3 Beatles Chord Moves Every Songwriter Should Know

Here are 3 of the most interesting and usable chord moves from the song YESTERDAY.

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ABOUT KEPPIE

Hi I'm Keppie. I'm a professional songwriter, and songwriting teacher. I've been teaching song and lyric writing for over 10 years now for some of the best contemporary music colleges in the world— Berklee Online, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Open Academy, as well as for the Australian College of the Arts. At other times, I've taught for the Australian Institute of Music, as well as the LA School of Songwriting.

My goal is to help people write better songs! My experience in the classroom, with thousands of students at this point (many going on to find careers and success in music), is that your songwriting, like all things, can get better with meaningful, deliberate practice. My intention is to share the skills, knowledge, information, and ideas that I've gathered with anyone who wants to improve their songwriting.

Keppie's music is here:

ABOUT BENNY

Hi I'm Benny. My passion for music and creativity stretches across multiple disciplines and art-forms. I am a founding member and songwriter / lap-slide guitarist for one of Australia's best and most bearded country-bluegrass-folk bands, THE GREEN MOHAIR SUITS. To date the Mohairs have released 4 full-length albums and tour both nationally and overseas.

I am also the Founder and Head Producer of SILAMOR STUDIOS, a boutique studio specialising in Composition for Film, TV and Interactive Media. I write extensively across various instrumental and lyric-based genres and has been commissioned for major projects by Adobe, Cathay Pacific and Audible. I currently release original songs under the name SILAMOR.

I am also passionate about education and have taught song and lyric writing as well as film composition for JMC Academy, Collarts and the Australian Institute of Music. I design and regularly facilitate workshops on creative process and innovation.

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#songwritingtips #thebeatles #chords #yesterday #howtowriteasong #howtowritesongs

Thumbnail image: Central Press/Getty Images

#thebeatles
#yesterday
#howtowriteasong
#howtowritesongs
#paulmccartney
#chords
#musictheory
#chordprogressions

[ThinkermanQuindo]

Reading Paul’s biography, his father was a pianist who could entertain a party all night with the type of complex musical structures seen in popular music of the pre-war years. He taught Paul all these so that Paul could deputise for him - and in an age without TV (or computers), Paul proved a quick study. That put him way ahead of the competition in the beat generation - as we now understand through this analysis. But what I love so much about this story, is that Paul’s incredible success ultimately derives from his goodness at the heart of a good family background. They were humble folk who held onto strong moral and ethical values. It paid off - and it almost always does.

[robertkalbouss]

I love the way you elucidate the "why" behind chord progressions.

[prvaughan]

As a beginning song writer, these tips are gold to me! You've opened up so many options with these for me. I love your channel! Thank you.

[giulioluzzardi]

Brilliant stuff..I remember my Spanish Guitar teacher calling them "Happy" and "Sad chords to make it easier for us. The major chords were happy/bold, the minors sad/soulfull and his tip was to make your song "Happy/Sad" . Thanks for this viddy, great teacher!

[stubbsmusic]

It's called V / V in standard music theory. The almost immediate appearance of the E minor chord going to an A7 would be ii / V / i in D minor which is quite fascinating in itself. There are many wonderful things about this song. It starts on a suspension 2 - 1 (yesterday) and again on (far away) and 4-3 on (here to stay) and uses throughout creating a feeling of longing. In McCartney's writing (especially early on) he frequently uses the V / V to the IV. It's in "You Won't See Me, " "Eight Days a Week" and "Baby's in Black" among others. Though his harmony is always wonderful, I think his sense of melody is the most outstanding element of his writing. Thank you for exploring what he does.

[jimt]

I rarely sign-in to subscribe to a channel, but this great video made it absolutely necessary. I have been playing and studying for 45 years, including studying music theory with a famous professor, and have studied many songwriting books, and have learned and played thousands of pop songs, but I have never...really...got...it. I remember all the stuff about the II Major chord, and the "V of" manipulations, but hearing an explanation related to one of the most famous songs of all time, is just brilliant! Keep up the GREAT work!

