Beatles chords?

[RockNote]

What is that? I first heard the expression in a TV interview with Steve Jones. "You don't get no Beatles chords from me, just major chords." But then I saw the expression here on HC the other day.

[Frets99]

The Beatles used an array of chords employing 6ths, diminished and augmented and sundry voicings as to make your average three chord guitarists eyes water. They could be found in the key of Eb or Bb a lot of the time as well.

 

I learned to play guitar using these richly voiced chords as a youngster with a Beatles songbook. (not some ez version) One of the best things I ever did for myself.

[RockNote]

Thanks Frets. So there is a point to this talk about Beatles chords after all? Not a musicological term of course, but if they had a typical structure it makes sense to me too.

[guitarNed]

The Beatles used chords in unusual ways, departing radically from the 3 or 4 chord idea that was popular at the time. Still *is* popular. Beatles songs from '62-'64 averaged 8-9 chords, for example -- a lot more than was usual.

 

But the Beatles also created unusual individual chord voicings. Often by making the leading note of a chord different than what is expected. A good example is the opening sequence in Eight Days A Week. The Beatles also did odd things with their singing harmonies and the chords and the melodies.

 

SHORT ANSWER: "Beatle chords" were unusual chord voicings. (That is, the exact sequence of notes that are played on a guitar to form the chord.) In a larger sense, the structure of Beatles songs were generally very unusual, compared to other rock n roll. In an even larger sense the interaction of melody, chord structure and harmony created a sound that was often structurally almost confusing or contradictory, but still sounded "right".

 

For example, take "I want to hold your hand" and remove the harmony singing. It would sound queer, unless you also cleaned up the chords, making them sound more ordinary. Or something like that!

 

I remember my guitar teacher ttrying to explain to me (I was about 12) that playing lead on Beatles songs was hard, because Beatles chord progressions didn't follow normal patterns. At the time, I didn't know what "normal" patterns were, so it sounded like a bunch of yack. To me, at the age of 12, the Beatles WERE rock & roll music. I remember, even my teacher looked unhappy with his own explanation. But now, many years later, I see what he meant.

[guitarNed]

Here's an experiment you can do at home, to give you a little insight into Beatles' song structure.

 

Take the song "Ticket To Ride." The normal way to play the verse is (in the key of E) E - F#m - B7 - C#m - A - C#m - A - C#m - B7 - E. (That is a simplification, but close.)

 

Now, play it like a normal rock n roll song: E - B7 - E - A7 - E - A7 - B7 - E. Ta-da!

 

My favorite "Beatle" progression is in "I Saw Her Standing There," when the chords go:

 

 C                           F           G#I'll never dance with another           C7        G G7         C7Since I saw her standing there

 

My favorite individual Beatle chord is the Eaug7 that starts "OH! Darling!"

[RockNote]

Here's an experiment you can do at home, to give you a little insight into Beatles' song structure. Take the song "Ticket To Ride." The normal way to play the verse is (in the key of E) E - F#m - B7 - C#m - A - C#m - A - C#m - B7 - E. (That is a simplification, but close.) Now, play it like a normal rock n roll song: E - B7 - E - A7 - E - A7 - B7 - E. Ta-da! My favorite "Beatle" progression is in "I Saw Her Standing There," when the chords go: C F G# I'll never dance with another C7 G G7 C7 Since I saw her standing there My favorite individual Beatle chord is the Eaug7 that starts "OH! Darling!"

 

Thanks a lot 'Ned for taking the time to produce these elaborate responses! This one is especially helpful! I look forward to checking it out.

[Ged LST]

Thanks mate.

 

I've read a number of stories about the Beatles learning chords from everyone that could show them new ones so yeah, I guess anything even slightly fancy could be a Beatles chord

 

- Ged

['s mel gibson]

It was Beatle songs that taught me all my chords, pretty much.

 

And I consider Beatle songs to be a pre-requisite for learning chords. Steely Dan will do too.

[Harry-L]

Now here is a guy who studied the Beatles

 

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-notes_on.shtml

[Frets99]

 

Now here is a guy who studied the Beatles http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-notes_on.shtml

 

 

Cool.

 

There are days I hear their songs and remember back to when I first heard it. The freshness. Boldness. It was just different. Aahhhh Giiiiii iiii iiiii irrrrr illlll!

[allthumz]

Thanks mate. I've read a number of stories about the Beatles learning chords from everyone that could show them new ones so yeah, I guess anything even slightly fancy could be a Beatles chord - Ged

 

I read somewhere that Delbert McClinton taught them chords when they were playing in Germany back in the day.

[jerry_picker]

Thanks Frets. So there is a point to this talk about Beatles chords after all? Not a musicological term of course, but if they had a typical structure it makes sense to me too.

 

LOL...check out Alan Pollack's (sometimes excruciating) analysis of the Beatles' music, from a technical viewpoint.

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-notes_on.shtml

 

[Edit: HarryL beat me to it! ]

[metropolis74]

Here's an experiment you can do at home, to give you a little insight into Beatles' song structure.

 

Take the song "Ticket To Ride." The normal way to play the verse is (in the key of E) E - F#m - B7 - C#m - A - C#m - A - C#m - B7 - E. (That is a simplification, but close.)

 

Now, play it like a normal rock n roll song: E - B7 - E - A7 - E - A7 - B7 - E. Ta-da!

