Part 2: How to play A Day In The Life - Beatles

[Multi80schick]

Well, this one means one thing: practice, practice, PRACTICE!

[renato113]

Great channel..Thanks

[WalrusMuffins10797]

yep... I'm just doing random notes for the orchestra swell... hey, it works!

[cath901]

Hi John, I'm still working hard on this piece. The orchestra part is still hard for me (as well as Paul's in the middle). Did you read Geoff Emerick's book "Here, There and Everywhere"? You sure know he was the sound engineer who worked on Sgt Pepper (and got a grammy for this)? He tells about the making of A Day in The Life. Fabulous! Take care, Catherine

[pianojohn113]

@cath901 Hey there Catherine! I haven't read Geoff Emerick's book, no, but I've seen written interviews with him done over the years.. very interesting guy with some really cool stories.

[herothehedgefox]

for some reason, i cant do chords on my right hand.( like e e, d d, c c)

[pianojohn113]

@herothehedgefox You're having trouble with octaves?

[herothehedgefox]

id have to show you what i mean...

[herothehedgefox]

and high d(left) and e(right)

[herothehedgefox]

for the paul "fill" (i guess you could call it), i do it like this: d(left) e(right) a(left) e(right) high d(left) e (right) a (left). sorry if i wasnt descriptive enough, but for me that sounds alot like it.

[pianojohn113]

@herothehedgefox Could be, although it's hard to tell from your description. I've listened to it many times and I often come up with different notes.

[michnoki]

the ending is so amazing :D:D

really great!

[MrEspenBakke]

the crescendo is actually much more simple to play. if you listen to the piano track of the song. he simply holds an E and hits random tones to make it sound messy if you know what i mean.

[KJHOnYoutubification]

I just play octaves in my left hand at the crescendo. I don't yet have the dexterity to switch from chord to chord that fast in my left hand. I think it sounds okay. Not quite as good, but good enough I'd say. I kind of like that part because if you mess up, no one will really notice :)

[pianojohn113]

@KJHOnYoutubification That's correct - really, no wrong way to play it!

[AnthonyJams]

Thanks J!  Great lesson

[batesy68]

Simply stunning ............ Thanks John

[pianojohn113]

@batesy68 Very glad you liked it. :-)

[sashaamidi]

Is that key still holding to this day???

[pollock8000]

Hi, good arrangement, only one thing 'though; when you start the orchestral arrangement to linking lennon's chords with McCartney's and then, the same for finishing the song, the Bass note starts on F#, not "F" natural. Check it out with the record, you'll see the difference! Cheers.

[matthew5251995]

Keep holding it...

[Tossphate]

You do not want money? In that case I will offer you one of my beautiful wives for the pleasure of one night. I await your response citing meeting place and date, and preference of hair and eye colour. It is the least I can do Mr pianojohn!

[pianojohn113]

@Tossphate HA! Thanks, well, I'll have to run that idea through legal first... :-)

[Axelorox]

Went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park this night. I played this song, learned from your tutorial. And I only started learning three days ago!

[Axelorox]

I'm learning this song in honor of John's 70th birthday tomorrow.

[Tossphate]

This is fantastic, simply brilliant. Do you have anything setup so people can donate to you? I for one owe you so much!!

Thank you John

[Aervane]

...wooow, that crescendo is a hard thing to play. Woow. The rest of the song is a lot easier than I imagined, or looks it at least, but the crescendo might keep me from being able to play this properly. >.< Thanks for another excellent lesson, though! I'm certainly gonna give this a try.

[pianojohn113]

@Aervane You can really play the crescendo part any way you want, so don't get too hung up on it if it's a little harder to master. The timing at the end, when you hit the E chord, is a little tricky though. Glad you liked it!

[thebestanswer2]

Spectacularly amazingly brilliantly spectacular......."and you go out for lunch, and you keep holding it" lol that was epic

[ciarandel548]

this tutorial is brilliant. Getting a lot of enjoyment playing and adding in guitar...Love the crescendo! Masterful work again John!

