How much music theory did The Beatles know?
2,160,027
Published 2020-06-01
Sources:
Paul’s interview with 60 Minutes (2018) twitter.com/i/status/1046561164581359616
Paul’s interview with David Leaf (1990): albumlinernotes.com/Paul_McCartney_Comments.html
Beatles overdub session 1965: • Video
Howard Goodall on The Beatles (2004): • The Beatles: a musical appreciation a...
John Lennon interview with Bob Harris (1975): • John Lennon on George Martin - (c) BB...
Ringo Starr 'Here Comes The Sun' interview: • Making "Here Comes the Sun" by George...
Barry Miles, Many Years From Now (1997)
The Beatles Anthology (1995 & 2000)
Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (1988)
Dominic Pedler, The Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles (2003)
Ian MacDonald, Revolution In The Head (1994)
An extra special thanks goes to Glen, Vidad Flowers, Christopher Ryan, Bruce Mount, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/davidbennettpiano
0:00 Introduction
1:41 Beats and Bars
3:07 Time Signatures
4:51 Chords
8:35 Key changes
11:22 Modes
12:30 Terminology
13:11 George Martin
17:00 Conclusio
All Comments (21)
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George plays Fadd9 Paul: What's the name of that chord? George: Arthur.
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Driving across town to learn B7. Life before the internet.
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I am a college music theory teacher, and I always remind mu students that "The Sound Came First" and the theory rules were added later. There's something innate in humans to make us think in beats and chords, even when we don't know the names.
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Reminds me of an early interview in which they were charged with having "unresolved leading tones and a false modal frame ending up as a plain diatonic" to which John immediately replied "we're going to see a doctor about that" 😅
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I don't know what adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections, or past participles are, but I can still talk pretty goodly.
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YouTube is like having one of those really good sleepovers when you're younger. You're like: "aight, well, I'm going to sleep" and then a second later, in the darkness, your friend goes: "dude, I wonder how much music theory the Beatles knew" and you stay up all night discussing random shit
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I love how David says "We Can Work I t Out" but the captions say "We Can Solve It"
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As someone who has just began to seriously learn music theory at an advanced age, I can't begin to properly express how much it has helped me. There are those who just "Know" about music, without really understanding why. Then, there are the rest of us.
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Imagine being the guy that taught the Beatles how to play a B7
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Q: How much music theory did the Beatles know? A: Enough.
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My guitar teacher in 1966 when I was 13 years old taught me music theory. He said these are the rules but rules don’t make the music, music makes the rules. “Do it first and we will figure it out later.” Enough said…
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This guy looks like he is 14 yet has such an incredible way of explaining music theory like an aged old professor. Great video!
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Internet: The Beatles didn't know music theory, they just did what sounded good. Music Theory: I just describe what sounds good.
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Imagine being the “bloke” who taught the Beatles B7.
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One of my favourite quotes from Paul is 'I play the notes that like each other'. As a classically trained musician trying to shake off the shackles of having to play from dots, now in my 60s, I'm going back to the beginning and my natural ability to play by ear. Paul McCartney and his ability to just play without needing to know any of the 'rules' has really helped me with this. Your videos are helping too. Thank you so much.
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The idea of going on a road trip to learn one chord sounds so cool. These days you can just look it up on the internet.
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The Beatles are a great example of how mere developed intuition can lead to the conceptual understanding of music theory even without the formal training to articulate using proper terminology.
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In simple words: they knew music theory from the heart, not from a book.
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The Beatles knew the basic necessary theory in order to function as a band but their songwriting clearly came from 'across the universe'.
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My guitar teacher asked me if I wanted to learn music theory. I shrugged and said "not really, at least not right away". He said "ok, here is my less than a minute music theory course...learn to play the open chords in different ways so you can free up a finger or two. then, when playing the chord, experiment with removing or adding notes to the chord to see what it sounds like. If it sounds good, it is good." Smart man.