 

My favorite "Beatle" progression is in "I Saw Her Standing There," when the chords go:

 
C                           F           G#
I'll never dance with another 
          C7        G G7         C7
Since I saw her standing there

QUOTE]

 

Where do you hear those chords???? "Ticket to Ride" is in the key of A major and "I Saw Her Standing There" is in E major. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm just curious because the Beatles and thousands of cover bands have played those songs differently than what you listed. Have you even played those chords along with the songs? I'm going to try it when I get home and see what happens.

 

From what i can tell by breifly glancing at this site http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-notes_on.shtml this guy has got it right. Thanks for the link HarryL.

 

Or just check out http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3365416-6678548?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177429567&sr=8-1 even though it has a few tab typos in it.

[Nighthawkst3]

I have been listening to a fair bit of Beatles lately and the one chord progresion I think I like most is the eerie one that starts the song Hapiness is a Warm Gun.

 

Hmm on a side note, if you want to listen to some more recent rock with crazy chords and chord changes have a listen to some Jeff Buckley (although he's been gone for a while now )

[Phil051300]

Awesome thread guys, thanks!

[guitarlady]

My favorite Beatles chord is the opening chord on a Hard Days Night. Years ago, when I was playing in a band, I was told that it was G7sus4 and it seemed right and that is what I played. More recently I had read that George Harrison said the chord that he played on the Ric 360/12 was Fadd9, but that chord played by itself doesn't seem quite right and I was surprised, but if you consider that Paul played a high D (12th fret D string) on the bass and George Martin played D-G-D as a chord on a piano and when you mix those all together along with John playing a Fadd9 it gives that "chord" tone that was used on the opening of the song.

[DenverDave]

My favorite Beatles chord is the opening chord on a Hard Days Night.

 

 

I love that chord. Just strum it once and everyone KNOWS the song. I'm not good at chord theory - but this is the chord...

 

3 5 3 5 3 3 (at least that is how I play it...)

 

Add Macca playing a 'D' in the bass, add something on the piano, and you get one of the most famous chords in rock history...

 

Apparently even with the Beatles themselves there was disagreement over the exact chord played...

[metropolis74]

I love that chord. Just strum it once and everyone KNOWS the song. I'm not good at chord theory - but this is the chord... 3 5 3 5 3 3 (at least that is how I play it...) Add Macca playing a 'D' in the bass, add something on the piano, and you get one of the most famous chords in rock history... Apparently even with the Beatles themselves there was disagreement over the exact chord played...

 

yeah that's how I play it on a 6 string. On my Ricky 12'er I play:

X X 0 0 1 3

 

Fun song to play. Not so fun for me to sing. I sing like Ringo:cry:

[zigzaguarsnarl]

Excellent thread!! I think in the Beatles Anthology documentary Paul mentions something about there being a "French" chord in "Michelle."

He talks about how he used to go to parties in Liverpool, wear a black beret, pretend he was French and play that chord. The chicks really dug it, I guess and so it had to go in a song. Voila, "Michelle." I have a feeling a lot of the writing process was like that -- pure genius not necessarily intellectual...

[fretmonster]

I really don't have much to add here to this exceptional response, except I remember hearing and noting that Beatle's songs generally have at least one chord that is thrown in and deviates from the key the song is in. I'm not referring to a change of key for the chorus or something, and this supposedly has a startling effect on the listener.

 

I find Beatles songs very easy to play because there is not alot of leads, but like the Eagles they generally have a kazillion chords and require a good memory.

[santos]

Great thread. I've been listening to the Anthology albums quite a bit lately. Anyway, the thing that some don't know or remember (well, not the knowledgeable fans in this thread) is that before they were famous the Beatles were very well versed in standards from the 40s/50s from all their time as a bar band. That's not 3 chord stuff.

 

I think that's part of what made them so unique - they took that knowledge from the "old fashioned" music they played for years and weren't afraid to bring some of that complexity to their own songs.

 

I have a Beatles fake book, and it's great. What amazes me from just strumming through some of their songs is how strongly the melody is implied or enhanced by the voice-leading in some of their chord progressions. Really good, interesting stuff. They never cease to amaze me.

[tlbonehead]

Its in E, not C. I play it this way.

 

E --------E7(first inversion)---------------A-------------C

I'll never -dance ---------------with------another

[Phil051300]

Does anyone know of any GOOD and ACCURATE sources for tabs for beatles stuff, unique chords and all? Any song books you know of? Most of what i have found frusterates me cause i know they are wrong.

[metropolis74]

 

Does anyone know of any GOOD and ACCURATE sources for tabs for beatles stuff, unique chords and all? Any song books you know of? Most of what i have found frusterates me cause i know they are wrong.

 

 

I linked this in the first page and here it is again.

http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3365416-6678548?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177429567&sr=8-1

It's the most accurate I've seen so far. There are a only a few little and obvious tab typos in couple of songs (something like fretting a note on the A string instead of the D for one measure of a riff and then it's correct in the next measure). No big deal. I can't remember what the songs are that have the flubs so they must be the only two bad Beatle songs. I've had mine for 10 years now so maybe they have corrected the mistakes by now??? I consider this book to be my Bible.

[Phil051300]

 

I linked this in the first page and here it is again. http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Complete-Scores/dp/0793518326/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3365416-6678548?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177429567&sr=8-1 It's the most accurate I've seen so far. There are a only a few little and obvious tab typos in couple of songs. No big deal. I've had mine for 10 years now so maybe they have corrected the mistakes by now???

 

 

Thank you, sorry i missed it on the first page.