Ask Me Why by The Beatles

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 16 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse

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

• E – Emaj7 – F♯m7
  I – Imaj7 – ii7

Verse 1

• G♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E – Emaj7 – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E – G♯ – C♯m – A – F♯9 – B – Emaj7 – F♯m7
  iii7 – ii7 – V7 – I – Imaj7 – ii7 – iii7 – ii7 – V7 – I – III – vi – IV – II9 – V – Imaj7 – ii7

Verse 2

• G♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E – Emaj7 – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – E – G♯ – C♯m – A – E – Eaug
  iii7 – ii7 – V7 – I – Imaj7 – ii7 – iii7 – ii7 – I – III – vi – IV – I – I+

Bridge 1

• A – B – E – Eaug – A – B – E – B – Emaj7 – F♯m7
  IV – V – I – I+ – IV – V – I – V – Imaj7 – ii7

Verse 3

• G♯m7 – A – G♯m7 – Amaj7 – E – Emaj7 – F♯m7
  iii7 – IV – iii7 – IVmaj7 – I – Imaj7 – ii7

Verse 4

• G♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E – Emaj7 – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E – G♯ – C♯m – Am – F♯9 – B – Emaj7 – F♯m7
  iii7 – ii7 – V7 – I – Imaj7 – ii7 – iii7 – ii7 – V7 – I – III – vi – iv – II9 – V – Imaj7 – ii7

Verse 5

• G♯m7 – A (×2)
  iii7 – IV
• E – Eaug
  I – I+

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 6

• G♯m7 – A – G♯m7 – Amaj7
  iii7 – IV – iii7 – IVmaj7
• E – Amaj7/E (×2)
  I – IVmaj⁴₃
• B6 – G♯m
  V6 – iii

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Am (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to C♯m.
• F♯9 acts as V/V: it resolves to B.

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.