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mcp6453[_2_] mcp6453[_2_] is offline
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Default Strange Experience on my Guitar Yesterday

On 5/9/2016 12:54 PM, Nil wrote:
On 09 May 2016, mcp6453 wrote in rec.audio.pro:

Maybe the musically inclined here can help me with this question.
As background, I'm a terribly amateur musician, music theory is a
mystery to me, I absolutely can't sing, and the only way I can
properly tune a guitar is with a tuner. Yesterday for no reason,
while playing a chord on my guitar that sounds a lot like "the
chord" in the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night", I moved it up to the
seventh or ninth fret. (I don't remember which.) As soon as I
struck the chord, I immediately recognized it as the same as or
similar to the opening chord in "Venus", but Shocking Blue. I then
loaded "Venus" on my computer and hit play. Not only does the
chord sound right to me, but it was in the exact key.

If I played it in a different key, it doesn't sound like the song.
How does that happen?


??? Are you funnin' us, or maybe I don't understand your question? If
the chord is played differently, of course it doesn't sound like the
song.

The "Venus" chord is B7(sus4), played 797977 (lo to hi), barred at the
7th fret. The "Hard Day's Night" chord is often played with the same
fingering barred at the third fret. That's not really what they play on
the record, but it's close enough that people will recognize it.

Telling us exactly what this mystery chord is and/or how it's played
would be helpful.


I warned you that I'm not a musician, so I understand that I'm not doing a good job asking the question. Someone told me
once that F# is the perfect key. Songs played in F# have a special sound. Now, that's probably crap, but what I'm trying
to understand is how the "Venus" chord played at random at the 7th fret was immediately identifiable when it wasn't at
the 5th or 9th frets. If I had perfect pitch, maybe that would explain it, but I have little to no pitch.

And no, I'm not funnin' you. It's a serious question. There must be something in the physics of rhythmic vibrations at
play.