Did Paul McCartney Invent The Modern Pop Piano Accompaniment Style?

Piano KeysDid Paul McCartney invent the modern pop piano accompaniment style?

After 30 years of playing piano professionally in jazz clubs, Broadway orchestra pits and even Carnegie Hall, I’ll admit that I never thought of this question before. But the other day I was listening to the Nicki Minaj song “Grand Piano” and the thought hit me. BAM! The simple quarter-note chord pop piano style, heard on this song and countless others, goes directly back to Paul McCartney’s piano playing in the 1960’s.

To hear this in action, listen to the beginning of Nicki Minaj’s “Grand Piano” (2015)

Now hear the similarity to the beginning of “Hey Jude” (1968)

Simple, steady quarter notes. There’s something about emphasizing the quarter-note pulse that resonates with the musical public.  Mozart knew this, and so did the creators of disco.  The Beatles started highlighting the quarter-note pulse on the Sgt. Pepper album; Paul’s keyboard part on “Fixing A Hole” is a good example of this. So perhaps it was natural for McCartney to use this style on some of his piano ballads. In retrospect it seems so obvious, but as far as I can tell he’s the only one to use it so prominently at the time. Elton John didn’t, and neither did other piano-playing singer/songwriters like Carole King or Billy Joel. They quickly moved into a more complex, pianistic style that was more orchestral in scope.

I’m not claiming that McCartney is a virtuoso pianist (and he doesn’t claim it either). What I am suggesting is that he used his basic piano skills in a way that worked perfectly for pop and rock ballads at a time, the late 1960’s, when music was moving in new direction. And that there is something so simple, logical, and compelling about this sound that it’s still popular now, almost 50 years later. More popular, in fact! Paul also could play more complex piano parts, as he did in “Lady Madonna” and later, “Live and Let Die,” but it’s the simple, basic quarter-note style that has endured, forming the basis of the modern pop piano style.

Even an accomplished pianist like John Legend has adapted this approach for his wonderful song “All of Me.” He plays the part with a slight syncopation, but essentially it goes all the way back to “Hey Jude.”

Did Paul McCartney “invent” this style? Probably not. It’s easy to play and like many “innovations,” I’ll bet that many people were beginning to play like this during the 1960’s. But “Hey Jude” is the earliest recorded example of this I can find, and along with “Let It Be.” Whether he invented it or not, McCartney sure did a lot to popularize this ballad style!.

If you’re just beginning to learn how to play pop and rock piano, the quarter-note ballad style is an especially good technique to start with. Just earn the basic major and minor chords and you can pretty much play any ballad you like. It’s even effective on many songs that originally had a more complex piano part, such as Elton John’s “Your Song.”

To get started learning how to play like this, and more, you can get a free copy of my ebook: Pop Ballad Accompaniment for Piano and Keyboard below. You’ll learn how to play piano while you sing your favorite pop songs and also become very popular with vocalists who need someone to play piano for them. Good luck and have fun!

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9 thoughts on “Did Paul McCartney Invent The Modern Pop Piano Accompaniment Style?”

  1. I’ve been wondering this myself lately – if there is any precedent of that slow quarter-note Hey Jude style piano prior to the Beatles.

    Reply
    • Hey Ben, It’s interesting, right? It seems that emphasizing the quarter-note pulse was “in the air” in 1966-68 as far as moderate-tempo pop songs. The Beach Boys “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” used it in the bridge, and McCartney did the same thing on a lot of Sgt. Pepper. But played slowly on piano? I’m sure something will turn up, but I haven’t found it yet 🙂

      Reply
  2. I think is highly likely that Paul had at least a few singing lessons in his life. It could be when he was a choir boy, or maybe later when he became famous and needed some basic vocal technique. The thing is, if you wanted “serious” singing lessons back in the 50’s and 60’s, you only had “bel canto” technique and methods, and I think Paul must knew about them, like the always popular Giuseppe Concone (1801-1861) method. Take a look at lesson 3: the piano plays basically the same “Let It Be” quarter-note pattern. I think there are good chances he took it from there.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksl91nFAnZY

    Reply
    • Yes, absolutely, Conrado! I can definitely hear it in there, and it’s so obvious once you’ve pointed it out. Many thanks for this!

      Reply
      • Is just a guess, but I’ve tried to find hints of this style of playing in the popular music of the 40’s and 50’s (like jazz, or French songs) and it’s just not there. I think this is a possible answer.

        Reply

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