"A Hard Day's Night" is immediately identifiable before the vocals even begin, thanks to George Harrison's unmistakable Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar's "mighty opening chord".[14] According to George Martin, "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch"[10] having what Ian MacDonald calls "a significance in Beatles lore matched only by the concluding E major of A Day in the Life, the two opening and closing the group's middle period of peak creativity".[15] "That sound you just associate with those early 1960s Beatles records".[16]
A Hard Day's Night opening chord.ogg Listen to the opening chord (help·info)
Analysis of the chord has been the subject of considerable debate,[17] with it being described as G7add9sus4,[18] G7sus4,[19][20] or G11sus4[14] and others below.
The exact chord is an Fadd9 confirmed by Harrison during an online chat on 15 February 2001:[21]
Q: Mr Harrison, what is the opening chord you used for "A Hard Day's Night"?
A: It is F with a G on top, but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story.
According to Walter Everett, the opening chord has an introductory dominant function because McCartney plays D in the bass; Harrison and Martin play F A C G in twelve-string guitar and piano, over the bass D, giving the chord a mixture-coloured neighbor, F; two diatonic neighbors, A and C; plus an anticipation of the tonic, G — the major subtonic as played on guitar being a borrowed chord commonly used by the Beatles, first in "P.S. I Love You" (see mode mixture), and later in "Every Little Thing", "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Got to Get You into My Life" (in the latter two against a tonic pedal).[22]
Film of the Beatles performing "A Hard Day's Night", shows both Lennon and Harrison gripping a Gm11 in 3rd position, not an Fadd9. The Fadd9 is used during the chorus and is the chord form used for the outro fade out.[citation needed]
In contrast, Alan W. Pollack interprets the chord as a surrogate dominant (surrogate V, the dominant preparing or leading to the tonic chord), in G major the dominant being D, with the G being an anticipation that resolves in the G major chord that opens the verse. He also suggests it is a mixture of d minor, F major, and G major (missing the B).[23] Tony Bacon calls it a Dm7sus4 (D F G A C), which is the dominant seventh (plus the fourth, G).[24] (For more information regarding chord functions see diatonic function.)
Everett points out that the chord relates to the Beatles' interest in pandiatonic harmony.[25]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hard_...ght_%28song%29