MIchelle (2nd chord in the verse??)

by **scooter** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:46 pm

I've made a bet with someone years ago that the second chord in the Beatles "Michelle" in the verse was the dominant 7♯9 chord is sometimes known colloquially as the Hendrix chord or Purple Haze chord. They thought I was crazy. Which I am but.......

The chord under where Paul sings "ma belle." Is anyone hearing that 7 and #9 as the top 2 notes on the acoustic guitar?

scoots

by **bayswater** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:51 pm

In the key I play it, the first chord is D and the second is Gm. Then C, Fdim, A, A#, A.

by **scooter** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:37 pm

Yeah, I think Paul might of (and who knows, they're just so friggin' hard to figure out sometimes! Magical buggers.) capo-ed 3rd fret and played it in D there. It sounds like it's actually in F.

( I feel like I did when the "Paul was dead" thing was going around. Playing their songs backwards, the license plate on the Abbey Road album and so on and so forth

)

But check out the very last verse of Michelle. The one where they repeat the ma belle lyrics again. You can really hear the chord much more clearly there.

You'd think logically it would be a Bbm7 with that #9 (which is just repeating the Db an octave lower.) But I'm sticking with the full on Jimi chord.

scoots

by **zed** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:02 am

scooter wrote:You'd think logically it would be a Bbm7 with that #9

To my ears that's exactly what I think it is, with the #9 being played with a bar using his pinky:

9
9
7
6
8
6

by **Phil O** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:54 am

One of the uses I've found for Melodyne DNA is figuring out those "mystery" chords in songs. Transfer a bit of the tune to Melodyne in polyphonic mode and click on individual blobs to listen to what instrument is playing them. Not always perfect, but it can be very helpful at times. It also allows you to click on a point in time and sustain it. So it's a listening aid as well (even if the DNA analysis isn't perfect you can still use your ears).

Phil

by **zed** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:00 am

Phil O wrote:One of the uses I've found for Melodyne DNA is figuring out those "mystery" chords in songs. Transfer a bit of the tune to Melodyne in polyphonic mode and click on individual blobs to listen to what instrument is playing them. Not always perfect, but it can be very helpful at times. It also allows you to click on a point in time and sustain it. So it's a listening aid as well (even if the DNA analysis isn't perfect you can still use your ears).

I've heard that Roland has a new software product coming out that can analyze a song and divide it up by instrument and drum tracks, colour-coding each instrument and allowing you to mute or solo anything. Sounds like a really cool tool for doing a whole bunch of things.

I don't know if it can also divide the performances up by the notes played, like Melodyne DNA, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could.

There were a bunch of Beatles tracks recently put on YouTube where instruments were isolated. I am wondering if those came from someone beta testing this new Roland product.

by **bdr** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:36 pm

I've always wondered if it was just out of tune backing harmonies...there's definitely the maj 3 in the harmonics against the min 3/#9 sung by Paul.

by **buzzsmith** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:37 am

Now, I've got to go listen!

Buzzy

by **bayswater** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:23 am

bdr wrote:I've always wondered if it was just out of tune backing harmonies...there's definitely the maj 3 in the harmonics against the min 3/#9 sung by Paul.

I noticed that the first time I heard it. Seems like one of those mistakes that sounds better uncorrected.

by **nightwatch** » Fri May 11, 2012 8:05 pm

scooter wrote:I've made a bet with someone years ago that the second chord in the Beatles "Michelle" in the verse was the dominant 7♯9 chord is sometimes known colloquially as the Hendrix chord or Purple Haze chord. They thought I was crazy. Which I am but.......

The chord under where Paul sings "ma belle." Is anyone hearing that 7 and #9 as the top 2 notes on the acoustic guitar?

scoots

Here's your proof. Exactly at 30 seconds look at Paul's hand..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrRLH-ZGZEs

or at 20 seconds here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cBUBzL5mhc

However, I don't like the use of a secondary dominant chord against that melody. It ultimately forms a D dim (or tri-tone, or the D clashes with Db at a bad time) sound with the word "ma belle (my beautiful)" and it seems out of place. Almost like he used that chord just because he knew it. But that's just my opinion.

by **bayswater** » Fri May 11, 2012 8:31 pm

Thanks! It comes out so clearly in that performance, even without looking at the video.

by **zed** » Fri May 11, 2012 10:11 pm

zed wrote:
scooter wrote:You'd think logically it would be a Bbm7 with that #9

To my ears that's exactly what I think it is, with the #9 being played with a bar using his pinky:

9
9
7
6
8
6

Yabba Dabba!

by **KenNickels** » Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:55 pm

nightwatch wrote:
scooter wrote:I've made a bet with someone years ago that the second chord in the Beatles "Michelle" in the verse was the dominant 7♯9 chord is sometimes known colloquially as the Hendrix chord or Purple Haze chord. They thought I was crazy. Which I am but.......

The chord under where Paul sings "ma belle." Is anyone hearing that 7 and #9 as the top 2 notes on the acoustic guitar?

scoots

Here's your proof. Exactly at 30 seconds look at Paul's hand..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrRLH-ZGZEs

or at 20 seconds here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cBUBzL5mhc

However, I don't like the use of a secondary dominant chord against that melody. It ultimately forms a D dim (or tri-tone, or the D clashes with Db at a bad time) sound with the word "ma belle (my beautiful)" and it seems out of place. Almost like he used that chord just because he knew it. But that's just my opinion.

I agree. I think it's a regular dominant 7th on the record.

by **ironchef_marc** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:10 am

He is clearly playing a Bb7#9 (on those video links you posted of his recent live version of it) which could be acceptable it he resolved the chord with the melody to a regular Bb7. As is it sounds wrong to my ears (sorry to say Sir Paul). The chord really should be a Bbmin7.

On the original recording it sounds like the guitar is doing a Db triad with the Db on top, the bass plays the root Bb there is no D so it's a Bbmin7.

by **KenNickels** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:48 am

Sorry, I misspoke, ironchef is correct, it is a Bbmin7 on the record.