Reading Paul’s biography, his father was a pianist who could entertain a party all night with the type of complex musical structures seen in popular music of the pre-war years. He taught Paul all these so that Paul could deputise for him - and in an age without TV (or computers), Paul proved a quick study. That put him way ahead of the competition in the beat generation - as we now understand through this analysis. But what I love so much about this story, is that Paul’s incredible success ultimately derives from his goodness at the heart of a good family background. They were humble folk who held onto strong moral and ethical values. It paid off - and it almost always does.
Brilliant stuff..I remember my Spanish Guitar teacher calling them "Happy" and "Sad chords to make it easier for us. The major chords were happy/bold, the minors sad/soulfull and his tip was to make your song "Happy/Sad" . Thanks for this viddy, great teacher!
In your final example, F to Cm7 to F7 to Bb, my ear felt a pull from Bb to Bbm. My brain wanted to hear another ii-V, only this time starting on the iv minor, Bbm, to its secondary dominant, G7. Ah ha, the II7 of F! I’ve seen that a lot in Jazz Standards and 20th century Pop, ii-V7’s moving up or down a whole step from the previous ii-V. All your lessons are awesome. Thank you! You’re a great music teacher!!
I don't know if it helps other people, but when I listen to you tell this, I have the circle of 5ths up and trace the moves you made on it. It helps me. Great stuff.
The chord sequence (F-Gmaj-Bb-F) contains the descending sequence of notes C-B-Bb-A which make a nice counterpoint with the ascending chord sequence, and harmonizes nicely with the vocal. Try playing just the notes C-C-B-B-Bb-Bb-A, then play the chords again F-Gmaj-Bb-F and you'll hear what I mean.
Absolutely correct, and known as chromatic tonal motion. Here is another little secret, since your comment is "upscale". The song "Yesterday" is really in the keys of D minor and D major. The Beatles fooled around with movement between a major and a minor mode, having the same root note -- a Renaissance invention. D minor is the relative scale of F major, which changes the scale note, B to Bb, and subsequently uses the Bb chord in the song, and apparent key of F major.
Wow, not sure why but I can completely understand what you are explaining. I know that sounds silly but I think it's simply the mark of a great teacher.
I think of the chord you call a II (G in the key of F) a "V of V." It's only two ticks away from the tonic on the Circle of 5ths. Back in the 1920s a song called "Has Anybody Seen My Gal" went way around the Circle. If played in C it would be C E7 A7 D7 G7 C, "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" from the 60s uses this progression, also. I to V of V of V of V to V of V of V to V of V to V to I. A progression of dominants that push your ear to the next chord. It's commonly used. McCartney's use of it preceding to the subdominant (Bb) is what makes it so notable. The Beatles frequently used the IV - I (plagal) progression (Eight Days a Week et al).. I like your video.
Beatles’ songs sounds simple but if u dig in deeper it has a blues n jazz chord progressions in it. Oldies are amazing! In this video only that i understood the major 2nd and the II-V. Thanks a lot.
I'm a self-taught guitar player. I thumbed my nose at music theory for years. Then, a friend showed me a few concepts like this as it relates to Beatle songs. I was hooked. Liked and subscribed. Please do more Beatle chord analysis. I love this stuff!
I like the chord progression from II to V to I ( say, C to D (maybe D7 or even D9) to G and back to C. That gives us a "four to four to one" - G is the forth of D, and C is the forth of G. Lots of songs have that progression.
Lovely lesson, thanks from another teacher! I'd add that the d- chord targeted in the ii V i is actually a brief tonicization of d as the relative minor. This rather anticipates the key of d minor in the bridge, doesn't it? Much of the McCartney's composition sounds brilliant in its feeling when you hear it... Then on analysis it's also brilliant in its structure and logic. Dang, that's good.
Here's a hack: The relative minor of I is vi; the relative minor of IV is ii; the relative minor of V is iii. Since major-relative minor relationship is bright-somber sides of the same chord, try subbing them. You can change a standard blues 1 4 5 progression into an RnB or Soul feel by simply by singing the 1 4 5 as vi ii iii. This causes people to mistakenly think that the song is in a so-called minor key ( which does not by definition exist since minor is a chord ) when it is more correctly called Aeolian Mode. For example in C Aeolian one need never go to C just stay in Am tonal center with Dm Em turn around...thus prompting the common Am misnomer due to the aforementioned confusion. By staying around the ii one can create a Dorian feel; the iii a Phrygian vibe. Soloing around these different tonal centers is an easy source for creative ideas. Gospel blues uses these progressions a lot ref Dylan. Cheers.
