The Beatles have contributed a lot to music whether in the pop genre or the rock genre. Aside from The Beatles contribution to chord progression there are also numerous other innovations to Music such as:

Indian Music to Pop Music

George Harrison, having been influenced by Indian Music decided to add instruments commonly used in Indian Music to Pop Music. Norwegian Wood from the Rubber Soul album features the Sitar played by George Harrison having recently learnt the instrument. The next song released was Love You To from the Revolver album features more Indian Instruments with the sitar such as the Tabla and the Tambura. More Indian Instruments were added to the next song which was Within You Without You found in the Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the song had the most number of Indian Instruments used such as: sitar, tambura, dilruba, svarmandal, tabla. The last song by The Beatles which featured Indian Instruments was The Inner Light which was released as the B-Side to Lady Madonna. Inner Light was played with instruments such as: shehnai, Indian flute, tabla, pakavaj, harmonium.

Introductions to Songs

A Hard Day’s Night the album and the song itself started with a chord played by The Beatles which baffled numerous musicians for decades. The name of the chord is still being debated even up to this point. The song What You’re Doing started with a riff which is later played by The Beatles as an ostinato or a set of notes played throughout the song in simple terms. The song Ticket to Ride, a song found in the Help! Album uses a similar style. One of the most popular songs written by The Beatles was Eight Days a Week the song started with the D chord played on what might sound as an octave higher but is actually a fade-in, something which increases in volume while being played. The Fade-In is a technique used by classical music, this was the first time used in Pop Music, and somehow The Beatles got the idea as earlier tapes of Eight Days a Week do not have the intro. She Loves You a Beatles pop classic starts with the chorus “She Loves You Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”. The song All My Loving, found in With the Beatles album starts the song abruptly. If I Fell a Beatles Love Song appearing in the A Hard Day’s Night has the introduction which is a different chord progression from the actual song itself.

More Innovations/Contributions will be elaborated in this article series.