[menoziinrevoltado]

@EltonJohnLennon7 and @dboz33, this song was recorded by John Lennon first and he left a gap of 00:32 for Paul's uncompleted song. Paul practiced a lot before making it a real take. That's the explanation why, in the Anthology version, Paul says "Oh, shit!" right after his part. He'd lost the link between his and John's. George Marting said: "It wasn't a good thing since John would be very mad if Paul had destroyed the whole climax created". So John recorded everything then left it to Paul.

[TheRealDeal1515]

What about the last part? You know...the part where a female voice says something really weird and you can kinda hear McCartney in the background too...how do you play that part?

[pianojohn113]

@TheRealDeal1515 Which part is that?

[menoziinrevoltado]

John, you know that McCartney & Lennon were working-class boys who didn't have money to buy instruments, right? So how do you think they learned to play the piano with such dexterity? I read that "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was a result of a meeting around a piano when both were young. However, they weren't "good enough" to play some piano solos later, which made George Martin present in the songs (i.e. "In My Life"). How do you think they became excellent pianists in such a small period of time?

[pianojohn113]

@menoziinrevoltado I'm not sure they were excellent pianists, but certainly Paul could play very well, and has gotten much better over the years. He learned from his father, while John learned on his own. They spent so much time making music that it was probably only natural for them to experiment with the piano, which I think accounts for how well they played later on.

[menoziinrevoltado]

I mean, they were not the best guitar players in the world too but they made the difference, you know? I just would like to say that you are great and I'm looking to these tutorials everyday. I hope YouTube is paying you for these videos! By the way, I think TheRealDeal1515 is referring to the psychedelic ending of the song. There is the orgasmic E chord and then a whistle (which is believed to be for the dogs) and right after that comes a lady saying "Never could see any other way" repeatedly.

[pianojohn113]

@menoziinrevoltado Okay, yes, that track is actually called "The Inner Groove," and it was included on the old vinyl albums. Some of the CD releases also included it, for just a few seconds. When the record ended, the tone arm moved to the inner groove, and they added audio to that. It would play over and over on the old records if you didn't release the tone arm. Very clever, in y opinion!

[Dircio007]

It's the middle part after the cressendo

[Dircio007]

John

You are awesome!

I just wanted to tell you that on the Middle after the E chord there is B7sus4 and B7 PLUS what you play on that part. It's difficult but try it!

[ManfredDeJesus]

Hi Pianojohn, if you want to play the passage at 3.00 more like how it is on the record, all you have to do is play the D/A/D notes in exactly the same rhythm as the bass guitar (except the bass goes Low D-A-High D-A-Low D-A, where as on the piano it goes Low D-A-High D-A-High D-A, then just fill in between that rhythem with the E note.

[pukarla]

wow! thanks a lot John!! You´re awesome for sharing your knowledge with us!!!

[WeAreInnnfinite]

just saw the end of part one, and like always, you do explain it. thanks agian

[WeAreInnnfinite]

hahaha and you hold it, and hold it. super good video john, always Love your stuff. for the instrumental part, are you playing octaves/5ths in the left, and then a half step higher major chords in the right hand??

[grantham18]

@pianojohn113

your right, its not too hard to learn until the instrumental part which is beyond me, but ill keep giving that part a go.

[mustangSVT23]

Just one thing: I think that in the part "I'd love to tuuuuurn youuuuuuu ooooonnnn" the piano keeps playing the E note. Am I right?

[pianojohn113]

Yes, starting on the word "turn" it's really an E in the left hand.. you can then be "creative" with the right hand as you see fit. :-)

[mustangSVT23]

Thank You very much! You're a very good teacher. I've understood everything. Thanks to explain this very hard music! Keep groovin' on!

[grantham18]

id love to be able to play it like this, its far too hard for me, itd take me months and months to sound half as good

[chelaousa]

awnsome !

[dbeard92]

this half of the song is the main reason i want to learn how to play piano.....

[pauljonesesquire]

Youre the most crazy bonkers teacher for even attempting that but it works... awesome thanks for turning us onto it man ( I'm all beatled out now).

[pianojohn113]

I'm crazy for many other reasons, too.. :-)

[AB21893]

This video was very helpful, thanks for posting!

[guzylad5]

jajajajajajaja the last part is funny jajajajajaja

[AccountabilityBurns]

nice work. working class hero would be great!

