I Want to Hold Your Hand - 1963. Recorded and released on Meet the Beatles!, the song's opening riff uses a couple of power chords, or 5th chords.
The harmonic language of the Beatles mainly uses the chords I, IV and V (in C major: C, F and G major) and the relative minors vi and ii (A minor and D minor). Table 1 shows the frequencies of chords in songs in major, transposed to the key of C.
Yes and No. Yes, the guitarists in the Beatles—Harrison, Lennon and McCartney—played the chord names that are shown in their music books. However, if you are looking at the guitar chords diagrams that show below each chord name, then, NO, they likely did not play those.
They provide a structure and framework that is fundamental to a song's form. They also serve as a harmonic canvas for the creation of great melodies and lyrics, especially when used in progressions by master songwriters like The Beatles.
The vast majority of The Beatles' recordings are in a major key. In fact, 171 (81.0%) of the band's 211 tracks are exclusively in major keys. That leaves 40 songs (19.0%) that use (a) minor key(s).
" IMAGINE " (JOHN LENNON) PIANO SOLO. The piece is in C major. Like so many great songs, 'Imagine' draws heavily on a I-IV-V harmonic structure (so the chords C, F and G). Lennon adds subtle harmonic touches that give the piece a beautiful mood of its own, underpinning his free-flowing melody.
Conclusion: Paul Was The Greatest Beatle
One thing that can be safely said is that John was not the lone artistic driving force behind the Beatles as he sometime tried to portray himself post-Beatles, and Paul can confidently claim his place as one of the two best songwriters that ever existed.
But when it comes to truly only using a single, unchanging chord, no song in the band's catalogue can top 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. Devised by John Lennon and specifically inspired by the psychedelic experience, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' isn't written like any conventional pop song that came before.
Sure, a lot of the Beatles' special sound can be credited to the production qualities of their recordings: their innovative musical arrangements, their use of special effects, the speeding up and slowing down of tape speed, the doubling of their lead vocals, etc.
They had no formal musical training, although McCartney's father was a bandleader. Harrison wasn't even eighteen when The Beatles left for Hamburg to begin their remarkable transformation.
The "power chord" as known to modern electric guitarists was popularized first by Link Wray, who built on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records and by tearing the speaker cone in his 1958 instrumental "Rumble."
The Beatles
“None of us could read music… None of us can write it.” John Lennon admitted this about the band in a 1980 Playboy interview, “but as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they [Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr] are as good as anybody.”
Link Wray: Father of the Power Chord.
Everybody does that today, but that was the first time we'd heard that in a rock song.” Harrison responded: “I'm really pleased that you noticed that. That's an E7th with an F on the top, played on the piano. I'm really proud of that because I literally invented that chord,” the guitarist said.
Furthermore, Bach's use of chords, mainly major and minor chords and the related intervals of those chords, agrees with the Baroque music form. More complicated chords, such as 7th chords, were considered dissonant and were avoided in the Baroque era.
It was an instinctive element of their art and one that is evident at all stages of their career. The Beatles deep understanding of music due to their natural talent, hard work and relentless drive to learn gave us some of the greatest pop music ever.
The Beatles were all proficient enough at their instruments to say what they had to say with them, and without a doubt I'd argue that at the very least Paul is one of the best bass players in rock music, and Ringo is one of the best drummers in rock music.
The Beatles were innovative on every level. Musically, they invented backward masking, dance-rock (“Baby, You're a Rich Man”), backwards guitar solos, pudding drums, automatic double-tracking and DI'ed bass. The Beatles also restlessly reinvented their art.
The most commonly used chords (in any key) are the I (1), V (5), vi (6), IV (4). First, it's important to know/remember that chords are notated in piano music by Roman Numerals. Large letter numerals are for Major chords and small letter numerals are for minor chords.
1. C - G - Am - F (I - V -vi - IV) This just might be the most popular chord progression in Western popular music.
Blackbird is a song included in the Beatles' White Album. Solely written by Paul McCartney, this song features him accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. It is one of their most challenging acoustic guitar songs.
In many respects Paul McCartney was the group's most rounded musician, and possibly even its best guitarist. It was he that devised many of the riffs and even played some of the most memorable solos, such as on Taxman (Revolver), Ticket To Ride and his killer Epiphone Casino riff on Paperback Writer.
John Lennon had a very wide vocal range. His range was two octaves and a 5th. That's one of the widest vocal ranges of any rock singer. Amazingly enough, he demonstrated his entire range in a single song: “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” from “The White Album.”
Despite Harrison's accolade, Paul McCartney achieved the greatest chart success through the sheer quantity of music he has released. Macca was the most prolific Beatle whose solo career outlasted the other Beatles, especially both John Lennon and George Harrison, whose lives were taken from them far too early.