In just one calendar year alone (1967), five of Lennon’s songs were Strawberry Fields Forever , Lucy in the Skies With Diamonds, A Day in the Life, All You Need Is Love, and I Am the Walrus. In one year. A mere mortal of a musician would be lucky to write as many legendary compositions over an entire lifetime.

The whole B-side medley from Abbey Road is very complex, sophisticated, and absolutely BEAUTIFUL

The chances of 4 young guys from a coastal town in England this incredibly musical and talented ever coming together again at the same time and create what they did, will never ever happen again. I thank God every day of my life that I was alive then to witness all of it.

“Yes it is” is probably my favorite complicated vocal harmony song.

My head will never be able to process that they went from Please, Please Me & Love Me Do to I Am The Walrus & Blackbird in 4 years. 4 years!!! That's one insane learning curve.

I once auditioned for a Beatles tribute band and it really opened my eyes as to how tough that stuff is to do Lots of singing and playing together and it's not just strumming G C and D all the time.

A lot of today's musicians do not give The Beatles enough credit. The Beatles songwriting is more than meets the eye. Their chord progressions are out of this world and so complex. Thank you for the great video Rick.

The Beatles are not Boomer music, as younger people like to claim. The Beatles are timeless music. From growing up with commercial radio in the '60s to fusion and bop in the 70s to ska/ alternative since, I have never lost my love for the Beatles. If anything, it's stronger than ever. They transcend generations. Their melodies, regardless of complexity, are unmatched.

For different time signatures, and four keys, “Happiness is a Warm Gun” was a favourite song of the Beatles themselves.

All I want for christmas is a Rick interview with Paul McCartney!

Lennon was an icon. I listened to "Yes It Is" yesterday. His voice was the main event on that song. He gave it all he had, right to the limit. No window dressing. Blew my 14 tear old mind when they came out in 63". Has not stopped.

The Beatles just put a smile on my face. Their music makes me happy.

Not only is Walrus sophisticated, weird and beautiful, but listen to George Martin's orchestration - unreal! This has got to be one of the greatest recordings of modern times.

Another thing about the Beatles over their career is how their music never got old or outdated. Not to mention they went with the times as far as not getting dated with the same old stuff. They either went with the flow of time or started a flow that themselves never went out of style while keeping up it. Going on 60 years now and their music never gets old as many decades you listen to them.

Rick, thank you for pointing out how sophisticated the Beatles really were. We're still listening to them over 50 years later. They are definitely THE FAB FOUR.

No one has mentioned "Because"- that is beautifully complex.

I love the modulations and gorgeus melody in "Martha My Dear," one of the Beatles' most underrated gems. It's a helluva lot of fun to play on a piano.

As the quote goes "Genius is making the complicated seem simple." Really descriptive of the Beatles. Most people think their songs are simple until they start to dig a little deeper.

I think that a good example of vocal harmony in the Beatles is 'If I Fell'. Wonderful interplay by Paul and John.

Another reminder that we will never see a group so utterly talented as the Beatles. They were a band that only comes about once in a lifetime and I feel privileged to have witnessed them.

My brother-in-law was a professional musician. He said Something was probably the most perfect song he'd ever played. He loved it.

But, the fact that there are no minor chords in I am a Walrus is just mind blowing. The whole thing sounds like its in minor chords. Lennon was amazing.

You’re gonna lose that girl is another that at the time was so oddly perfect, these were truly new sounds

I think when the Beatles were at their musical peak, what was so satisfying about it - why it worked so well - was that they had achieved a harmonic level equivalent to some of the great classical composers of the Baroque and Classical genres. They achieved that through a combination of musical intelligence, effort and experience rather than education + that all-important combination of individuals which is able to bring out the best in each other to become more than the sum of its parts.

That “Eric Johnson” lick you highlighted from “Strawberry Fields Forever” was played by George on the swarmandal, an Indian harp-like instrument that he also played on “Within You, Without You.”

The output of simultaneously complex and catchy hooks/music The Beatles put out in ~7 years is absurd and I feel will likely remain unmatched forever. The greatest band we'll ever see IMO. Just love their stuff. Timeless.

I always imagine this dude as a musical sports announcer. "Amazing use of a diminished chord there by Lennon."

A real Beatlemaniac sings the horns after the "I'm crying" interlude in "I am the Walrus". Beatles for ever. Great video!

