Beatles Music Theory

[b0b]

I stumbled onto this site which delves pretty deep into the music theory underlying each of The Beatles' songs. Pretty interesting stuff.

Alan W. Pollack's Notes On... Series

[Rick Barnhart]

It still amazes me, the sheer number of great songs written & performed by the Beatles. I doubt that they had to put as much thought into them, as the author of the listed link did, trying the dissect & analyze them.

[John LeMaster]

Mr. Pollack is amazing. I just read his analysis of "From Me To You", one of my favorites of the early Beatles' music. The detail is impressive, as is his comparison of this song with other Beatles' songs. He has obviously studied the music of the Beatles at great length.

I plan to read more of his writings on the subject. Thanks for passing along the link.

John L.

[Will Houston]

Nice find b0b. Pretty cool stuff.
Thanks

[Jim Park]

it is very interesting............. Although he fails to notice in his piece on "I feel Fine" that in the bridge the iii chord is a minor not a major. and I disagree with his assertion of distortion in the intro. I can duplicate that sound by allowing the string to hit an object while it is vibrating

[Cal Sharp]

I can duplicate that sound by allowing the string to hit an object while it is vibrating

Yeah, like the pick.

[Barry Blackwood]

Yeah, like the pick.

[Jim Park]

or the thumbnail

[Brint Hannay]

or the thumbnail

That's how I used to do it back then.

[Cal Sharp]

I remember my guitar teacher, Sam Josephsberg, showing me this song back when it first came out.
From Wikipedia:

The intro to "I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussive (yet pure-sounding) note (a high "A" harmonic) played on John Lennon's electric guitar that sustains, perhaps beyond any song previously recorded. It is then transformed and distorted via feedback. According to McCartney, "John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pick-up on it so it could be amplified... We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it... it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!" And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp."

While sounding very much like an electric guitar, Lennon played it on an acoustic (a Gibson model J-160E), employing the guitar's onboard pickup and 1960s sound effect devices to make the acoustic guitar sound more electronic. The intro riff around a D major chord progresses to a C, then a G, where the G major vocals begin. Just before the coda, Lennon's intro riff (or ostinato), is repeated with a bright sound by George Harrison on electric guitar (a Gretsch Tennessean), followed by the more electric sound of John on amped acoustic.

[Ray Minich]

When I lived in Orange County (Ca.) back in '79, my "significant other" at the time was studying music theory at Cal State Fullerton. One of her courses spent a lot of time analyzing "Beatle Music". It was interesting to read her class notes.

[Joseph Barcus]

how many great songs has been wrote with the help of wacky weed

[Brint Hannay]

Back then, at age 14, I knew nothing about feedback. I don't think I'd ever had the opportunity to turn an amp up enough to get feedback! But by just touching the string as it sustained with my fingernail or thumbnail, I was able to get a quite similar overtone-heavy zing. You had to touch the string just right, though--it was hit or miss.

[Joey Ace]

Thanks b0b! Great reading.

Jim,
a iii chord is a 3 minor in his nomenclature.

a 3 Major would be III


Notice his remarks on Please Mr. Postman

Every section of this song is based on the same I -» vi -» IV -» V chord progression, one of the most popular clichés of early Rock and Roll

Obviously what we call a 16 45 with it assumed the that 6 is minor.

[Joachim Kettner]

Coming back to I Feel Fine, in a book by writer John Robertson, he says that the riff was inspired by Junior Parker's Watch Your Step, which makes sense to me.

[Joey Ace]

Is Bobby Parker aka Junior Parker ?

Heard here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvtabNAb_wE

[Earnest Bovine]

OK, the first 5 notes are the same. The Parker riff (in E) can me played with a mitten on the left hand.

[Dave Mudgett]

It's Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step", and Bobby Parker is not Junior Parker.

Bobby Parker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Parker - pick the Bobby_Parker_(guitarist) link.

Junior Parker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Parker

A J-160E is really an electric guitar - the magnetic pickup is built-into the top. I guess one would call it an electric-acoustic guitar. I used to own a '54, and plugged in, it sounded much more like an electric than acoustic guitar to me.

To me, the similarity is not just the 5 notes, but the feel and tone of the guitar work. I always felt the Beatles creatively borrowed other stuff in a good way, and seemed to be pretty straight about extolling their influences. Still, I've always felt that too much credit for originality and musical significance has been bestowed upon them. Culturally significant? Intensely. Musically significant? Yes, but less. Flame away.

[Joachim Kettner]

OK, the first 5 notes are the same. The Parker riff (in E) can me played with a mitten on the left hand.

What is a mitten?

[Earnest Bovine]

OK, the first 5 notes are the same. The Parker riff (in E) can me played with a mitten on the left hand.

What is a mitten?

That riff can be played with one finger or a hook or a stump. (..not that there is anything wrong with that.)

[Joachim Kettner]

Ok thanks, now I know what a mitten is. The book by John Robertson is called the Art& Music of John Lennon and is very interesting to read.

[Chip Fossa]

b0b, I'm joining the choir.

Thanks for that great link; I got many Beatle-buddies that will love to see this.

..."As all good sailors do when they're far away at sea" - "keep a weather-eye to the storm"...

[Chip Fossa]

Every musician I've ever known, including myself, has stolen, borrowed, whatever. Riffs, breaks, solos, melodies, everything and anything that makes a song; even lyrics.

God, who cares?

Cuttin' hairs here. Only the artist and copyright, or is it copywrite?, laws pertain.

There are only so many notes in Western music. Thirteen, I think. So the jugling of notes is, by now, bound to overlap. Especailly among the great usually uneducated, musically, musicians that we have come to love, cherish, respect, and follow.

[b0b]

There are only so many notes in Western music. Thirteen, I think. So the jugling of notes is, by now, bound to overlap.

Especially if you include B# and Fb.

[Chip Fossa]

Love you b0b.