Dhani Harrison is the son of the late Beatle, George Harrison and only child of Olivia Harrison. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dhani became a singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was named after the sixth and seventh notes of the Indian music scale, which are dha and ni. Since 2001, he’s been active with his band, thenewno2 and as a solo artist, performing at Coachella, Lollapalooza and more.
Dhani first appeared as a professional musician on George Harrison’s final album, Brainwashed. The album was completed with the help of Jeff Lynne – who co-founded Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) – after George passed away.
Incidentally, this summer (2019), Dhani is touring with the Electric Light Orchestra for the first time. Although Dhani had certainly performed alongside Lynne in the past, this will mark the first occasion joining his band.
On tour, Dhani has been opening for ELO since June, performing his solo music. And, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. His new single, “Motorways (Erase It)” has been a staple in his set.
But getting back to the subject of this article, which is George Harrison’s guitar collection…
Artists sometimes become associated with the instruments they use, and this was certainly no exception for George Harrison, who had a hand in popularizing the Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric, a rosewood Fender Telecaster and the Gibson J-160 acoustic-electric. Dhani says his favorite guitar out of the entire collection is the rosewood Fender Telecaster, which weighs seven times what a standard Tele does.
Dhani spearheaded the creation of The Beatles: Rock Band game, which was completed in 2009. Eager to work on a new tech project, he plunged into the world of mobile apps. Inspired by what he saw, he decided he wanted to photograph his father’s guitar collection and be able to spin them around within the app at will.
That’s how The Guitar Collection: George Harrison iPad app – developed by Tom Hartle of Bandwidth Publishing – came about. Music photographer Steven Sebring was brought on to capture the guitars. But Dhani didn’t want any of the guitars leaving the Friar Park Estate in Henry-on-Thames. That meant that Sebring, along with Beatles archivist Richard Radford, and guitar tech Alan Rogan all had to camp out in Harrison’s home, where each guitar was photographed hundreds of times.
In addition to great photographs, the app also came with detailed descriptions of each guitar, pictures of George Harrison himself playing the guitars, as well as a list of songs that each axe was used on. The app also featured audio content in which George talked about several of his instruments.
The Guitar Collection: George Harrison app was launched in 2012. Unfortunately, the app is no longer available. Dhani Harrison is a busy man with plenty on his plate, which explains why the app may not be priority.
Dhani’s career, however, should be one to watch. He regularly makes the headlines with his various recording and touring efforts as well as musical collaborations. History is interesting, but so is history in the making.
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