[jacktuber]

I don't know if it helps other people, but when I listen to you tell this, I have the circle of 5ths up and trace the moves you made on it. It helps me. Great stuff.

[robertstapleton]

Thank you. Your explanations are clear - you're very good at this.

[johne]

In your final example, F to Cm7 to F7 to Bb, my ear felt a pull from Bb to Bbm. My brain wanted to hear another ii-V, only this time starting on the iv minor, Bbm, to its secondary dominant, G7. Ah ha, the II7 of F! I’ve seen that a lot in Jazz Standards and 20th century Pop, ii-V7’s moving up or down a whole step from the previous ii-V.
All your lessons are awesome. Thank you! You’re a great music teacher!!

[stevenkimsey]

I've been playing guitar for over 40 years. I need to take some music theory classes. Because all of this flies over my head when we talk about it. When we put fingers to strings and play chords it actually makes sense

[coegj]

Oh well hell, at my age I thought I didn't need to know or learn anything else about anything, nothing. Now just playing my guitars will never be same. After watching your enthusiasm about whatever the hell you were saying, has got me, now I need to look into this and take time learning something new, oh well hell. Very few people inspire me to do anything except what I want to do, play golf and my guitars, now look what you have done. Wonderful video, truly, I guess, thank you..

[peterschwartz]

You're delightful! I've always wondered how the Beatles got their distinctive sound and thought it was in the chords, but never knew how. For me, it would be helpful if you contrasted sort of the normal "expected" progression with the unusual one you're highlighting a bunch of times--back and forth. You tend to do it once, and I'm not sure what I'm listening for exactly.

[aquamarine]

Other early Beatle (McCartney?) chord techniques include the use of the sub-dominant 7, or a IV7 chord. They did that a lot. Or they might make the IV chord a minor. A neat thing about She Loves You (in G) is that they varied the standard doo-wop I-VI-IV-V chord progression, making it a I-VI-III-V progression in the verse, before really shaking things up with the minor IV chord. Their vocal harmonies actually made a Cm6 chord.

Meanwhile, Lennon loved to have a downward movement off the G chord - e.g. I'm So Tired, Day in the Life and Sexy Sadie - but all in different ways.

[andboesch]

Great video and well explained - really enjoyed that. Can’t wait to watch some more of your videos!☺️

[exxekhan]

I'm a self-taught guitar player. I thumbed my nose at music theory for years. Then, a friend showed me a few concepts like this as it relates to Beatle songs. I was hooked. Liked and subscribed. Please do more Beatle chord analysis. I love this stuff!

[christopherpoperszky]

Wow, not sure why but I can completely understand what you are explaining. I know that sounds silly but I think it's simply the mark of a great teacher.

[JeromyBranch]

The Beatles famously are quoted many times saying they took their chord progressions from old blues numbers. What i find fun and good about their tunes is the lyrical melodies. You can't copyright a chord progression. But when you lay lyrics and a melody on top, it becomes a song, copyrightable. They reused old progressions in a very smart way, making beautiful music that most people love!

[dennmillsch]

Hahaha, at 10:02 -- "told ya" !! Yes you did and you were right. I've written many songs with interesting chord progressions etc and I realize that I use the ii --> V a lot without realizing what I was doing. Most of your material is not new to me. but today I learned something!!! Thanks

[Fuzcapp]

When you played the chords quicker, and I play your video at 1.5 speed, it sounded like the opening chords of You Won't See Me. (Surprise surprise).

[charlieyates]

The chord sequence (F-Gmaj-Bb-F) contains the descending sequence of notes C-B-Bb-A which make a nice counterpoint with the ascending chord sequence, and harmonizes nicely with the vocal. Try playing just the notes C-C-B-B-Bb-Bb-A, then play the chords again F-Gmaj-Bb-F and you'll hear what I mean.