Norwegian Wood and Rubber Soul was the album that moved the Beatles away from the rest of the music world. It was definitely a turning point in their music writing.

It's amazing how much these songs just have become part of the air we breathe, so we don't even notice their complexity anymore! When you mentioned Blackbird, I was like -- that simple little tune? And then I really listened -- 😄

Lennon and McCartney wrote from feeling, and figured out what chords fit the feeling. Often they made up chords which probably already existed but they didn't know their names. "Strawberry Fields Forever" is one of the two greatest recordings in history. The other is the astonishing "Please Please Me".

Major love for what you do, Rick. I was a 90s kid but you are my Mum's generation and thus I grew up with Simon & Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell and The Beatles in the house and in the car. There is no greater musical upbringing (imo). Music that makes you feel grateful to be alive. We simply will never have songwriting like this again. 🙏

I absolutely love these breakdowns that totally opens up the eyes of the casual listener who thinks they know and hear a song, till you break it down and see and hear all the nuances, fantastic! Listened to the Beatles since they landed stateside and I still learn new things, thank you!

"If I Fell" -- I'm not sure if it qualifies as complex, but the progression there is definitely really unexpected. Borrows a bit from jazz standards I guess, but there's something really special about it. I'll always be mystified by how they came up with that one, and that was when they weren't even spending a whole lot of time crafting the songs! Probably tossed it off in an afternoon... It's not fair how good they were.

I love how accurate your voicings are for all of these Beatles songs. 👌 It's a pleasure to listen to you reproducing these songs on your guitar.

I was listening to Penny Lane the other day and it hit me yet again how absolutely brilliant it is. So deceptively simple. Brilliant storytelling through song. I’m so glad someone agrees with me 😂 I can’t talk to my daughter about it.

I never used to like "Martha My Dear" that much. But I've started to really admire how many directions that song moves in, so seamlessly.

It almost didn't matter what any instruments did if Paul was singing, He was a beast. And his bass lines.... But then again John was magical, George Harrison's songs and guitar work always shined through so brilliantly, Ringo's drumming as well as his songs were always something special.. And to have George Martin as a producer. Magic indeed.

Strawberry fields is such an amazing song. Rhythmically it also has a lot of fun, especially at the end where it goes 2/4, 4/4, 6/8, 4/4, 6/8, 3/4, 6/8, 4/4! (each measure with a different time signature)

Love these types of videos. Brings a little more insight to the genius of the Beatles. I try to appreciate the genius of the Beatles. But they are so far beyond the normal man as far as melody intuition. Makes it a lot easier to understand what’s going on. Thank you

Something and Strawberry Fields are 2 of their greatest songs. Like, literally 2 of the top 3. Crazy that as much as the Beatles were "Lennon/McCartney" that George wrote perhaps what is their greatest song. Truly unbelievable and ridiculous that John, Paul, and George were in the same band. Unlimited talent and imagination.

My father who was a professional piano player, mentioned the constant key changes mid bar, etc. was prevalent & said they broke every rule Beethoven wrote. To my proud amazement, he Loved it ! 👍👍👍

I think Because is the most brilliant vocal masterpiece I've ever heard in my lifetime.

I think Michelle deserves more recognition, it has such a great melody and harmony as well.

One of my favorite hidden Beatles gems is Yes It Is. It has a beautiful melody and some of the richest harmonies I’ve heard in any pop song. I’ve learned the guitar chords and the changes are surprisingly tricky.

“YES IT IS” has some pretty great harmonies. Especially George Harrison’s part. He’s weaving below Lennon and sometimes in between Lennon and McCartney. Pretty cool

Probably one that no one will think of is You're Gonna Lose That Girl.

When you take the lyrics into account, "Strawberry Fields Forever" may be the most complex and profound of all of them. "I am the Walrus" is modern art in any era.

That detail about the melody ascending and the bass descending simultaneously! 😍 That's amazing, it blew my mind!

Still amazes me even after all these years, how pretty much any Beatles song is like a map to modern music.

"Tomorrow Never Knows" is complex on more levels than just the chord changes. It's possibly the most influential recording in rock music.

“Harmony is the ocean that chords set sail on” That’s a really good way to describe harmony! Also cool vid as always.

The very first Beatles song I ever heard was “I am the Walrus” on a 45 rpm with “Hello Goodbye.” I was 11 years old and my mom had just bought the single. When all is said and done, you must admit that only the Beatles could have pulled off such a cool song. Lennon was an absolute Wordsmith.

