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Home , Across the Universe, Dear Prudence, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, Wings over America, With the Beatles

INTERMEDIATE GUITAR WITH

Presented by Michael Gam Monroe High Law-Government/Police Academy Magnet, North Hills, CA

Goals: * To deconstruct/analyze specific playing and songwriting techniques in The Beatles’ music

* To enhance appreciation of The Beatles’ music and its influence/legacy

* To present ways of organizing the teaching of The Beatles’ music

INTRO February 9th, 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. I was 9 years old, and this event motivated me (and a whole generation) to take up the guitar. There’s really no way to explain to today’s youth the impact this had, but their music (about 270 , not including post-Beatles solo careers!) and its influence happily continues unabated; there are even college classes and weekly radio shows devoted to The Beatles.

This milestone provides a great excuse (as if you need one) to present your guitar classes with a Beatles unit. Furthermore, their recordings feature a wonderfully diverse balance of both acoustic and electric guitars, as well as compositions which feature creative chord progressions and memorable riffs (not to mention the unforgettable melodies). However, even The Beatles’ simplest songs aren’t necessarily easy to play; “” might be only 3 chords, but getting the shuffle feel of the strum takes time. This is why intermediate level is recommended.

* One way to present The Beatles’ music could be by learning songs from a particular (such as 1965’s ).

* You could also combine watching a film and learning songs from the accompanying . I would recommend 1964’s charming and influential A Hard Days’ Night.

Other films include the trippy, animated Yellow Submarine, the comedy Help, and the odd, made for British television (though the “mystery tour” and magicians seem like an LSD metaphor). The rooftop concert scene at the end of would work well if you can find it; likewise, there is a hard to find Japanese concert worth looking for. All The Ed Sullivan Show appearances are available as a package. Julie Tamor’s is interesting as both the characters and plot are woven from 30 Beatles songs, but students will appreciate it more if they are familiar ’ music and have some familiarity with the 1960s counterculture and Viet Nam War. There was even a Saturday morning television Beatles cartoon series. Paul McCartney has a couple good concert films; 1976’s Wings Over America has been re-released. (Also recommended is CNN’s “British Invasion” documentary.)

* If you want to go the historical context route, learn some of their songs in chronological order. Their recording career spans 1963 to 1969 and roughly divides into exuberant Early, Dylan-influenced Middle, and psychedelic/experimental Late periods. The Beatles’ music progressed rapidly, in terms of songwriting, instrumentation, and production, with every album.

* Lastly, you can choose to teach songs which showcase particular concepts and techniques. (See glossary for underlined terms.) The 1965 album Rubber Soul and 1968 album The Beatles (AKA “the White Album”) are especially rich in acoustic guitars and include such must-learn guitar classics as “Norwegian Wood” (with its major-minor modulation), “Blackbird” and “.” For example, Paul McCartney composed “Blackbird” by playing parallel tenths. composed “Dear Prudence” in after showed him the basic Travis-picking pattern. (It is also an example of drop D tuning though it can be played without the lowered sixth string.) Both songs will get your students fingerpicking. John Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood” (from Rubber Soul) and ’s “” (from 1969’s ) are both great songs to introduce use of the capo as well as the idea of playing a melody while holding down a chord. (However, “Norwegian Wood” will sound fine without a capo.) Finally, some of The Beatles’ piano-based classics translate very well to the guitar, such as “Let It Be” and “Imagine” (technically, post-Beatles) with its attractive moving bass notes and chords.

GLOSSARY

10th: intervals are distances between pitches. A 10th is the interval of the 3rd but an octave higher than the pitch below it. For example, the pitch B is a major 3rd higher than G; if the B is raised an octave (but not the G), we have a major 10th. This is the first sound heard in “Blackbird”: G on string 6, fret 3 and B on the open second string (at the same time); the whole is built on this interval.

Drop D tuning: String 6 is lowered a whole step from E down to D. (Check it against string 4 to tune; string 6 will be an octave below string 4.) The easiest alternate tuning to learn.

Modulation: changing keys during a song. The Beatles were very fond of this. For example, “Norwegian Wood” alternates between D major and D minor; “” is in G major, but the bridge is in C major.

Slash chords: A chord is written with a slash for various reasons. One situation is when a chord pattern has moving bass lines over a static chord. For example, “Dear Prudence” is based on a D major chord with a descending bass line underneath: | D | D/C | Gma7/B | Gma7/Bb |. In other words, D major, then D major with a C bass, then G major7 with a B bass, and G major 7with a Bb bass (all in 2nd position with the bass notes played on the fifth string). John, Paul, and George employed this compositional device often.

Another situation where a chord is written with a slash is for ambiguous chords which don’t have 3rds, such as G/C, i.e., a G major chord with a C bass. (This could also be called considered a suspended major 7 chord).

Travis-picking: A fingerpicking pattern in which the thumb plays an alternating bass note on every beat. John Lennon employs this on “Dear Prudence,” “Julia” (with a capo), and the intro to “.” (A classic non-Beatles example is Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind.”)

“Dear Prudence” Preparation: Before attempting the song, learn the basic right-hand Travis-style fingerpicking pattern: Hold down an open D major chord; “pinch” strings 2 and 5 simultaneously on beat 1.

Performance Notes: 1) Song is in Drop D tuning: string 6 is tuned down 1 whole step to D. 2) Strive for notes to ring out and overlap; keep fretting hand down while arpeggiating. 3) Right hand thumb plays bass strings (4, 5, and 6)

Analysis: * The song features pedal point: a droning bass note under shifting chords. * The verse features a bass line that descends in half steps. * Three of the chords are written as slash chords: D/C (D major with a C in the bass); Gmaj7/B (Gmaj7 with a B in the bass); Gmi(maj7)/Bb (Gmi with a major 7 and Bb in the bass)

"Dear Prudence" basic lead sheet

D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / Dear|

D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb |Prudence, |/ / won't you come out to|play? | Dear|

D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb Prudence, | greet the brand new| day | The|

D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb sun is up, the|sky is blue It's| beautiful and |so are you Dear|

D C G D D/C Gma7/B Gmi(ma7)/Bb Prudence,| won't you come out to |play? |

“Blackbird” preparation Before attempting the song, learn to play an ascending G major scale in parallel tenths; use the thumb on the lower strings and index finger on the treble strings.

Performance notes 1) Although the song has even quarter note pulse throughout, the measures are not all 4/4. I’ve grouped them as seems most natural (to me) with the lyrics. 2) McCartney plays with thumb and index finger (which brushes the open 3rd string throughout). 3) For the intro, simply play measures 1 and 2, then start from the beginning. 4) Note the first and second endings. (i.e., first time around, play the first ending and not the second ending; the second time around skip the first ending and play the second one which leads to the bridge).

Analysis: * The song is composed entirely of tenth intervals. * The last 2 beats of measure 3 and first beat of measure 4 have contrapuntal motion: i.e., the bass notes ascend while the treble notes descend (very Bach!)

“Norwegian Wood”

Performance notes 1) Although the song would be notated in 12/8 time, I have tabbed it in measures of ¾ time so the phrasing of the melody will be easier to see. 2) The melody is played while holding down an open position D major chord. This will take practice and require the use of the fretting hand pinky for the B note on string 3, fret 4. 3) The strum is very much in the spirit of early Bob Dylan; listen to the recording to get the feel.

Analysis * The song features modulation (changing key); verses 1,3, and 5 are in D major, while verses 2 and 4 are in D minor.* The melody is doubled an octave higher by a sitar; this song introduced most Western listeners to this exotic north Indian classical instrument