You made a mistake there. C Aeolian is the C natural minor scale, and there's no Am, Dm, or Em in this scale. You either meant C Ionian or A Aeolian. Also, if the song goes just Am-Dm-Em then it definitely is in Am, not C.
I appreciate the video and the fact that you think that we don't need music theory to understand this, but I followed about 20% of this. Enjoyed the video regardless, and will come back when I'm a bit more knowledgeable.
Nice vid. Here's a fun fact. Paul McCartney uses a guitar that has been tuned down one tone to play Yesterday, so he can play it in the key of G while singing it in the key of F, probably because G is easier to play than F on the guitar.
Maybe the arrangement was intended to have woodwinds or horns, making G a more difficult key than F to notate, and when it was decided to use strings instead, they kept it in F.
I am 72. I started teaching myself how to play in 65. Sometimes I will meet a youger person who will say something idiotic like "The Beatles are over-rated" The arent RATED high enough. I am lucky enough to live in the same time period as them.I always ask them, 'Do you play a musical nstrument? Any instrument....Guitar, Mandolin, Trumpet! Accordion. I dont care. If you do, and you have any kind of curiosity..You woulld never say that.
Great explanation, thanks! I’ve tried to avoid ripping off the Beatles so much cos their work has permeated so far into today but little pointers like this really inspire me to delve deeper into their work and maybe burgle a technique or two for my own nefarious devices going forward 😃👍
They got a lot of those progressions from the Great American Songbook. Jazz standards and show tunes like Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It is ok to use parts and make them fresh.
We always referred to your "II Major" as a Secondary Dominant, in this case, a "V of V". Terminology aside, the point is well taken. I've observed this chord in many pop songs, but never so close to the beginning. and never quite this way. Thank you
I have a Beatles music book. In the book the song is in F, but they’re not using the same chords as you’re showing. I’ve gone through the sheet music and changed the chords to match yours. Yours sounds more like the original than the ones in the book.
The Doors used the One / Two 7 / Four progression on the song " Follow me Now" or whatever it's called, I think from The Soft Parade album. Thanks for the video
Called Double Dominant. Standard tool in chord progressions. Often used in a Bridge part. Sometimes also tripel or even 4th dominant is used. For a good example for double dominant see „Good Luck Charm“ from Elvis which is in G but starts with a A7 D7 G progression.
Hi!!! Hello there, I just found your channel, and you are terrific!! You have great style as a teacher. Question: What Guitar are you playing? Model? Thank you!!!!
Wow! Thanks for this, I have just realised that a song I wrote 17 years ago (with a borrowed chord - that I knew nothing about back then), uses the same II Major7 chord exactly as described in the first part of this video 😮
Really interesting. Funnily enough a lot of folk tunes use relative minors for the root of the B part. I’ve recently swapped Gsus4 in place of a load of Cs on a couple of songs I’m writing, giving me a lovely drift down to the D through G
Love this video and I love this type of video. I'm going to go check out some of your other ones. But before I go, I wanted to make a minor correction. This is not really a Beatles chord move, it's a Paul McCartney chord move. None of the other Beatles had anything to do with this song.
A long long time ago I remember trying to figure out the chords to Fleetwood Mac's Jewel Eyed Judy. I was doing I, ii, IV, I and I knew that second chord wasn't quite right but I couldn't figure it out. Now listening to her first example it reminded me of Jewel Eyed Judy, so I went back to JEJ and played I, II, IV, I to it and low and behold, that was it. Booya!
Really great! Minus the weird affectation on the sustained vocal note with the oddball lilt FAR AWAY. Makes it sound like someone trying to hard on one of the petty competition tv shows.
1:54 I think part of why it's a powerful move is because Dm is what comes before the G, as well, so you also get a _bit_ of that 2ndary tonicism feeling sprinkled in there, I think. It's why the G has that "oh ho, but wait!" feeling. 7:28 oh hey you're talking about this exact momentary lift
What is the fingering she is using for the F chord? I've never seen it like that, it's usually finger capo the first fret and rest of fingers a couple frets down, which seems impossible to me, but her fingering looks doable.
