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Topic: A Hard Days Night opening chord
Beatlesque3
Mackerel 		Posted: 8/16/2006 8:13:00 AM

 This is something I picked up on the 'net, and thought I'd share / Beatlesque3




"CHAAAAAAAANNNNG...It's been a hard day's night!"




"The most famous chord in all of rock & roll" -- Rolling Stone Magazine, March 2001

"Quirky, arresting, unmistakably original - the musical equivalent of the song's title" -- Mark Hertsgaard, A Day In The Life: The Music And Artistry Of The Beatles

"A hijacked church bell announcing the party of the year" -- Guitarist Magazine, December 2000 (this quote happens to be my favorite!…Beatlesque3)

"[The opening chord] pretty much defined the sound of an era" -- Guitarist, Dec 2000

"The opening chord of the song was like an amazing wake-up call" -- Joey Ramone, Guitar World, August 2000



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so starts The Beatles' classic song (and film) "A Hard Day's Night". The song needs no introduction - that chord tells you all you need to know. Within a second of its jarring onset, you can identify the song. Not only that, but that chord IS rock 'n' roll. Like Michael Lewis in "The 100 Best Beatles Songs", I'm glad they removed John Lennon's count-in to the song - it wouldn't have been nearly so effective! I don't think there is any other chord in history that has received so much praise, and has courted so much controversy.


It's undoubtedly fantastic... but what the heck is it?
This is a debate that seems to have raged since eager Beatle fans went to see "the Lads" in movie theatres back in 1964 and heard the title track ringing out on their radios and record players. Dominic Pedler, (in his near 800 page tome to Beatles songwriting excellence, "The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles") summarizes 21 different interpretations of the famous chord - just a mere selection of the interpretations he found in his research. Here are a few candidates suggested over the years:


A dominant 9th of F in the key of C
G-C-F-Bb-D-G
C-Bb-D-F-G-C in the key of C
A polytriad ii7/V in Ab major
G7sus4 (open position)
D7sus4 (open position)
G7 with added 9th and suspended 4th
A superimposition of Dm, F, and G
Gsus4/D
G11sus4
G7sus7/A
Dm11 with no 9th
Gm7add11
G9sus4/D

Wow - what an array of possibilities! Pedler has conducted substantial research into the nature of this era-defining chord and he seems to have come up with an accurate answer to the question of what the chord is actually made up of.
The "busker's choice", a G7sus4, has been proved to be incorrect by none other than The Beatles' lead guitarist George Harrison himself. He has actually revealed what he played on his famous Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric guitar in an online chat on the 15th February 2001:


Q: Mr. Harrison, what is the opening chord you used for "A Hard Day's Night"?
A: It is F with a G on top (on the 12-string), but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story.
Surprisingly simple really! This is a pretty easy guitar chord to play - even I can play it, and I'm hardly George Harrison standard! An Fadd9:


E ----3----
B ----1----
G ----2----
D ----3----
A ----x----
E ----x----

But if, like me, you eagerly reach for your guitar to emulate this piece of rock history, you'll be rather disappointed! It sounds kind of right, but there's a certain something missing - unless you happen to have a 12-string guitar that is. 12-string guitars have, as the name suggests, 12 strings! But they are not like 6-string guitars, as the strings are arranged in 6 pairs. Harrison's 12-string Rickenbacker was tuned, from low to high, E, A, D, and G in octaves, and B and E in unison. So when Harrison struck that mighty chord on 16th April, 1964, he was playing the top four pairs of strings of his guitar, not just four single strings that he would have struck had he only a normal 6-string guitar. So effectively there are twice as many notes sounding. The 12-string adds an extra higher pitched F and A, with the C and G duplicated, producing a much richer sound than on a 6-string. Further support for the Fadd9 chord in first position as the intro chord comes from the fact that it is this same chord that is arpeggiated by Harrison for the song's fade-out coda (from 2.21 until 2.27). Although to accept this as evidence, one has to accept the notion that the song is "book-ended" by the same two chords.
Still, even this doesn't sound quite right. Of course, the opening chord is not just being played by one instrument, as George Harrison himself said in the aforementioned web chat quotation. There is the faint shimmer of a ride cymbal and teasing snare drum from Ringo Starr in the mix, adding to the initial attack of the chord, but Paul McCartney's contribution is much more important as he provides a key component of the chord which gives it its character. So what is McCartney's bass note that will give us the "proper story"?

What we find is a very clever use of McCartney's trademark Hofner bass. McCartney adds a D note to the proceedings, but the clever thing about this is not that the note is itself a D, but rather, which D it is. McCartney could have played a "low D" - an open D string, or the A string at the fifth fret, but this would have provided a quite "booming" tone. Instead, McCartney opted to play a "high D" at the 12th fret of the D string (Dominic Pedler suggests this is how it was played, rather than playing the D by fretting the G string at its 7th fret). This high D on the bass is the equivalent playing an open D string on a regular guitar, which has an important effect for the sound of the chord. The high D bass tone "intertwines" with the F tone of Harrison's 12-string guitar, causing the F tone, which is the initially dominant tone, to become superseded by the D. Pedler has described this as a "virtual pull-off".

