Ben by Michael Jackson

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 6

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

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

• F – B♭/F (×4)
  I – IV⁶₄

A Section 1

• F – C7/E (×2)
  I – V⁶₅
• Fmaj7 – A7sus4 – A7/C♯ – E♭7 – D7 – D♭7 – C7
  Imaj7 – III7sus4 – III⁶₅ – bVII7 – VI7 – bVI7 – V7
• F – B♭/F (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄

A Section 2

• Fm – Fm9 – C7/E – Fm9 – Fm – C7/E – Fmaj7 – A7sus4 – A7/C♯ – E♭7 – D7 – D♭7 – C7
  i – i9 – V⁶₅ – i9 – i – V⁶₅ – Imaj7 – III7sus4 – III⁶₅ – bVII7 – VI7 – bVI7 – V7
• F – B♭/F (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄

B Section 1

• Gm7 – C7/E – Fmaj7 – F6 – Gm7 – C7/E – Fmaj7
  ii7 – V⁶₅ – Imaj7 – I6 – ii7 – V⁶₅ – Imaj7

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

C Section

• F – C7/E (×2)
  I – V⁶₅
• Fmaj7 – C7/E – E♭7 – D7 – D♭7 – C7
  Imaj7 – V⁶₅ – bVII7 – VI7 – bVI7 – V7
• F – B♭/F (×4)
  I – IV⁶₄
• F
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
F	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, C Section
B♭/F	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
C7/E	V⁶₅	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section
Fmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section, C Section
A7sus4	III7sus4	In the key	A Section
A7/C♯	III⁶₅	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
E♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from F minor	A Section, C Section
D7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, C Section
D♭7	bVI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, C Section
C7	V7	In the key	A Section, C Section
Fm	i	Borrowed from F minor	A Section
Fm9	i9	Borrowed from F minor	A Section
Gm7	ii7	In the key	B Section
F6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	B Section

Harmonic highlights

• E♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Fm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Fm9 (i9) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Ben” (credited “Michael Jackson (Black, Scharf)”, style Ballad) 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 “Ben” (credited “Michael Jackson (Black, Scharf)”, style Ballad) 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 72%).
• 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.
• 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.