Thank you for your video’s!!! Could u pls send what grips did you use in you F |Cm F7 | Bb for the guitar? I am a piano player trying to translate some of my stuff to the guitar, but still learning all the guitar possibilities. Thank you!
Um, Sir Paul plays it in G with a capo. -Alt tuning as well (I recall he tuned down + a frequency shift in the mains to the recorder transport). I have the acetate demo and Sir Paul describes his guitar set up. It is a simple song. That is part of its beauty. It's about voicing and timbre. But, I always encourage people to cover a tune in a way that feels good to them. Otherwise, it's wrote playing and your audience can simply buy the record. As for writing. Learn theory. YOU have theory under your belt. Good. You're ahead. It's easy. 13 tones. Then shed scales. Learn all the scales. The number of sharps/flats in each scale. But you have to know well so that it becomes instinct. After a while, what to play next whilst writing will automatically present itself. The choices are never infinite. Lyrics should start with consonants and vowels that go with the music & groove. What pleases you. This leads to forming real words. This leads to meaning. "All you can write is what you know." -Woody Guthrie. This goes for music as well as lyrics. With guitar, one should KNOW each note at each string/fret BEFORE they play the note. At first, patterns will help you know those note names. After a while, it is in your blood. -Same with any instrument. I write on piano as well as guitar -shakes things up. Folks should learn general theory. Take lessons from a serious musician and learn to READ music. No TAB! TAB is for for fools.
Hi Keppie. Recently subbed and really loving your videos. I'm different generation, but you've had some very underrated writers from Australia by the way (some personal favs were Go-Betweens, Hoodoo Gurus, The Saints, Triffids). But maybe the least known is Mike Chapman...songwriter for Sweet, Suzie Quatro, who with co-writer Nicky Chinn had a string of number one records in the 70s. He then became producer to Blondie and a host of other huge acts. Where does the overlap between producer and writer occur? Would be a good ''insider'' question to address. The Beatles story never fails to intrigue....188 original songs in 7 or 8 yrs while touring extensively (early on) and being the biggest stars on the planet (add in the movies). That, and the fact they never were known as songwriters as youngsters, playing mainly covers for years. The vast diversity of style in their catalogue, the complex musical skills...it all seems a little advanced for the untrained musician. Lennon/McC certainly never scaled the same height in their solo careers. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusions...
The Beatles were lucky to have their private master class by George Martin. He was the uncredited teacher and motivator, the genius standing in the shadow.
just discovered your channel and this was an amazing video. Well explained, examples I love, and material to try out myself! Thanks please keep it up, subscribing :)
Bravo, what I liked most was your lovely, lovely British accent......how so very charming and endearing.....for we USA blokes. Beatles tunes, especially Paul's, were incredibly delightful to the ear and the reason probably has as much to do with the musical theory and relativity factors between chords you note and how Paul in a calculated manner leveraged harmonics, descending bass lines, and chordal voicings that created tension but released that musical tension through resolution in the right chord in the progression chain. I know a little about music, but a lot of what you explain went right over my head or in and out of my ears regrettably. I don't think about music in the same principled manner that you do. But......I still enjoy the heck out of what I hear in my music, especially Beatles compositions.
Just a correction on what you said about the ii-V progression. In a minor key, the ii chord is diminished not minor. Whereas in a major key, the ii chord is minor. It is all written in the key signature. So as B diminished is the vii chord of C major, it is also the ii chord of A minor.
the G is relative to the Em,, and the Em has a B,, Em is played straight after the opening chord F, so we already heard the B note in the frist movement, you know music is multi dimensional and can be viewed from different angles, i dont think lennon & maca wrote songs using the numbering system, its an explanation not a writing method, they start with monophonic melody, then add chords sewing them together adding note if needed ,, like sewing a garment together after cutting it out, every gearment starts from a thread then ends with a stich here and a stich there ,,, thanks for you nice lesson very useful to me.
Even one of their earliest hits, 'I Want To Hold your Hand' was pretty advanced. There's a B7 which isn't in the key of G and then they even go into the key of C.
The functions of harmony require a lot of depth to understand them. Many people play those songs but don't really know why those chords go in those places or why those chords make those modal turns. Saludos.
