Let's Play Name That Chord With The Opening Chord of A Hard Day's Night

wrench
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Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:12 pm
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Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:26 pm

This is always a fun debate. Neil identifies the chord as G7sus4 in his video lesson, and a lot of people agree with that chord. Take a look at this link and see what you think.

http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/ha ... ght-chord/

As the link points out, there were a lot of contributors to that chord, and most of them were not guitars. I did a spectral analysis of the chord, and the three most dominant notes were D3, A2, and D2. The G7sus4 lacks an A, as the link states, so I tried comparing G7sus4 and G7sus4/A, and my ear thinks it is closer with the A in the bass. I also tried an A on the top, but that definitely does not work.

Here's the list of notes detected in the analysis:
D2
F2
A2
D3
F3
A3
C4
D4
E4
F4
G4
A4
C5
D5
F5
F#5
G5
A5
C6
D6
E6
F6
F#6
G6
A6
B6
D7
E7
F7
F#7
G7
B7

I find it interesting that there was no C7, considering C had a strong presence in the lower octaves. I also find it odd that F# and B also showed up in the 6th and 7th octaves, and also the 5th for F#. Of all the guesses about this chord no one has ever mentioned an F#. Was it an errant note on the piano? What do you guys think?


willem
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Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:41 pm

If the note is heard then it was a grand piano,,,


tombo1230
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Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:05 pm

Could it not just be the result of two guitars playing together? Just a passing thought.

Tom N.


Edit: After writing this I checked the link and it mentions that Lennon plays a Fadd9 and McCartney plays a base note. So it's probably the result of two guitars and Pauls violin base which adds a D I believe. Add the piano etc on top of this as well. Maybe the sound is just the power of synergy. ;) :)

Tom N.


michelew
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Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:43 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Tue Nov 07, 2017 1:40 am

OMG Wrench! That’s an awful lot of frequencies...


wrench wrote:
This is always a fun debate. Neil identifies the chord as G7sus4 in his video lesson, and a lot of people agree with that chord. Take a look at this link and see what you think.

http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/ha ... ght-chord/

As the link points out, there were a lot of contributors to that chord, and most of them were not guitars. I did a spectral analysis of the chord, and the three most dominant notes were D3, A2, and D2. The G7sus4 lacks an A, as the link states, so I tried comparing G7sus4 and G7sus4/A, and my ear thinks it is closer with the A in the bass. I also tried an A on the top, but that definitely does not work.

Here's the list of notes detected in the analysis:
D2
F2
A2
D3
F3
A3
C4
D4
E4
F4
G4
A4
C5
D5
F5
F#5
G5
A5
C6
D6
E6
F6
F#6
G6
A6
B6
D7
E7
F7
F#7
G7
B7

I find it interesting that there was no C7, considering C had a strong presence in the lower octaves. I also find it odd that F# and B also showed up in the 6th and 7th octaves, and also the 5th for F#. Of all the guesses about this chord no one has ever mentioned an F#. Was it an errant note on the piano? What do you guys think?


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