PSRStuffToRipOffFromTheBeatles

Things to Rip Off From the Beatles

Lately, I've been reading through Alan W. Pollack's notes on the Beatles, and keep stumbling across tips & tricks that I need to steal for my own use. This page is just a spot where I can stow this running list of ideas.

• varied phrase lengths

  • Occasionally cutting a measure short

  • Or sprinkling half-measures through a 4/4 song ("Revolution")

    • Particularly as a device to clarify song structure ("The Ballad of John and Yoko", "I Am the Walrus")

• borrowed chords (flat 6th, flat 7th, other parallel minor chords)

  • especially when lyrically justified -- e. g. for emphasizing a spot in the lyric

• varying conjunct/disjunct melodic motion

  • saving the highest pitches for when it's dramatically appropriate, in terms of lyrics or structure.
  • using a melody that hammers on a 'safe note' to build tension

• keeping the harmony static for longer periods -- e. g. vamping on E7 for 8 bars

  • vamping on the I chord for an intro ("The Ballad of John and Yoko")

  • generally varying the harmonic rhythm

    • letting the chord at the end of one line 'drag through' to the start of the next one (the a-minor in "What Goes On," the D in "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," the a-minor in the bridge of "Two of Us," etc.)

• unison vs harmony in vocal duet

  • call-and-response lead/backup vocals ('antiphony')
  • Bringing in harmony/unison vocals to italicize certain words/phrases ("Another Girl," the bridge of "You Can't Do That")

• Starting on something besides the tonic

  • Use a series of somewhat-disorienting chords to approach the tonic, especially in the intro ("She Loves You")

• Starting on the downbeat, before the downbeat, after the downbeat.

  • Vary for deliberate effect.

  • Also vary within lyrics -- i. e. syncopation vs. singing on the beat

    • Building tension with obvious triplets
  • Deliberately leaving the first beat empty (motif in "And I Love Her")
• Presenting the main hook in slightly altered rhythmic, instrumental form as an intro (e. g. "From Me to You", "Please Please Me")
• Non-functional dominant sevenths (e. g. the F7 in "From Me to You") to add a bluesy character
• Varying the drum texture (e. g. cymbals-vs-no-cymbals) between sections

• Compose a pentatonic melody ("All I Have to Do")

  • Or just mostly pentatonic ("Revolution")
• Varying melodic rhythm -- triplets vs eighth notes.
• Resolve a dissonance into a second dissonance. (e. g. the 2nd of a 53 chord into the seventh of the following chord, as in "This Boy")
• Obviously crossing voices in voice leading for dramatic effect. (The bridge from "This Boy")
• Dropping out/reducing the instrumentation behind the vocals for dramatic effect. (The end of the bridge from "This Boy", the middle of the verse of "Can't Buy Me Love")
• Introduce a temporary, heavy backbeat that seems to increase the tempo (The bridge from "I Call Your Name")
• 'Deferred gratification' chords, e. g. "V-of-V to IV" ("I Call Your Name," "Eight Days a Week", "Baby's in Black", "She Loves You", and on and on) -- especially common is V-of-V, IV, V.

• Chromatic internal lines, especially in a bridge (the second-bridge opening in "I'll Be Back")

  • Or a chromatic-descent bass, especially in a bridge ("And Your Bird Can Sing")
• Repeating a melody in different harmonic contexts (the two halves of the bridge of "She's a Woman")
• Doubling a bassline on low piano ("Every Little Thing")
• Ending each verse in a refrain-like way, but still using a standard verse/bridge large form ("Another Girl")
• Ending on a 'double plagal' = flat VII->IV->I ("Hey Jude," the end of "You're Going to Lose That Girl")

• Creating a sense of acceleration by...

  • Switching from slow triplets to 4/4 (Intro to "I've Just Seen a Face")
  • Cutting a formal section short (ditto)

• 'Layered' introduction; bring in instruments one at a time.

