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What are some good Lennon-McCartney tunes to teach about pop/rock arrangements of vocal harmonies? (I'm not that familiar with the Beatles catalogue but I hear they did a good job of this.)

I need to learn a bit more about harmonizing (as opposed to... melodizing?) for a project I am in and I figured why not turn to a famous source.

One of the coolest is "Please Please Me", where Paul's voice stays on one note (pedal tone) while John's descends.

There are some nice three-part harmonies to be found throughout their catalog - probably most notably "This Boy" and "Because", but also songs like "Sgt Pepper" where they're subtle but very effective.

ooh boy josh! just sit tight.... and prepare to be amazed...... MORE TO FOLLOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Jcp8ZDigI

cassius987 wrote:(I'm not that familiar with the Beatles catalogue but I hear they did a good job of this.)

Massive understatements in the history of mankind for $1,000, Alex.

Some good ones have been mentioned, but also check out:

Eight Days a Week (fairly simple two-part)
I'll Be Back (very nice two-part)
Words of Love (rich, thick and chocolate three-part)
Nowhere Man (excellent three-part)

I also like I've Just Seen a Face, where Paul harmonizes with himself.

Thanks for the fast action folks. There's a lot I can check out and luckily I'm familiar with like... two of these songs. Which gives me a bit of a leg up on them.

So what makes up the majority of Beatles harmonizing? Octaves and fifths? Some maj3rds? Sixths, sevenths? To my ears all of the stuff posted sounds closest to octaves/fifths/thirds if not plain unison, because it's not very grating. Then there is an instance I'm hearing of the harmonizing outlining a chord note instead of doubling with an interval.

FretlessOnly wrote:Massive understatements in the history of mankind for $1,000, Alex.

Yeah, it's not the first time I've been accused of underestimating the Beatles either. I run into this on pretty much every forum--one of these days I'll "get" what it's all about I'm sure, because I definitely like their music.

FretlessOnly wrote:I'll Be Back (very nice three-part)

Fixed that for you. This one is subtle, because the top harmony stays on an E, while the other two move up and down beneath it.

E----E------E--E--E------E---E-----E--E---E---E--E---E----E---E
A----C-----C--D--E------E---D-----B--C---C---C--B--A----B---C#
E----A-----A--B--C------C---B-----G--A---A---A-G#-F#---G#-A
You know if you break my heart I'll go, but I'll be back a - gain

Hard to get those to line up on my screen but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

try "Because", "(Abbey Road). Lots of diminished chords in their harmonies. I bet George Martin had a lot to do with that.

servant wrote: E----E------E--E--E------E---E-----E--E---E---E--E---E----E---E
A----C-----C--D--E------E---D-----B--C---C---C--B--A----B---C#
E----A-----A--B--C------C---B-----G--A---A---A-G#-F#---G#-A
You know if you break my heart I'll go, but I'll be back a - gain

Nice--I'll practice these parts. So the first one is a 4th-octave, then a minor third-fifth, then minor third-fourth (interesting), then major third-unison? (That was all the way up to "break".) Etc. This will be fun to study.

final answer?....virtually all of them. Having said that, a few that come to mind are:


(great backup vocals in the middle 8

where Lennon's vocal is just classic

and of course.....................




I dont know if I completely agree with this list but.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyrKCMZlK0

cassius987 wrote: So what makes up the majority of Beatles harmonizing? Octaves and fifths? Some maj3rds? Sixths, sevenths? To my ears all of the stuff posted sounds closest to octaves/fifths/thirds if not plain unison, because it's not very grating. Then there is an instance I'm hearing of the harmonizing outlining a chord note instead of doubling with an interval.

I think thirds play the biggest role, especially in the earlier material. Of course, it's more complext than this. For example, Nowhere Man, which is in E MAJ, has fourths, sixths, and since it's a three-part harmony, it really forms the chord triads in many cases. Keep in mind that a MAJ 6th is the same as a minor 3rd, although the actual interval of, say E to C# is a sixth, it also sounds like a minor third (on their own). This interval is over the A chord, so it's the third of the chord over the fifth, with the root being in the main melody. So what your ear hears in totality is an A triad.

I don't think I'm explaining this very well.