Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 5

Form: Chorus → Chorus → Interlude → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

Chorus 1

• Am7 – Em7 – G7 (×2)
  i7 – v7 – bVII7
• Am7 – Em7 – Dm7 – Am7 – Em7 – G7 – Am7
  i7 – v7 – iv7 – i7 – v7 – bVII7 – i7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude

• Am7 – Em7 – G7 – Am7
  i7 – v7 – bVII7 – i7

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• Am7 – Em7 – G7 (×4)
  i7 – v7 – bVII7
• Am9
  i9

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1058, CC0), 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.