beat and the arrangement was brilliant. These guys were geniuses." Opening chord "A Hard Day's Night" is immediately identifiable by the unmistakable Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar's "mighty opening chord" played by George Harrison. According to George Martin, "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch," having what Ian MacDonald called "a significance in Beatles lore matched only by the concluding E major of "A Day in the Life", the two opening and closing the group's middle period of peak creativity". According to musicologist Jeremy Summerly, "the sound of this chord is the most discussed pop opening of all time." Analysis of the chord has been much debated, it having been described as G7add9sus4, G7sus4, or G11sus4 and others below. Part of the chord is an Fadd9 as confirmed by Harrison during an online chat on 15 February 2001: According to Walter Everett the opening chord has an introductory dominant function because McCartney plays D in the bass: Harrison and Martin play F A C G, over the bass D, on twelve-string guitar and piano respectively, giving the chord a mixture-coloured neighbour, F; two diatonic neighbours, A and C; plus an anticipation of the tonic, G – the major subtonic as played on guitar being a borrowed chord commonly used by the Beatles, first in "P.S. I Love You" (see mode mixture), and later in "Every Little Thing", "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Got to Get You into My Life" (in the latter two against a tonic pedal). Alan W. Pollack also interprets the chord as a surrogate dominant, the G being an anticipation that resolves on the G major chord that opens the verse. He suggests it is a mixture of D minor, F major, and G major (missing the B). Tony Bacon calls it a Dm7sus4 (D F G A C), which is the minor seventh chord (plus the fourth, G) (for more information regarding chord functions see diatonic function). Everett points out that the chord relates to the Beatles' interest in pandiatonic harmony. Dominic Pedler has also provided an interpretation of the chord, with the Beatles and George Martin playing the following: George Harrison: Fadd9 in 1st position on Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric guitar John Lennon: Fadd9 in 1st position on a Gibson J-160E 6-string acoustic guitar Paul