Bachman Turner Overdrive legend Randy Bachman has decoded questionably the world’s most famous opening chord, the first chord The Beatles’ classic ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
Bachman told fans on his socials have his revelation came about, “The most famous chord an a 12-string guitar chord everyone around the world knows. When I was in London last year I got an email from Giles Martin, George Martin’s son. Giles Martin invites us into the studio so we go to Abbey Road studio and its like “the suite”. No-one else can get in there. He says to us, ‘all The Beatles source tapes, they have all been put in here. what would you like to here in a computer, in Pro-tools. What do you want to hear?’
Randy was up for the challenge. “I think about it for a while and I say ‘well there’s been a lot of argument and speculation. Guys have written little looks on it. The first chord of ‘A Hard Day’s Night. What is the first chord?” He said ‘lets hear it’. So he put up one track at a time. Because when you hear it all at once its like BANG, the greatest thing to hear all at once.
Peter Jackson had already isolated all of the sounds on The Beatles records so each instrument has now been collected on a different track. That is the basis for what is being rolled out over coming years from The Beatles catalogue. “I heard the first chord. It was George on a 12-string and it’s a F chord. But you put a G on top and you put a G on the bottom. And you put a C next to that G. Now, put on Paul’s bass. Paul is playing a D on the bass and John’s rhythm guitar was a D chord with a suss four which means it has got a G note on it”.
Ever wonder about the opening chord to #TheBeatles Hard Day’s Night? Here’s a clip from my Guitarology 101 archives where I got the scoop directly from the source. Cheers! #rocknroll #history #chord #UK pic.twitter.com/xjNBdc8q2L
— Randy Bachman (@RandysVinylTap) November 27, 2024
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