This has been, intriguingly, accounted for by Pedler by the presence of the so far unmentioned John Lennon's part in the opening chord. Lennon, as it turns out, is playing the exact same Fadd9 shape that Harrison is playing, but on a 6-string acoustic guitar. However, the strange oscillating effects of McCartney's high D can be largely explained by Lennon's decision to change guitars during the recording session. Lennon was initially playing his famous Rickenbacker 325 electric guitar as the group was working out the song, but decided to change, for whatever reason, to using his Gibson J-160 acoustic. The effect of the F from Lennon's guitar dropping off in favor of McCartney's D note is attributed to the sound of McCartney's bass resonating in the soundbox of Lennon's acoustic and being captured up by his pick-up.

But we're still lacking much of the serious punch that the opening chord. This is due to "the fifth Beatle", George Martin, playing a chord on a Steinway Grand piano, overdubbed on the final mix of the record. I myself was surprised to learn that there was a piano chord at the beginning of the track. But there is, although it is very difficult to hear amidst the general cacophony of sound. The nature of this piano chord has been almost as hotly debated as the nature of the opening chord as a whole. Once again, Pedler has provided a convincing answer in his book, drawing on conclusions from music expert Arthur Dick. Like the guitar chords, the piano chord is surprisingly simple - just three notes - D2-G2-D3 (where C4 is middle C). There has been much suggestion that there is a B note in there somewhere, but Arthur Dick has proposed that this is due simply to the "vintage 1964 reverb" and the fact that a real piano will produce the feeling of a B harmonic when this is played, suggesting a G major triad.

So, all in all, what do we have?


George Harrison: Fadd9 in 1st position on 12-string Rickenbacker** guitar
John Lennon: Fadd9 in 1st position on a 6-string acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney: high D played on the D-string, 12th fret on electric bass
George Martin: D2-G2-D3 played on a Steinway*** Grand Piano
Ringo Starr: Subtle snare drum and ride cymbal

(note from Beatlesque3: with a lot of practice in timing, if you can get 5 guys to pull this off simultaneously, the effect is astonishing!)

** (substitute 12 string allowed, but not recommended)
***(substitute piano allowed, for not everyone has a Steinway Grand)

This gives the notes:
G-B-D-F-A-C (the B is a harmonic).
As for what to actually call this chord. Well...that's anyone's guess!
And what if you only have one guitar? Well, there are a few good approximations for those of us who don't happen to have a full band in our living rooms! One, (that I may have read or invented, I can't remember which!) is to simply play the Fadd9, but not fret the D string at the 3rd fret, instead playing it open. This includes the McCartney bass note, but at the cost of the F note:

E ----3----
B ----1----
G ----2----
D ----0----
A ----x----
E ----x----

Another is the "busker's choice" - a G7sus4, a chord barred at the 3rd fret. I think this is pretty fair-sounding:

E ----3----
B ----3----
G ----5----
D ----3----
A ----5----
E ----3----

However, many prefer another chord which includes the A note that characterizes the chord - a G7sus4/A, again, a chord barred at the 3rd fret:

E ----3----
B ----3----
G ----5----
D ----3----
A ----5----
E ----5----

Some find these chords too low, lacking the higher chiming of the 12-string guitar. This chord, barred at the 5th fret gives the chime, but lacks an F note:

E ----5----
B ----8----
G ----5----
D ----5----
A ----5----
E ----5----

However, George Harrison has suggested an alternative based on the original Fadd9, but with the bottom E fretted with the thumb at the 3rd fret:

E ----3----
B ----1----
G ----2----
D ----3----
A ----0----
E ----3----

But as Pedler says, "we can't have our cake and eat it". Only the full band, with piano, can fully recreate that instantly recognizable sound.


I know it’s a long read, but I thought you might enjoy it / Beatlesque3

Posts: 26    Location: New Jersey    Registered: 8/2/2006 5:32:00 AM                                     
Pinto
Shark 		Posted: 8/16/2006 3:59:00 PM

 Rob Taylor on his DVD "Beatles To A Tee 2" makes a good case for the following:

Lennon plays J160e with:

xx3213 (Fadd9)

Harrison plays Ric 360/12 with:

xx3213 (Fadd9)

George Martin plays a Steinway piano with:

D octaves below midC with left hand
F and G below midC, midC, D and G above midC with right hand

He mentions that Paul is hitting an A AND a D on the Hofner.

Posts: 587    Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada    Registered: 9/13/2005                                     
Ric-O-nfused
Marlin 		Posted: 8/17/2006 3:31:00 AM

 I go with the:

E-----3-----
B-----3-----
G-----5-----
D-----3-----
A-----5-----
E-----3-----

Sounds nice. I'm willing to accept that they didn't really use that chord on the record though.

Posts: 288    Location: East Coast USA    Registered: 3/3/2006                                     
Pinto
Shark 		Posted: 8/17/2006 9:33:00 AM

 I agree. I think the 353533 chord is the best sounding chord when playing with one instrument.