The best guitarist in our town started off playing the Beatles. I still think that foundation is what propelled his success. Amazing Player.

I was 12 13 and l learned Walrus off the 45 by ear. I d been playing for 2 hrs. So proud of that.

I remember as a 9 year old kid, with a 3" transister radio speaker glued to my ear and having my mind blown by, I Am The Walrus. Amazing, amazing song. The radio station interlude gave me chills, and still does.

One of the mind boggling things to me is that the Beatles are actually singing multi part harmonies while actually playing. The craftsmanship is just amazing. I would challenge that I hear so little of that in today’s music. Complexity, interesting lyrics, harmonies, originality, organic performance. Just amazing.

When I heard the Anthology version of Walrus for the first time, it was the most exciting musical moment of my life. You strip away the orchestration and leave just the basic instrumentation, it is mind boggling how John was able to wring out so much complexity and sophistication from a seemingly simple set of major chords. It is, in my estimation, his greatest achievement.

Not many can hold a steady rhythm first time on All My Lovin' and maintain it throughout the whole song without a lot of regular playing or practice. A testament to the talent, and skill of John Lennon.

I'm not a musician. But I bought a Feder classical guitar 40 years ago. Studied for a few months with a Christopher Parkening instruction book and learned some basics. I've played it from time to time ever since. I don't understand most of the technical music descriptions Rick talks about. But I find it fascinating anyway. I love listening to and watching him. His love of the music is clear and infectious. I love his description of his father sitting with him on their front porch hour after hour and just listening quietly to him play when he was young, practicing and learning and growing. A real show of love from a father to his son.

A good deal of people, when looking for sophistication in Beatles music, usually look to their later work. It makes sense. The were restlessly seeking newer and newer sounds later on. But in the early days, they tried to stick to the most commonly used Pop writing style. That said, I've done deep dives into their early work, and it's surprising what you can find. My favorite ever half-step modulation is in the intro to the beautiful 'If I Fell.' Most half-step modulations slap you in the face screaming "I'm here in a new key now!" But 'If I Fell' makes an amazingly seamless and sly modulation, deceptively moving from the key of Db Major to D Major. In Db, the D Major chord serves as a tritone substitution resolving a half-step back down to Db. The second time around the melody however, the D chord drops its role as a tritone sub and and becomes Root using the ii-V7 in D Major, thereby establishing the key of D for the rest of the song. Truly remarkable brilliance even in the very early days...

In the throne room of the song gods. Rick opens the kimono on Beatles songs that have mystified amateur guitar players for decades. The language of music is filled with sophisticated terminology leftover from classical music studies. But we all know what sounds cool and Rick plays those chord progressions in front of us like we are just hanging out in his studio together. Keep it up, dude.

There is footage of their first American tour in the hotel rooms with Lennon playing a melodica and you hear the origins of the “Living is easy with eyes closed” melody. He’d been working on that song years before it was made real.

Within You Without You - mixing in the sitar, tambura, and tabla and making it into a coherent part of a Western pop album.

Every time I hear this type of analysis... I get more and more overwhelmed about The Beatles. Musicians in their 20s writing this music. It's mind-blowing. More reasons of why they were, in my opinion, the greatest band in modern music. Modern classical music.

The Beatles' learning curve was phenomenal. When you consider they went from "Love me do" to the intricate chord structures of "If I fell" (which I'm surprised you didn't mention!) in a bare two years, it's no surprise that by 1967-68 they were producing songs with the complexity to change popular music forever. PS: I've heard how Leo McKern's character pronounced "Beatles" in "Help!" - someone called Beato was fated to do videos like this!

The strange thing about Beatles songs for me was this sense of the songs were always there, but the Beatles simply found them.

I thoroughly enjoy watching your videos and I actually love your inability to remember lyrics. My late husband was an extremely talented musician and could play nearly any song from memory, but when it came to the lyrics he was so lost. So he would type up the lyrics all the songs he loved to play. He never really organized them he would just have stack of them and was constantly flipping through them if he wanted to play them. Following his death I found myself organizing them, alphabetically, in 3-ring binders. I’ve got seven 3-inch binders full now, one of those completely full of songs from his favorite group, the Beatles. He would have loved your channel, and I think I love it because you remind me of him, and I miss hearing him play his guitar’s every day. Thank you 🎼🎶🎵🎸

There's something magical about seeing you go through all these chord progressions.

Watching and listening to you play the Beatles on an acoustic guitar, seemingly from memory, is a thing of awe and wonder. Nearly brings me to tears.

The first one that came to my mind was "Happiness is a Warm Gun".

A strange one for me is Things We Said Today. It sounds simple enough but is a difficult song to sing with confidence because of the strange melody/harmony changes. The fact they did it so well on the Hollywood Bowl album without stage monitors is astonishing considering all of the crowd noise.

I always loved I Am the Walrus, and I remember the day I came to the realization that it contains no minor chords; I bet when Lennon wrote it, he was thinking on some level "I am going to write a song made of up all major chords, but I am going to put as many different ones into it as I can while maintaining a relatively simple melody". As for the chord sequence at the end, if you just listen to that on its own, the chord progression is such that there's really no key centre. In fact if you play it live without a fade, as I did in a band I was in a few years ago, there is no logical place to stop; it doesn't resolve to any particular note, or chord. Crazy.

"within you without you" for that indian percussion the most complex song by them to me

I agree with what you said. I also do like "Baby'ss in black", "Yer Blues", "Helter Skelter", " Martha My Dear", "Old Brown Shoe", " Golden Slumbers", "Sexy Sadie", "Because" (of course), " Within You, Without You". Actually, quite all of them except Yellow Submarine

It’s like a musician friend once told me, “There are only twelve tones in our scale and all Western music is composed from those twelve notes, more or less.” “Harmony is the ocean a musician sets sail on.” Beautiful. Love your shows, Rick.

I played I am the Walrus to my kids. They're 6 and 8 now, but that was about half a year ago. They loved it, and asked for more. Who said kids today can't appreciate good music?

John would be honoured that 43 years after his untimely death we would still be discussing and trying to figure out his amazing songs ❤

as a 14 year old boy I bought a Piano for 50,- DM - but couldn't afford a guy for tuning it… so I tried to tune it by myself and my ears learned a lot about hearing notes, intervals and chords. some years later I studied music (classical guitar) for 7 years and I wondered that some of the other students couldn't hear and analyze chords by ear - for me it was normal because when my piano was nearly in tune I learned to play J.S Bach from a LP " Jacques Loussier plays Bach" - it was the best time for me, 'cause I learned to listen (again & again:) and play the tunes afterwards.

I enjoyed this immensely. In a 20+ year music teaching career I often tried to explain why the Beatles songs were so revolutionary after decades of I-IV-V-I songs, but don't feel I conveyed it clearly for the newer generations (although a number of my students are now professional musicians). I also share your enthusiasm for intervals for ear training and in creating original melodic contours. Well Done!

As someone who loved the Beatles from 10 years old ( born in 1954) this was fascinating to watch you go through these songs. “Walrus” right up there in my favorites. I remember the story when Lennon played Walrus to everyone and George Martin famously said “ and what the hell am I supposed to do with that?”😂😂😂 Makes me laugh when musical illiterates say the Beatles are overrated.

Great to see the sophistication of Lennon given its due. There's a school of thought that Macca was the musically sophisticated one. They were all geniuses and the originality of Lennon's rhythmic and harmonic creativity is still under-appreciated. I believe Dave Gilmour said The Beatles were not a band, they were a miracle. Hear hear.

hey rick, been watching for a couple years and I really enjoy hearing about all the things we’ve loved about music from our youth, to present.. I’m a 60’s and 70’s guy been playing guitar since 13 years old and 41 years professionally… I own a beautiful pro tools based studio with Apollos and iMac.. lots of vintage and modern gear.. three sound treated rooms…I’m just now starting up my channel and I couldn’t imagine developing this without your amazing instructional videos and music knowledge.. I was playing in LA, 1979’80 on sunset strip.. songwriting is my specialty… Your enthusiasm and genuine joy you display for songs is inspiring…

Hey there, @RickBeato! Just for your information -- that descending figure between the chorus and verse of Strawberry Fields is not played on a Stratocaster. It's an Indian instrument called a swarmandal, which is similar to a zither. Unsurprisingly, it was George who played it. Speaking of George, I would suggest that "Within You Without You" and "Love You To" should have at least got honourable mentions in the consideration of the most complex Beatles songs.

The Beatles really are in the musical DNA of most Americans who grew up in their era. I am Rick's age. While he was playing and singing Penny Lane; unconsciously, I automatically started humming the vocal harmony part.

Beatles really are magic. It doesn’t take long, going from analyzing to just having fun appreciating.

Rick, I'm your age and grew up listening to the Beatles. They determined my musical taste for the rest of my life. Thank you!

Don’t forget She’s Leaving Home. Even Martin said that he thought this was their most complex song and the jewel of Sgt. Pepper.

You are such an accomplished guitar player, Rick. I love watching you pounce on these ingenious songs. And I know how hard they are to play.

Martha My Dear is a wonderful song rarely mentioned. Paul could create beautiful melodies.

this is one of the greatest videos that i've ever seen. this dude is so fluid and makes these songs with these very unusual chord changes seem just effortless, and the BEST PART - is that he makes me excited about learning the song that he just SHOWED ME HOW TO PLAY. I love the beatles so much, and I had gotten to a point where I thought that I couldn't possibly love the beatles any more, and then I watched this video, and well... it's like I just got a love letter from the beatles if they were the hottest girl and just at the moment when I was finishing the most genuinely touching and heartfelt poetic love letter from the most beautiful girl with whom I have only just fallen in love with three days ago, suddenly and unexpectely a photograph falls out of the envelope. and it's a really, really good photograph.

I've been a guitar player since I was about 14, and I'm 69 now. I always played a lot of Beatles songs, and it definitely helped my playing. I approached their stuff by using it as practice material, and, actually liking the songs is a good motivation

Someone said "Beatles"? I'm all in....I absolutely loved The Beatles since I was a little kid. I don't think I've ever gone a week in the last 50 years without listening to at least one Beatles song....

Hey Rick, " I am the Walrus" is one of my favored Songs from the Beatles. But not so popular. Thank you for playing. Gruss aus Deutschland

Paul always loved using descending semitones !

Rick, I love every video you do. There is always something in it that can be taken away, studied, contemplated or directly applied. Just watching you ups my guitar game.

Yes Beatles music is just historically amazing. Their creativity never had much of a match. Also the experience they built up as songwriters. How extensive their work is. Even after they split up. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison wrote so many great songs. Very few other people on the planet even today. Thank you as always for the listening experience.

@Rick Beato I discovered, by accident, that the timing in Two Of Us is deceivingly complex. I've never had trouble playing it correctly, I just copied what they did on the record. But a couple of weeks ago I was accompanying someone singing it, and I kept losing him in the chorus. He kept adding an extra beat or 2 to one or more of the lines. So I'm assuming he never tried playing along with the record, he just learned the chords and then sang and played it in a way that made sense to him. So, afterwards, I started to try to figure out why he would do that, and started counting beats along with the recording. And it was weird, time signature changes from one line to the next, something I did not expect. Always sounded straightforward to me! So I Googled Two Of Us time signature, and found some explanations: Here are 2 commentaries I found: "Though it might not sound like it, “Two of Us” has the distinction of containing the most time-signature changes of any Beatles track. Mostly in 6/4, it also goes to “waltz-time,” as Paul calls it, which is 3/4, and in and out of 2/4 and 4/4" and then a more complete analysis: "Next comes the fifteen-measure verse, which demonstrates that “Two Of Us” wins the award of being the Beatles song containing the most time-signature changes. While the song is predominantly in 4/4 throughout, the verse jumps into 6/4, 3/4 and 2/4 as well. The first measure is in 4/4, but the second measure is in 6/4, extending through the lyric “nowhere / spending someone's.” Then comes three more measures of 4/4 followed by another 6/4 measure (“driving / not arriving”) before returning for two more 4/4 measures. Then we go into 3/4 time for five measures, or “into a waltz,” as Paul explained to the others when he was introducing the song to them. Then comes a quick 2/4 measure during the lyric “we're going,” before one final 4/4 measure on the word “home,” which also comprises a 'Beatles break' that stops the song dead in its tracks. If we've grown up with the song, it has become 'second nature' for us to assimilate all of these changes, but for someone who may be hearing it for the first time and possibly learning to play it on guitar, it may take a while to figure out."

Your masterful breakdown of these songs is very inspiring. The Beatles were from some celestial realm and their music other-worldly. So lucky to be alive to hear such blissful tunes. Not to mention they also heralded an appreciation for international music and Eastern wisdom.

There is no way to compare!! All good songs, sophisticated, far ahead in time, weird, complex, meaningful for one or another listener… This is the magic of the Music…