and not making assumptions, but it stung like hell.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_18″>Clapton admitted <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/eric-clapton-found-hard-communicate-feelings-toward-george-harrison.html/”>he avoided Harrison</a> for a time afterward, but they eventually got their friendship back on track.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-he-spoke-about-the-experience-of-recording-with-the-beatles”>He spoke about the experience of recording with The Beatles</h2>
<p id=”par-7_20″>Clapton arrived at the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/story-behind-the-beatles-awkward-first-recording-session-abbey-road.html/”>recording session at Abbey Road</a> without any idea that Harrison would ask him to play guitar.</p>
<p id=”par-8_89″>“When we arrived, he told me they were going to record one of his songs and asked me to play guitar on it. I was quite taken aback by this and considered it a funny thing to ask, since he was the Beatles’ guitar player and had always done great work on their records,” Clapton wrote, adding, “I was also quite flattered, thinking that not many people get asked to play on a Beatles record. I hadn’t even brought my guitar with me, so I had to borrow his.” </p>
<p id=”par-9_26″>Clapton got to witness the Beatles’ dynamic in the recording studio. He said he found John Lennon and Paul McCartney to be rather <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/george-harrison-said-john-lennon-paul-mccartney-refused-take-1-best-songs-seriously.html/”>harsh on Harrison</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-10_40″>“My reading of the situation was that Paul and John were quite disparaging about both George’s and Ringo’s contributions to the group,” he wrote. “George would put songs forward on every project, only to find them pushed into the background.”</p>
<p id=”par-11_26″>Clapton admitted he was nervous to play with Lennon and McCartney. Still, he recorded his guitar part in only one take. He felt it sounded “fantastic.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-eric-clapton-shared-how-he-became-friends-with-george-harrison”>Eric Clapton shared how he became friends with George Harrison</h2>
<p id=”par-12_23″>Clapton and Harrison’s friendship began because Harrison frequently stopped by Clapton’s home. At first, Clapton admitted he didn’t view Harrison as a friend.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Eric-Clapton-George-Harrison-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of George Harrison and Eric Clapton playing guitar together.” class=”wp-image-3794340″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>George Harrison and Eric Clapton | Bettmann/Contributor via Getty</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-13_39″>“A regular visitor was George Harrison, whom I had known since I was in the Yardbirds,” he wrote. “Not being the kind of guy, in those days, to instigate a friendship, I had just considered him a fellow musician.”</p>
<p id=”par-14_19″>They played guitar <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/george-harrison-said-lsd-ruined-fame-novelty-disappeared.html/”>and dropped acid</a> when they were together. Over time, Clapton began to consider Harrison a friend.</p>