[beatles2musician]

"and you hold it and you keep holding it you go eat lunch and its still playing" HAHA!

[pianojohn113]

I think it goes on for several days.. :-)

[oubuff77]

Are you playing all major chords on the crescendo?

Oh, and thanks a lot for all the videos. I love them.

[ruskybalboa]

Hey John, rusky here. Great job on the crescendo!! That revoluntionized the way we looked at music. Great job, and great tutorial. You're the man!

[Stevesk0011]

i have all of those neener neener

[reubenonbass]

Thanks a lot!! I will start to learn this tonight!!

[P3L1GROS0]

BRAVO!

[gpeddino]

Outstanding tutorial. I'll play this song with my band and I was developing my own way of playing it on the piano, but I guess I'll take some details from your tutorial, specially when it comes to the crescendo...

[StevenFilmBFT]

Fantastic tutorial, thanks allot. Every time I listen to this song it blows me away, what a way to end the greatest album of all time.

[Coogmaster2000]

you should post videos of the songs played all the way through! great job, youre amazing

[Coogmaster2000]

you should post complete songs! you are amazing

[variousthings]

"Keep holding... then you go away and have lunch..."

:-D

[OvisCantus]

Many thanks, pianojohn!

I'm a absolute beginner. But after a month with these video's I can truly play this.

Allright, that's settled then. I'm gonna check out the remaining 47 Beatles tutorials! jeee

[kingmixer]

The Way you did the Dream Sequence when you "broke up the Chords" sounded amazing, perhaps you should make a seperate video where you can go through that one for me.

[lotzova]

I was alaso amazed by it. So much so in fact, that instead of waiting for a tutorial I painstakingly copied the left hand and learned that by itself for about a wekk, an dthen I learned the right hand which was easier, and now i can play it just as he did. it sounds great!!

[LittleCircuitBreaker]

and you hold it some more, and you go away and you have lunch, and you come back and it's still playing... ha! so funny:)

[SongfromBohemia]

I love the end chord.

[curicaveri1968]

Thaks a lot,. unfortunately I dont know nothing playing piano but Enjoy it a lot.

[mandaly909]

amazing...

[Jeffpiano77]

Great job PianoJohn on all your tutorials. I've been doing this same thing with Beatles songs on piano for about 25 years, to the exact way it's played on the record. Sometimes I get stuck. Your tutorials have really helped. May I make a suggestion for the ending of this song: Left Hand = B-E-B (with the lowest B being 3 B's below middle C); and Right Hand = E-G#-B-E (with the lowest E being the one below middle C). I think this is more true to the record. Try it...thoughts? Great job

[OneChance99]

Hey John, at beginning of "John's Dream" you didnt name the chords.

[westfield90]

John this is so good. I've always had trouble with this middle part and you explained it brilliantly. One Beatles tidbit is that the "Dream sequence" portion with the Ahhs is actually Paul singing that. I heard a bootleg mix with just the vocals and you can easily tell it is Paul.

[dboz33]

Yes, its funny that he(PianoJohn) refers to it as the "Dream sequence with John". Maybe he mistakenly said John instead of Paul, because I thought it was fairly common knowledge that Paul wrote the middle section including the dream sequence and as you (westfield90) pointed out, its Paul singing the ahhs. In fact, I'm almost certain I've heard it called "Paul's dream sequence" in the past by others.

[EltonJohnLennon7]

@dboz33 No, PianoJohn is right. John Lennon sung the dream-sequence. Listen to the vocal track on youtube. Then it becomes very clear that it is John.

