A Kind of Magic by Queen

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Bridge → Chorus → Verse → Solo → Bridge → Chorus → Break → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• A – B9 – Dmaj7 – A
  I – II9 – IVmaj7 – I

Verse 1

• A – B9 – Dmaj7 (×2)
  I – II9 – IVmaj7
• A
  I

Bridge 1

• F♯m7 – D – F♯m7 – E
  vi7 – IV – vi7 – V

Chorus 1

• D6 – A – D – A – E – G – D – E
  IV6 – I – IV – I – V – bVII – IV – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo

• D – A (×4)
  IV – I

Bridge 2

• E – G – D – E11 – E
  V – bVII – IV – V11 – V

Chorus 2

• D – A (×2)
  IV – I
• E – G – D – E11 – E7
  V – bVII – IV – V11 – V7

Break

• D – A (×2)
  IV – I

Outro

• D – A (×7)
  IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo).
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.