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Math Prof Uncovers Secret Chord

Posted by samzenpus on from the with-a-little-help-from-my-mathematician dept.

chebucto writes "The opening chord to A Hard Day's Night is famous because for 40 years, no one quite knew exactly what chord Harrison was playing. Musicians, scholars and amateur guitar players alike had all come up with their own theories, but it took a Dalhousie mathematician to figure out the exact formula. Dr. Brown used Fourier transforms to find the notes in the chord, and deduced 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."

4 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Well, this isn't total crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Decent idle story. Not completely retarded, though still generally meaningless. I can appreciate this kind of stuff, instead of the utter crap idle started out with. I guess it's getting better.

    1. Re:Well, this isn't total crap by stormguard2099 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the problem is that /. designates idle to be full of crap. all of the good articles get shoehorned into other categories. For example, the article about how Heinlein responded to fans with a preformed checklist was under entertainment. Something like that is much better suited to idle and it would make the section worth reading.

      --
      http://greenobyl.com/ please.... think of the children!!
  2. Umm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why didn't anyone just ask Harrison?

    1. Re:Umm... by capt.Hij · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They probably should have. Unfortunately the only way to ask him now involves a ouija (tm) board.