[dboz33]

@EltonJohnLennon7 Ok that comment you replied to is 2 years old but I can recall what I was thinking. Firstly, yes you are right its a given that the ahs clearly sound like John singing altho I have better sources than YT to revisit this track. Secondly I admit I may be a victim of something I was told years ago that Paul wrote the ahs dream sequence. I am now unsure who wrote it, maybe I will do some research. Lastly I was commenting on westfield90's post. - continued on next post

[dboz33]

@EltonJohnLennon7 Westfield90 claims he heard bootleg with just the vocal audio track, perhaps an outtake but I wouldn't know. He claims the bootleg clearly sounds like Paul singing the ahs. So after reading this post, it all seemed to make sense. I used to think Paul wrote it, John sung it, but then I thought maybe it was Paul singing after all and there was possibly a sound effect treating his voice that made him sound like John. I don't know anymore. Hope this makes some sense

[EltonJohnLennon7]

@dboz33 I'm sure it's John. I listened to the vocal track. Listen to the introduction of "Lovely Rita". There Paul sings "Ahhhh". Then compare it with "A Day in the Life". There is a big difference. If Paul would have sung that it would sound clearer and brighter. It's a bit too hoarse for Paul. So it's cleary John. I guess he also composed it.

[dboz33]

@EltonJohnLennon7 yeah I listened to the vocal only track again a few times and the more I think about you are probably right. It sounds like John. I guess I was thinking the op had heard some rare untreated raw audio he was calling a "bootleg" that exposed some truth about the singer. Anyway I'm certain now it's John singing which means, following the gereral rule of thumb, John probably wrote it as well, in spite of what I may have been incorrectly told years ago.

[mccartney7890]

haha funny ending ;D

[pianojohn113]

I think I was getting tired at that point.. ha! :-)

[contardo83ll]

whats the home page?

[pianojohn113]

Just click on the "pianojohn113" link on any of my videos and it will take you to my channel home page. This comment section won't allow me to post a web address.

[contardo83ll]

for some reason i cant find it yet

[contardo83ll]

thanks man appreciate it

[troy43steel]

awesome!

[contardo83ll]

are you playing all major chords on that part?

[pianojohn113]

Yes, they're all major chords on the "Paul" part of the song. That changes of course when it returns to John's part.

[contardo83ll]

hey john you think you could put honey pie on here thats one of my favorite beatles songs

[Djpawno1]

Enharmonics man!!! E major: E Ab B!!!!???? there are no flats in E major 4 #s

[pianojohn113]

I know that.. but it's nit-picking. I'm doing these on the fly without a script or sheet music, so that's what happens. My default black notes are Db, Eb, F#, Ab, Bb. It's the same note either way, and I'm not scoring it, so it doesn't matter.

[PatrickSharp10]

Pauls part is missing alot of things, if you want to get it exact, get the complete scores, cause right on the little walk down you miss hitting the C you can't hear just listening to it, and after you hit the C you got to the B and in the right you play F# and C#, and one last thing in Paul's part is the chords are in the wrong inversions.

[pianojohn113]

The Complete Scores is about 90% correct. Don't know where the wrong inversions are, though.

[lenglain84]

Ok I just figured out that youtube won't allow links in the cmments sections, so I guess the video is on my profile, sorry

[lenglain84]

Again, I posted 2 comments that just aren't appearing in my browser, here's the link to the video, sorry if it comes up multiple times

[lenglain84]

Hi John, I posted the bit of "Real Love" that I've managed to fake by ear, I'd love for you to have a look at it and give me some tips, hope you'll have time to come around to it! thanks.

[dsietz]

oops.. the last comment is referring to Real Love.. Which I'm love to learn.

[pianojohn113]

No problem.

[lenglain84]

By the way, I've been trying to learn Real Love on the piano, lennon's original version. I can't figure out the chords on the chorus, and I have the feeling that the chords I play when he sings "waiting for yoouuuuuu..." are wrong. Do you think you could do a quick run through for your upcoming set of videos?

[thestuvy]

i agree. a tutorial of real love would be a good one

[pianojohn113]

I missed that one this last time around, sorry! Actually, though, I think the "waiting for you" is just an E into an A into an E, back into an A.. Unless you're talking about the original ORIGINAL version, from the anthology.. which I'll have to find and listen to again.

[lenglain84]

hey thanks for the insight, but yes i meant the original lennon solo on the piano...hope you can get around to it soon...thanks

[dsietz]

Oh my! That's probably my favorite beatles song. A tutoral would be simply amazing.

[Chicery]

Wow. You manage to make smashing the keys sound like music.

[pianojohn113]

lol, thanks very much! :-)

[Kakarot21591]

So, for the crescendo, you can just let your hands fall where they may? There's no specific notes to play?

