smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Michael Coxe <audities@gmail.com> |
| Subject | About that famous guitar chord. |
| Date | Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:07:48 -0700 |
[Part 1 text/plain windows-1252 (1.4 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
A mathematician discovers the secret of the opening chord in
"Hard Day's Night":
--------------
Via my 2nd favorite blogger Ann Althouse (#1 being Michael Phillips
of "7 Laws of Money" & something called MasterCard).
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/10/about-that-famous-guitar-chord.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030201607.htm
- Michael
--------------
Four years ago, inspired by reading news coverage about the song’s
40th anniversary, [Jason] Brown decided to try and see if he could
apply a mathematical calculation known as Fourier transform to solve
the Beatles’ riddle. The process allowed him to decompose the sound
into its original frequencies using computer software and parse out
which notes were on the record.
It worked, up until a point: the frequencies he found didn’t match
the known instrumentation on the song. “George played a 12-string
Rickenbacker, Lennon had his six string, Paul had his bass…none of
them quite fit what I found,” he explains. “Then the solution hit me:
it wasn’t just those instruments. There was a piano in there as well,
and that accounted for the problematic frequencies.”
Dr. Brown deduces that another George — George Martin, the Beatles
producer—also played on the chord, adding a piano chord that included
an F note impossible to play with the other notes on the guitar.
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.