Whether it be the opening chord of A Hard Day’s Night or the final chord of A Day in the Life there is plenty of online discussion about what exactly the Beatles played at various points in their songs. Minor chords with major sevenths are not exactly commonplace in rock and pop music.
Here we’re inspired by a simple four-bar chorus, which settles on a different F major voicing when repeated.
When rock ‘n’ roll arrived in the 1950s it didn’t wipe out the style of pop music that had been before, and the Beatles were used to listening to that style and hearing the extended chords that were a hangover from the jazz age. Have fun with these chords and we’ll be back with more John Lennon-inspired harmony next month. In what would have been his 80th year it’s fascinating to look at the way he approached his guitar parts on those early Beatles records, both the ones he’d taken the lead on, and the McCartney-penned numbers that he contributed to in the studio. We’re going to kick off our examination of these three remarkable musicians by examining the style and chordal approach of John Lennon.
In addition to being wonderful writers, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were also gifted and inventive guitar players, whose varied approaches to the instrument can be heard all over the band’s peerless catalogue and on into their respective pots-Beatles works.
#Peerless guitars banjo full#
It’s impossible to overstate the impact that the Beatles had on the course of pretty much all the popular music that has come after them, and the root of this paradigm-shifting genius was the fact that they were a band chock full of wonderfully talented and original songwriters.