The End...

The End is a song off The Beatles Abbey Road album that features 3 lead guitar solos. McCartney, Harrison & Lennon each taking turns and each having a distinct style. It was known that George Harrison and Eric Clapton were friends (perhaps more than friends as Clapton married his ex-wife) and rumored he was invited into the studio while they were recording that album.

There are some die-hard Beatles fans who probably have some documentation. It's believed Clapton many have played parts on the album, but was never credited for doing so.

Paul McCartney started out as a guitarist and later switched to bass guitar. He was the main song writer and often dictated to George Harrison exactly what he wanted for many of the guitar parts. I've heard Paul play a few guitar parts and knew he was good, but not as technically proficient as George. When it came to the 3 guitarists 'trading licks' for The End, it was my opinion that Clapton may have some input without credit.

The guitar cover in this blog has all the parts played singularly. There are several similar videos with some listing who played what part. I could easily believe the part listed as Paul was really George and the part listed as George could have been Clapton. Lennon was the gruff & noisy one.. no mistake about that.
Why do I think it was Clapton? The searing high notes with vibrato was his trademark when he was in The Cream. However, it was stated in many interviews that George was heavily influenced by Eric's style.

Here's one on many covers of The End: