Why is this Beatles song so rhythmically confusing? | Q+A

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The Beatles always LOVED to do things not by the book. That's why I love them so much!

The Beatles didn't read music. They just arranged the music as it sounded and felt right to them. That off beat flare for music is, what I think, makes their music so intriguing. It really catches the ear.

George said that John's rythm was weird but amazing at the same time, and he didn't use to notice it at first. They were very very talented guys.

That's one of the beauties of The Beatles is that they didn't know too much about music theory so they had these fresh ideas without overthinking things. They did lots of cool things like this, often without even realizing they did it

I always felt Drive My Car as just two independent musical elements that line up in time for the song to start. Guitar starts, the drummer plays to their own time, and then they crash into each other for the first verse.

On 'Rubato' - IIRC, the Italian term literally means "Robbed", or "stolen". To discuss that fluidity, push and pull, my teacher always used to say that you steal the time in some places, and that means that in other places you must give it back!

Another reason why Ringo was an incredible drummer. Casual listeners will always underestimate him, but Ringo was phenomenal 👍🤘

BTW, Adam. Your Bass soloing during the rubato example is ... absolutely beautiful. I mean, really. Just SO inspiring. Pure loveliness. This is where ALL those years of practice, and learning, and understanding how to restrain yourself and allow space in phrasing, yields a creation of musical harmony that somehow tugs at the heart. Kudos to you, sir, for your persistence, with the result being something this gorgeous. Just love it.

As someone who has played “Drive My Car” on the drums with a band many times, the intro STILL busts my brain unless I’m really concentrating. Not only does the guitar come in with an unusual intro pattern, but the bass lick hits in an unexpected spot too. And I think Ringo’s rushed intro comes down to Ringo being a “feel” player and not a “precise” one.

If there's one thing I've learned by watching Adam's videos, it's that EVERYTHING is ALWAYS "more complicated than that."

As much as I really appreciate these videos and find the concepts behind them fascinating, I think if the Beatles themselves saw this video they'd laugh and scratch their heads because really none of them knew music theory, it just flowed that way as a group. Truly amazing when you think about it.

regarding rhythmic confusion and downbeat, Nirvana's "Swap Meet" is a track that manages to confuse me ever time I listen to it. I have to hear (or remember) the riff before I'm able to discern it from the intro, otherwise I'm totally lost untill the groove kicks in. really funky stuff

Another detail in Drive My Car that tricks the listener is that the first doublestop in the guitar riff happens exactly where we think the downbeat is, so it seems to really reaffirm that our initial entrainment was correct.

The Beatles did everything by ear and didn't have the common rudiments controlling or guiding what they did. That is the reason Yesterday only is written in 7 bar phrases. They couldn't write down what they played, it was all from memory and the sound they had in their head. I'm sure many of their tunes evolved with time, from their original version to what became their performance version. That is one of the things that made the Beatles different and helped create much of the appeal, as it was a fresh sound lacking the restraints of the music we had become accustomed to. If you do things a certain way long enough, it starts to feel normal. Lennon and McCartney were brilliant song writers with lots of great ideas, but little or no training, and had they had training, they probably would have never created the unique sounds that they did.

I really enjoy that moment when you start playing a recording somewhere in the middle, or you turn the radio on and the first note you hear isn't the downbeat of 1. It's really strange when it's a song you're familiar with, but it sounds totally messed up because your brain is automatically locked into a different pulse.

Ahhhhh the fact that Ringo comes into that song with one of his "funny fills" as he calls them because he's leading left-handed on a right-handed kit makes that whole intro even more amazing! So good! Great video overall too, I've just subscribed!

I played this song for years in a Beatles cover band and you just have to feel it.....

I've determined that the first notes of many riffs were pickups due to this same rhythmic disorientation. And even once I know it, my ear still sometimes wants to hear the rhythm wrong until the accompaniment comes in and sets me straight. The mind is such a weird thing. Also, I remember my mind being blown once when I watched someone explaining that the famous theme from "The Twilight Zone" begins on a pickup on the "and" of beat 4, rather than on beat one.

Its just what came to their mind since the beatles never really properly learned how to read notes they just look at lyrics then chords and just think of a beat that goes well with it