ampage Tube Amps / Music Electronics	For current discussions, please visit Music Electronics Forum.

ampage archive

Vintage threads from the first ten years

beach boy/ beatle harmonies explained?

:

12/21/2005 7:11 AM

beach boy/ beatle harmonies explained?

Hello everyone,
Hope you all are well! A bit of a strange question, but...
Could someone please tell me any site where I could find more info on (or 'tab' for) the vocal harmonies as used by the beach boys and the beatles?
I would like to know the secrets they use- I find it really difficult to comprehend what is going on when I hear vocal harmonies- they sound so complex to me, but I would love to 'see how it works'
Thanks guys,

happy holidays,
george

12/21/2005 3:06 PM

look at http://beach-boys.aure.com/ it's free as far as I can tell. I suppose a good transcription of The Kingston Trio doing Sloop John B. would be a good starting point. I may look for that.

quote:
"I would like to know the secrets they use- I find it really difficult to comprehend what is going on when I hear vocal harmonies- they sound so complex to me, but I would love to 'see how it works'"

There aren't any secrets really. The tradition goes pretty far back and usually the practitioners are simply good at it. Adjustments for the chord progressions, ie. where a perfect third or fifth is dissonant, are negotiated during long practice sessions.

12/21/2005 5:22 PM
giustd	it's good ear training to try to pick out parts. may I suggest 'wait', 'eight days a week', and 'paperback writer' to start. try focusing on the tone of one voice so you can recognize who is singing the part and go from there. good luck

12/21/2005 11:21 PM

Hi guys,
Thanks for that help guys; its really apreciated! Jaysg, that web site is the sort of thing i was looking for! Thanks a million!
Thanks Giustd for the advice as well- 'paper back writer' is one of the ones i was having trouble with, actually.Could you possibly tell me how many vocal parts there are in the 'Paper back writer' part? Still abit stumped with that one

Thanks guys once again,
Have a great holiday season,

12/22/2005 11:09 AM

I looked at Little Surfer Girl briefly. The melody follows chord changes about 2 per measure and I noticed that despite the fact that it was written as 5 parts, mostly the notes were chord tones, i.e. root, third, fifth. Sometimes one line goes up while the "melody" goes down and so forth.

As to anything Beatles, I recommend getting the large white The Beatles Complete Scores. It may not be perfect, but it's got to be 99%. I'm at work, otherwise I'd have a gander at mine. In that Ringo couldn't really sing harmonies, I believe mostly you'll find J&P doubling and three part harmonies with George. She's Leaving Home.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0793518326/ref=nosim/002-1970648-3371225?dev-t=D2Y5TUCCVJ7DGE&n=283155

12/22/2005 12:04 PM

quote:
"As to anything Beatles, I recommend getting the large white The Beatles Complete Scores."

Seconded!

Maybe it's not too late to convince someone to give it to you for Christmas!

12/22/2005 3:40 PM

The Beatles Complete Scores

jaysg:

When that first came out in 1993 I thought it was a lot more expensive than $50... wasn't it something like $125? I remember wanting to get it, but it was fairly expensive so I never got around to buying it. 99% accurate is pretty good... the Beatles songbooks I have are arranged for piano, with very little resemblance to the actual notes played on the records.

--Thanks for bringing it up!

Steve Ahola

Page 1 of 2