  • Start by piling up tracks on one channel, and finally balance it out when the last parts come in. (Intro to "Run For Your Life")
  • Make the first instrument a catchy ostinato riff that plays throughout ("Hey Bulldog," "Day Tripper," "Ticket to Ride")
• Record a backing track at a higher tempo/key and then slow it down before adding vocals ("Rain," "Strawberry Fields" [kinda)
• Word, pause, more words in melodic ascent 1
• Rare 'oldies'-style technique -- modulate an arbitrary half-step up towards the end of the song ("And I Love Her," "Good Day Sunshine," "Penny Lane")
• Tuning up an instrument that never appears in the song :) ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")
• Occasionally-uninformed use of classical-Indian instruments (e. g. tamboura)
• Long, long pedal on an outro ("Hello Goodbye" [second outro)
• Avoiding dominants completely ("Baby You're a Rich Man")
• Resolve a suspension/dissonance by first going to a note in the 'wrong' direction ("The Fool on the Hill")

• Put verse & refrain in parallel major & minor ("Fool on the Hill," "Things We Said Today")

  • Or verse & bridge ("Here, There, & Everywhere," "Two of Us")
• An outro consisting of shorter and shorter refrains ("Blue Jay Way")

• An outro that's almost as big/significant as the song itself ("Hey Jude," "Hey Bulldog," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)")

  • Note that typically there's a golden ratio between the song and outro lengths.
• Have one of the section repeats go at half-speed harmonically ("Dear Prudence")
• Reliance on flat-5th scale degree on a bluesy song in minor, esp in VI7 chord ("Glass Onion")

• Using minor iv in a major key ("The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill")

  • Using minor v in a major key ("Julia")
• Repeating a melodic fragment with different rhythmic emphases ("Martha My Dear")
• Root movement by a tritone ("I'm So Tired," "It's Only Love," "I Am the Walrus")
• Putting lots of chords in inversions, creating a sense of instability ("Honey Pie")
• Giving the chorus an obvious pickup note for the verse sections, repeating it for each chorus, and then leaving it out (of course) at the end. ("Savoy Truffle")
• Having lines of a verse start on different beats of the measure ("Hey Bulldog")
• Lean on flat-3rd and flat-7th scale degrees in the melody ("Old Brown Shoe," or really any blues-inflected tune).
• Slowly panning an element back and forth ("Sun King")
• Switching between a lurching, heavy-booted march and hard syncopations ("Mean Mr Mustard")
• Syncopate a phrase/bassline/harmony with 'Bulgarian rhythm' [8=3+3+2 ("Because," "Here Comes the Sun," "You Never Give Me Your Money," "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," "The End")
• Use vi7 as a superposition of the major tonic & relative minor tonic ("Golden Slumbers," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "She Loves You")
• Ornament a vocal melody with an octave flip upwards ("Let It Be")
• Taking the verse, excising several measures, and turning that into the intro ("Across the Universe")
• Follow a section with a non-sequitur key change with an over-emphasized return to the home key (the guitar solo in "Real Love")
• Tweak speed of vocal track for a slightly 'tired' or slightly 'chipmunk-y' effect. ("Here, There, and Everywhere" [sped up, "Real Love" [sped up, post-1:00-splice in "Strawberry Fields" [slowed down)

Footnotes

1 A staggering number of Macca songs use this -- quoting from Pollack's page on "Here, There, and Everywhere":
Here (pause) making each day of the year
Listen (pause) do you want to know a secret
Eleanor Rigby (pause) picks up the rice
Day after day (pause) alone on a hill
Hey Jude (pause) don't make it bad
Hold me tight (pause) tell me I'm the only one
Honey Pie (pause) you are making me crazy
The long and winding road (pause) that leads to your door
Michelle (pause) ma belle
Oh darling (pause) please believe me
Try to see it my way (pause) do I have to keep on talking
Look (pause) what you're doing
When I call you up (pause) your line's engaged
Yesterday (pause) all my troubles seemed so far away