Posted on 11/07/2017 8:57:49 PM PST by sparklite2
The final piece slid into place: buried deep in the mix of that shimmering opening chord, someone — maybe Ringo, but probably George Martin — had played an F on a piano.
Dr Brown remembers that moment very clearly. The feeling that he'd just solved a Beatles mystery — one that had been buzzing around his subconscious brain for decades.
"It was extraordinarily exciting. The chord was a mystery for such a long time, and people still talk about it," he said.
"I think that maybe one of the legacies of the Beatles' music is the brilliance of what they put into their songs, on so many levels, so that people 40-50 years later will still be analysing them, still trying to figure out what made them so great."
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
The Fadd9 on the electric 12-string guitar was crucial to the power of the chord, giving it a richness which would otherwise have been absent. ... George Martin played a Steinway grand piano on A Hard Day’s Night, and contributed to the opening chord.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwfH9oAiPH0
mathematics trick
Ask your mark to think of any number
multiply it by two silently
Add 10 to the total number
have them divide the new number by 2
finally subtract the original number from the new number
tell them the number they are left with is 5
I noted that in the youtube video you linked, a comment from 2 years ago says "I don't believe this is quite complete...I think George Martin was playing something on the piano as well!" Guy nails it, no spectrum analyzer needed.
Back in junior high (’66-’67 or thereabouts) I spent hours and hours trying to get that chord right. Never did quite get it, of course...
I was a guitarist in a band at the time. We opened with a chord that approximated it, but was no exact match.
You mean to tell me that half of 2x + 10 is x + 5?? Shocking!!
That chord is a freaking monster. I’ve always loved it.
Bump!
Bump!
Next, he’ll spend a few more decades discovering what John meant by “Eight Days A Week”...
Spent a lot of time recording stuff. Here is what happened: They decided to have a hard chord open the song. Truth is what sounds big and rich and loud to the ear in the studio is often extremely underwhelming coming out of the monitors. So they started stacking stuff, not really thinking about it but rather listening...until what came out of the monitors on playback sounded reasonably “phat”, as it would be phrased some years later. Even making demos you sometimes have to build things up because a recording smallifies the live playing/singing. Since your listening rather than thinking you can TOTALLY forget what went into a particular sound.
My current wife can explain that to you ...
She had her first child because she was taking birth control pills on the premise that there were eight days in a week ...
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing “Hallelujah”
Genius
I once saw a video in which Randy Bachman showed how he slowly figured it out.
He ended by playing the final product and I think he nailed it.
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