[pianojohn113]

Yes, pretty much.. The original musicians just played chromatics in free-form, while listening to the beat of each measure. All they had to do was end together on the same note on the same measure. No real specific notes, just a general upward trend until you reach the top. Easy, huh? :-)

[shcorporation]

you really are great. thanks im going to learn this now. nice ending by the way, its good that you keep it entertaining

[pianojohn113]

Glad to do it! Thanks for the comment.

[lenglain84]

wow...I moved to poland and had trouble bringing my keyboard with me. Now i have to wait to try this. The dream sequence is great, you should tape an entire performance of the song, i think it would sound really great. If you look at other youtube performances of a day in the life, nothing compares to this. You're exceptional!

[pianojohn113]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you lliked it. I give all credit to John Lennon for the dream sequence, he out-did himself on that one!

[lenglain84]

No..John and Paul were good, but George Martin was crucial in adding little niceties like this. Perhaps I'm wrong but I'm sure he's to thank for this dream sequence.

[hmackerelfilms]

Hey Bulldog might be a good one to make a tutorial for.

[pianojohn113]

Yes, it's on the list, and should be up here soon. Good song.

[GantsaOfLove]

Yeah I want that to be up there too, So John; What do your plans look like for the upcoming tutorials?

[pianojohn113]

A few more Elton John, some Eagles, still working on Billy Joel tunes, and of course the usual Beatles (Lady Madonna and Here There and Everywhere).

[JorumIan]

Fantastic song, and a great tutorial, your enthusiasm for the songs is only matched by your ability to play them! I adore the "dream sequence" progression, it is a stunningly beautiful passage from a truly great song. Thanks so much for posting, it is truly uplifting to be able to watch you play and then listen to you explain how to play and then to try and interpret it myself and the greatest thing is, it works! Thankyou!

[pianojohn113]

Thanks very much! That's very nice of you. The "dream sequence" part is a great segue from one style of the song (Paul's) back into the other (John's). How those guys were able to write something like that, I'll never know. But we're lucky they did. Thanks again for your kind comments.

[Emerald1234S]

I learned Hey Jude a while ago, and Let It Be over the weekend. I hope to learn this next. Thank you very very much :D

[pianojohn113]

That's great! You're very welcome, keep it up.

[Kisinkona]

That sounds awful!

[pianojohn113]

Wrong. It's a classic that's still played 40 years later, so you're description of "awful" doesn't carry any weight.

[Kisinkona]

Hey, I didn't mean to insult you....I just don'think this sounded like "A Day In The Life" maybe it just sounds way different when the beatles played it...I do love the Beatles....sorry if I hurt your feelings...

[pianojohn113]

No personal offense taken.. I thought you meant the song itself was awful, like John and Paul's creation was sub-par somehow...thanks for the clarification.

That being said, it's a piano-only tutorial, so it won't sound exactly like the record without the orchestrations, but it's there for those who want to learn it.

[Revolver137]

Thanks a lot man, I always wanted to play this song. Best band ever.

[pianojohn113]

Glad you liked it.. Best band ever, for sure!

[ichigouzumaki51]

well...i've just finished with learning my favorite beatles song, life seems good now. I got that feeling of completeness. I gotta practice so i can do the fancy stuff for the dream sequence though. And unfortunately for me i couldn't hold it lol i have no petal for my keyboard. XD

Off to learn For No One now Thanks a ton John ^^.

[pianojohn113]

It's one of my favorite Beatles songs too, and I'm glad it helped you! Keep playin'!

[danielquintero]

coño, you will try with jealous guy by john lennon!! thanks

[pianojohn113]

I'll give it a try, thanks for the suggestion.

[pianodannmarr]

Thanks! After seeing your Beatles tunes, I now understand why Billy Joel loves the Beatles. Paul and John are so creative and artistic. Thanks for your hard work!

[pianojohn113]

Glad to do it. Yes, Billy Joel cited the Beatles as one of his biggest influences, and talked at length about how much he loved the group. I'm happy to be a long-time fan of both!

[electron115]

Awesome! I've always wondered how those riffs worked, and that last chord in the song. Thank you!!

[pianojohn113]

That's great, I'm glad to know it helped!