A Hard Day's Night....

[ksdaddy]

... is playing on tv right now. Yeah, it's lip synched and all, but it's nice to see them. And the J-160E too (one of them anyway). George played a Ramirez on "And I Lover Her". Probably Beatles 101 to some, but I let out a little yip when I got a good view of the soundhole label.

[J185-4Me]

A great song, and the movie's not bad either.

 

When I used to participate with regularity on the Rickenbacker Forum, some of the most animated "discussions" concerned the exact voicing and in fact identity of the AHDN opening chord -- interesting stuff! It used to be the case (don't know if it still is....) that when you called the Rickenbacker factory up in Santa Ana, the first thing you heard when the phone picked up was the first chord of AHDN, then the auto-attendant.

 

Fred

[BigKahune]

A great song' date=' and the movie's not bad either. ... some of the most animated "discussions" concerned the exact voicing and in fact identity of the AHDN opening chord... It used to be the case (don't know if it still is....) that when you called the Rickenbacker factory up in Santa Ana, the first thing you heard when the phone picked up was the first chord of AHDN, then the auto-attendant.[/quote']

 

Seems I recall at least one of those AHDN opening cord discussions somewhere on these forums.

 

Love the Ric factory story. Now that's cool.

[drathbun]

I know "The Chord" is one of the most talked about Beatle "mysteries" and even mentioning it brings calls for your excommunication from the BeatGearCavern forum but there is no more mystery for me as I have been convinced through the scholarship of others.

 

From lengthy discussions (fights) on forums like the BeatGear forum and various scientific analyses, I've come down on the side of listening to what George Harrison and Paul Mccartney have said about the "chord" with the added expertise of Rob Taylor of "Beatles to a Tee" DVDs.

 

Harrison said he played an "F with a G on top" on his 12 string Ric. Paul played a D in the bass. In addition, there is evidence there is a piano chord played by George Martin and a bass drum hit by Ringo.

 

I recorded this combination and it sounds pretty bang on to me. (I'll elaborate on the exact notes of the guitar and piano chords (IMNSHO) when I return from Florida.)

 

A Hard Day's Night

 

I love the movie AHDN, not least for the boys' terrific scouser wit but also for the great shots of them playing those classic instruments.

 

There's a great story from Roger McGuinn how he and his band went to see AHDN and marveled at that sound that George was creating. It was only when George turned sideways with his Ric 12 string (second one ever made) that Roger noticed it was in fact a 12 string. He thought "I have to get me one of them!" and went out and traded a Martin acoustic 12 for a Rickenbacker 360/12 (new style) and the sound of "The Byrds" was born.

[jefleppard]

i had no idea 'the chord' was so fabled. isn't it 353533?

[drathbun]

i had no idea 'the chord' was so fabled. isn't it 353533?

Well yes and no. If you're playing solo, 353533 sounds the best.

 

What Harrison played on his Ric 360 was xx3213.

[drathbun]

Ok I'm home from Florida and have access to my guitars and piano.

 

Here is the breakdown of the famous opening chord to "A Hard Days' Night"

 

George on Ric 12 string plays

 

xx3213

 

John on his Gibson J160e plays

 

xx3213

 

George Martin on a grand piano plays

 

D G D F C (the first D is the first one below middle C)

 

Paul on his Hofner bass plays a single open D (2nd string on the bass)

 

Ringo plays a single bass drum hit

 

and it sounds like this:

 

A Hard Day's Night opening chord