Posts: 587    Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada    Registered: 9/13/2005                                     
Athanacropolis
Mackerel 		Posted: 8/18/2006 12:32:00 PM

 This was an awesome post, Beatlesque3; I did not know that Paul played a bass note on the opening of "A Hard Day's Night." Or most of what you revealed, for that matter. Very interesting!

Posts: 42    Location: Boston    Registered: 5/5/2006 4:57:00 PM                                     
rory
Eel 		Posted: 8/23/2006 1:42:00 PM

 I dunno about anyone else but i fairly enjoyed that wee read there

Posts: 227    Location: Glasgow, Scotland    Registered: 2/12/2006                                     
Beatlefreak
Shark 		Posted: 8/23/2006 2:50:00 PM
quote:I did not know that Paul played a bass note on the opening of "A Hard Day's Night."

The opening chord for AHDN (known as "the chord" in Rick 12 circles) has been the subject of much speculation and debate for years. It has been studied and analyzed umpteen different ways - And I still think we're no closer than we were when it started!

Paul definitely played a bass note, and Ringo hits the snare. You can hear it on the various takes of the song available on bootlegs. Recorded April 16th, 1964, the Beatles did nine takes of the song (five complete run throughs). John may or may not have hit a chord with George - If so, he hit it exactly at the same time nine times in a row. George's may be the only guitar (besides the bass) on the chord. It's clear from the bootlegs, again, that the finished record is heavily compressed using Abbey Road's Fairchild compressors. None of the other eight takes have that sound.

The big question is George Martin on piano. While he did play piano on the released take, its obvious from the bootlegs that this was added as an overdub to the released version only (take 9). Lewisohn's "The Beatles Recording Sessions" also states that Martin contributed piano to the song, but does not go into any detail. There is no evidence of piano on the first eight takes, nor during the in between take chatter. Indeed, the only time the piano becomes evident on the finished record is during the lead solo and the three vocal lines that follow it. Its possible that this is the only piano on the song.

I, myself, like the 353533 chord, as it sounds the closest to the record from the myriad of chord offerings I've tried over the years.

Posts: 3418    Location: Atlanta, GA    Registered: 6/30/2006 12:51:00 PM                                     
Ric12String
Eel 		Posted: 8/23/2006 5:38:00 PM

 Thanks for the initial post, Beatlesque3. I think that this article originally appeared, or another article very similar to it appeared, in Guitar Player magazine about two years ago. There, the same conclusion was reached; that is, that the piano chord played by George Martin and the bass note played by McCartney were really the ingredients that most players have heretofore been unable to figure out.

I must say that, when the Fadd9 is played on a Rickenbacker 12 string, it does sound very much like what George played and I don't believe that the 3-5-3-5-3-3 chord (Gsus4) really does the chord justice.

It was nice to see this discussion again about what has to be one of the most identifiable chords in popular music history.

Posts: 203    Location: California    Registered: 12/28/2005                                     
davclr
Shark 		Posted: 8/23/2006 7:44:00 PM

 Actually on the final released version of AHDN the entire song is peppered with George Martin's piano and of course Ringo's distinctive bongo drums overdubs.
(it comes mainly out of the right stereo channel)

The problem is that you need the "true stereo" mix to really hear this well, as the piano track was greatly turned down for the final released mono mix as it was unexplainably for several final mono mixed released songs for AHDN L.P. (and "Something New" in the USA) such as "Any Time at All, "Things We Said Today", "Tell Me Why", etc.) in the mono format. The stereo mixes of these songs all bring Sir George's Steinway considerably more foward.

When Beatles original CD project began in earnest back in 1987, a most regrettable decision was made by EMI to eliminate the stereo versions of The Beatles first 4 L.P.s on a global basis.

So, unless you still had the vinyl version and even at that you needed the British Parlophone version of the L.P. to have all the songs in true stereo you were S.O.L.
(or the for years out of print very excellent Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab audiophile edition of the Beatles British format L.P. series on vinyl).

Fortunately, this has been partialy rectified with the much newer "Beatles Capitol Albums" boxed series on CD, but even at that I don't believe the song AHDN has been ever been released yet in true stereo on CD.

Ultimately, it will probably happen due to an insistent consumer demand.

Rumor persists that the entire Beatles catalog is currently undergoing a fresh, state of the art digital re-mix with greatly improved sonics.



Posts: 1603    Location: San Bernardino, CA    Registered: 4/3/2006                                     
Pinto
Shark 		Posted: 8/24/2006 1:48:00 PM

 I will be hitting 353533 when my new 360/12 FG arrives next week. I'll let you know my conclusion ;)

Thanks for all this fascinating information... especially the stuff on the earlier takes of AHDN and the possibility of newly remastered Beatles releases!

Posts: 587    Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada    Registered: 9/13/2005                                     
JS1967310
Barracuda 		Posted: 8/25/2006 5:59:00 PM

 As Rob Taylor suggests, if you just have a couple of guitars the G7sus is the closest.

Posts: 189    Location: Houston, TX    Registered: 5/5/2006 6:28:00 PM                                     
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