Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Overview

Key: B minor · Chords used: 33 · Sections: 17

Form: Intro → Intro → A Section → B Section → B Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → C Section → A Section → B Section → B Section → B Section → Interlude → Vamp → Vamp → Vamp

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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 1

• Bm/A – Bm/G♯ – Bm/G – Em7 – Em7/F♯ – G7
  i (bass A) – i (bass G♯) – i (bass G) – iv7 – iv7 (bass F♯) – bVI7

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

A Section 1

• Bm/A – Bm/G♯ – Bm/G – Em7 – Em7/F♯ – G7 – Bm/A – Bm/G♯ – Bm/G – Em7 – F♯m7
  i (bass A) – i (bass G♯) – i (bass G) – iv7 – iv7 (bass F♯) – bVI7 – i (bass A) – i (bass G♯) – i (bass G) – iv7 – v7

B Section 1

• Gmaj7 – Em7 – F♯m7 – Bm
  bVImaj7 – iv7 – v7 – i

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

B Section 3

• Gmaj7 – Em7 – F♯m7 – Bm – E7
  bVImaj7 – iv7 – v7 – i – IV7

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 4

• Gmaj7 – Em7 – F♯m7 – Bm – E7 – G – A9sus4 – A/G
  bVImaj7 – iv7 – v7 – i – IV7 – bVI – bVII9sus4 – bVII (bass G)

C Section

• F♯9sus4 – F♯7 – B9sus4 – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – A9sus4 – A7 – A9 – A7 – B♭9sus4 – B♭7 – B♭9 – B♭7
  V9sus4 – V7 – I9sus4 – i7 – bVImaj7 – bVII9sus4 – bVII7 – bVII9 – bVII7 – bI9sus4 – bI7 – bI9 – bI7

A Section 3

• Cm/B♭ – Cm/A – Cm/A♭ – Fm7 – Fm7/G – A♭7 – Cm/B♭ – Cm/A – Cm/A♭ – Fm7 – Gm7
  bii (bass B♭) – bii (bass A) – bii (bass A♭) – bv7 – bv7 (bass G) – VI7 – bii (bass B♭) – bii (bass A) – bii (bass A♭) – bv7 – bvi7

B Section 5

• A♭maj7 – Fm7 – Gm7 – Cm
  VImaj7 – bv7 – bvi7 – bii

B Section 6

Same chords as B Section 5.

B Section 7

• A♭maj7 – Fm7 – Gm7 – Cm – F7
  VImaj7 – bv7 – bvi7 – bii – bV7

Interlude

• A♭ – A♭maj7 – Fm7 – Gm7 – Cm – A♭maj7 – Fm7
  VI – VImaj7 – bv7 – bvi7 – bii – VImaj7 – bv7

Vamp 1

• Gm7 – Cm – A♭maj7 – Fm7 (×2)
  bvi7 – bii – VImaj7 – bv7

Vamp 2

Same chords as Vamp 1.

Vamp 3

• Gm7 – Cm
  bvi7 – bii

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Bm/A	i (bass A)	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
Bm/G♯	i (bass G♯)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
Bm/G	i (bass G)	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
Em7	iv7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
Em7/F♯	iv7 (bass F♯)	In the key	Intro, A Section
G7	bVI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
F♯m7	v7	In the key	A Section, B Section
Gmaj7	bVImaj7	In the key	B Section, C Section
Bm	i	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
E7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
G	bVI	In the key	B Section
A9sus4	bVII9sus4	In the key	B Section, C Section
A/G	bVII (bass G)	In the key	B Section
F♯9sus4	V9sus4	Borrowed from B major	C Section
F♯7	V7	In the key	C Section
B9sus4	I9sus4	In the key	C Section
Bm7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	C Section
A7	bVII7	In the key	C Section
A9	bVII9	In the key	C Section
B♭9sus4	bI9sus4	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
B♭7	bI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
B♭9	bI9	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
Cm/B♭	bii (bass B♭)	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Cm/A	bii (bass A)	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Cm/A♭	bii (bass A♭)	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Fm7	bv7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, B Section, Interlude, Vamp
Fm7/G	bv7 (bass G)	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Gm7	bvi7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, B Section, Interlude, Vamp
A♭maj7	VImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section, Interlude, Vamp
Cm	bii	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section, Interlude, Vamp
F7	bV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
A♭	VI	Outside the key (chromatic)	Interlude

Harmonic highlights

• F♯9sus4 (V9sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, B major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Ain't No Mountain High Enough” (credited “Ashford-Simpson (Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell)”, style Soul) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Ain't No Mountain High Enough” (credited “Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell (Ashford-Simpson)”, style Soul) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 76%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.