The Minor 4 Chord (pt.1)

"your song sounds like this"

Time to take a look at a classic Beatles Chord progression. One of the interesting things that Lennon & McCartney did in a majority of their songs was use at least one chord that didn’t belong in the key.

The minor 4 for instance (written like this – iv).

1 Minute theory lesson

(skip it if you know what a minor 4 is)

In major key you have 3 major chords built on the 1st 4th and 5th degrees (I, IV, V) of the scale.

In C that would give you C F G.

In the key of G that would give you G C D.

These all fit together rather nicely (you could even say blandly). But what many Beatles songs do is introduce the minor 4 chord (iv) as well as the major 4 (IV) so you’d have C F G and Fm in the key of C or G C D and Cm in the key of G. These particular minor chords don’t really ‘fit’ and sound a bit ‘spicy’.

1 minute musical history lesson

The Beatles didn’t invent this. They probably stole it from the rock n’roll subgenre called doo-wop. Here’s a typical doo-wop chord sequence

G  G7  C  Cm
G  D7  G  D7

You can hear the progression from IV to iv to I in the bridge of Devil In Her Heart

C I’ll take chances  
Cm for romance is  
G so important to me

and it also pops up right on the end of the fade out of Chains.

A word from Macca

Paul McCartney called going from C & F to Fm “the normal thing [to do]” 
(Many Years From Now p122).

So try using it this week. You don’t want your songs to be abnormal do you?

(Here’s the chord in some popular keys)

E A Am B 

G C Cm D

A D Dm E

C F Fm G

D G Gm A

Read pt 2 - major 4 to minor 4
Pt 3 - minor 6 to minor 4
Pt 4 - minor 2 to minor 4 
Pt 5 - 1 to minor 4

Join the mailing list to get the free, exclusive, Beatles Songwriting Academy podcast!

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The Be-Atletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Music by Matt Blick

Chapter 2.4 With the Beatles - I'll Get You The Covers

So in the new faster moving more streamlined ‘I want to get through all the songs before 2014’ style here’s the first overview of chapter 2 of the Beatles catalogue.

She Loves You 

is a classic, which I’ve already covered in great detail here.

B-side 

I’ll Get You

is an aimless song with no real spark at all. 

Update 29/06/10 - I do like the minor 5 chord (Ticket 44) on "it's not like me to pre - tend" and some of the melody flows really nicely, but it's all too fragmented... 

It’s also a strong contender for the top 10 worst Beatles lyrics (watch out for that post!).

Onto the 6 cover versions.

The Hot

Motown songs Money (That’s What I Want) and You Really Got A Hold On Me and Broadway show tune Till There Was You are all classics & though the first two may not yield much we can steal, songwriting wise, the latter is fascinating. It sounds like something McCartney could have written himself a few years later, all clever melodic cleverness and twee lyrics. Definitely one to pick over at a later date.

The Not

Chuck Berry’s was the Beatles most covered artist (after Elvis) but Roll Over Beethoven is pretty unremarkable, as is Please Mr Postman. Whereas Harrison’s soloing on Till There Was You sounds effortlessly classy, his cack handed attempt at the Roll Over Beethoven intro makes an average song cringeworthy.

Devil In Her Heart is a totally stock doo wop effort notable mainly for the occurrence of the 4, m4, 1 chord change that the Beatles used so often in their own songs.

Overall the Beatles are covering some better crafted songs than they tackled on Please Please Me.

Next time we’ll look at the original tunes.

Part Two: I Wanna Be Your Man, Little Child

Part Three: All My Loving, It Won't Be Long