# What Is The Opening Chord of "A Hard Day's Night?



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

This has been the subject of much speculation, and Guitar Player Magazine even ran an article on this. I disagreed with their conclusion, BTW.

I know that it's an electric 12-string, with a bassy piano chord hit simultaneously. McCartney's bass is audible with the guitar, hitting a high D (this same high D is later heard after the line "to buy you things"). The piano notes (not really a chord, but maybe two notes hitting a fourth or fifth) are most audible on the "1" remastering, or the new 2009 stereo remaster. (guitar on your left, piano on the right. Try unplugging the left channel and listening to the right channel in mono thru headphones, and vice-versa.

My conclusion is that, similar to the way "I Want To Hold Your Hand" starts with a instrumental version of the line "I can't hide," which is a IV-V chord sequence leading into the I chord, "A Hard Day's Night" similarly begins with the instrumental chord suggesting the section "(tight-yeah!) It's been a..." which is a V chord, again, leading into the I chord (G) which begins the song verse on the words "...hard day's night."

Therefore, since this chord suggests the similar later section which is also a V chord, I conclude that this opening chord is some sort of V (dominant 7th) chord. The song is in the key of G; therefore, the chord must be some sort of D7.

I conclude that it is a five-note chord, muting the low 6th string and playing 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings open (hence the ringing nature of the chord), with 2nd string/first fret (index) and 1st string 3rd fret (3rd/ring finger).

This produces the chord (low to high) A-D-G-C-G, which is a D7 sus.
In this D sus, A is the fifth; D is the root; G is a "pedal tone" and also the suspension, which resolves to F#; C is the flat-7th of D; and high G is once again a "drone" pedal tone, as well as being the suspension.

To hear it, it has to be played on a 12-string; it doesn't sound the same on a 6-string.


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

I think alot of it had to do with the guitar used George Harrison's Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar's 

However - from what I know its still debated - not much use asking George anymore -as possibly G7add9sus4,G7sus4or G11sus4

Could just have been some version of those that George made up.................


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

With the piano and bass it sounds like it very well could add up to the chord you suggested. It sounds to my ears as though the guitar just plays an fadd9 (starting on the D string low to high) playing the notes F-A-C-G.


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

tdc said:


> With the piano and bass it sounds like it very well could add up to the chord you suggested. It sounds to my ears as though the guitar just plays an fadd9 (starting on the D string low to high) playing the notes F-A-C-G.


I'll have to try it on my 12 string- not much of a Beetles fan thou.....


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> I'll have to try it on my 12 string- not much of a Beetles fan thou.....


I don't listen to them very much either, though I'm often rather impressed by their songwriting.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

A mathematician solved it.


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Art Rock said:


> A mathematician solved it.


Wow, that is a crazy chord indeed. Looks like millionrainbows and I both got 4 out of 6 notes right, however I don't think the chord could be qualified as a D7 sus as MR suggested due to the lack of an F# note. What would the chord be called? Maybe an F maj7 add9 sus6?? :lol:

That thing is almost a tone-cluster, really.


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Art Rock said:


> A mathematician solved it.


Unfortunately it looks though the mathematician may be wrong, in the article it links to (right underneath the findings) Harrison himself apparently claims he was indeed playing the very chord I suggested he was playing - Fadd9 (F-A-C-G). Not the A-D-G-C suggested by the mathematician...

http://everything2.com/title/The%20...ight%22%20Chord%20-%20Rock%27s%20Holy%20Grail


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Alan Pollack's take from his excellent "Notes On" series:



> I've seen better people than myself argue (and in public, no less) about the exact guitar voicing of this chord and I'll stay out of that question for now (what a cop-out, Alan!), and merely state that its sonority is akin to a superimposition of the chords of d-minor, F-Major, and G-Major; i.e. it contains the notes D, F, A, C, and G - to my ears, only the B is missing. Even if you don't know a thing about harmony or musical dictation, you can at least hear the G as a suspended fourth over the D on the bottom. Hullaballoo aside, this chord functions as a surrogate dominant (i.e. V) with respect to the chord on G which begins the first verse.


http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/ahdn.shtml


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

tdc said:


> Wow, that is a crazy chord indeed. Looks like millionrainbows and I both got 4 out of 6 notes right, however I don't think the chord could be qualified as a D7 sus as MR suggested due to the lack of an F# note. What would the chord be called? Maybe an F maj7 add9 sus6?? :lol:
> 
> That thing is almost a tone-cluster, really.


If it's a D7 sus, it doesn't need an F#; it's been suspended up to G. also, nobody but me has mentioned context. Think of the words " tight (IV), tight, yeah (V7 chord occurs), it's been a...."


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Cool- but my fingers are aching just thinking about all those chords........ It must be just one of them? or a clustered recording effect....


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

The chord is also used by Stewart Copland in a song by The Police, "Walking On the Moon."


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

millionrainbows said:


> The chord is also used by Stewart Copland in a song by The Police, "Walking On the Moon."


Andy Summers. Copeland's a drummer.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Didn't anybody go to the Randy Bachman YouTube link?


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

^ So we have a professional musician using pro-tools, a mathematician, and G. Harrison himself all weighing in on the issue and all of them coming to slightly different conclusions on the chord in question. THE MYSTERY DEEPENS Dun-Dun-Dun...

But seriously, that chord Bachman came up with sounds pretty darn close, perhaps Harrison was just too drunk and stoned during the original recording session to recall precisely what chord he played at the time.


----------



## classicool (Mar 24, 2012)

G7sus4
A guitar player can play it by barring the 3rd fret with the 1st finger and placing the 3rd finger on the A string 5th fret and the 4th finger on the G string.
The application of this common chord is most often as a dominant (V), which is possibly why you were misidentifying it as D7. Since the chord contains an F natural, it is closer to a Dm7 or more specifically in this case, a Dm11. And in this case, the G7sus 4 is not being used as a dominant but rather as a tonic (I) - creating a false resolution. After reading this, you may need a tonic!


----------



## classicool (Mar 24, 2012)

You gotta be kidding, Randy! You're going through all that trouble to play a simple G7sus4? See classicool post above to play it.


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

classicool said:


> G7sus4
> A guitar player can play it by barring the 3rd fret with the 1st finger and placing the 3rd finger on the A string 5th fret and the 4th finger on the G string.
> The application of this common chord is most often as a dominant (V), which is possibly why you were misidentifying it as D7. Since the chord contains an F natural, it is closer to a Dm7 or more specifically in this case, a Dm11. And in this case, the G7sus 4 is not being used as a dominant but rather as a tonic (I) - creating a false resolution. After reading this, you may need a tonic!


Or a finger massage


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Actually, I think the easiest way to render that chord is to smash a guitar onto a piano. Chaaaaaang! “It’s been a hard day’s night. And I’ve been working like a dog..." (which is what smashing a guitar onto a piano essentially is ... work!).


----------



## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

What are all the a2, a3...etc? I assume that is telling me the fret and the string? But how can you play the 2nd and 3rd fret on the same guitar string? Even though it's a 12 string, each pair of strings is too close to play them separately.


----------



## smoledman (Feb 6, 2012)

Has any other band's music been dissected to this extent?


----------

