Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me by Gladys Knight & The Pips

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 35 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → 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

Intro

• A – A/G♯ – A/G – A/F♯ – Dmaj7 – Dm6/E – Amaj7
  I – I (bass G♯) – I (bass G) – I (bass F♯) – IVmaj7 – iv6 (bass E) – Imaj7

Verse 1

• Amaj7 – Bm7 – Esus4 – E7 – Amaj7 – A7 – Dmaj7 – E7sus4 – E7 – Amaj7 – F♯m – F♯m/E♯ – F♯m/E – B9 – E9sus4 – E7
  Imaj7 – ii7 – Vsus4 – V7 – Imaj7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – V7sus4 – V7 – Imaj7 – vi – vi (bass E♯) – vi (bass E) – II9 – V9sus4 – V7

Chorus 1

• Amaj7 – A7 – Dmaj7 – Bm7 – E7 – Amaj7 – A7 – Dmaj7
  Imaj7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – I7 – IVmaj7
• E7 – Amaj7 – Dmaj7 – Bm7 (×2)
  V7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – ii7
• E7
  V7

Transition

• Amaj7 – Bm/A – Amaj7 – F♯7sus4 – F♯7
  Imaj7 – ii (bass A) – Imaj7 – VI7sus4 – VI7

Verse 2

• Bmaj7 – C♯m7 – F♯sus4 – F♯7 – Bmaj7 – B7 – Emaj7 – F♯7sus4 – F♯7 – Bmaj7 – G♯m – G♯m/F## – G♯m/F – C♯9 – F♯9sus4 – F♯7
  IImaj7 – iii7 – VIsus4 – VI7 – IImaj7 – II7 – Vmaj7 – VI7sus4 – VI7 – IImaj7 – vii – vii (bass F##) – vii (bass F) – III9 – VI9sus4 – VI7

Chorus 2

• Bmaj7 – B7 – Emaj7 – C♯m7 – F♯7 – Bmaj7 – B7 – Emaj7
  IImaj7 – II7 – Vmaj7 – iii7 – VI7 – IImaj7 – II7 – Vmaj7
• F♯7 – Bmaj7 – Emaj7 – C♯m7 (×3)
  VI7 – IImaj7 – Vmaj7 – iii7
• F♯7
  VI7

Outro

• B – B/A♯ – B/A – B/G♯ – Emaj7 – Em6/F♯ – Bmaj7
  II – II (bass A♯) – II (bass A) – II (bass G♯) – Vmaj7 – v6 (bass F♯) – IImaj7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Dm6/E (iv6 (bass E)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• A7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to Dmaj7.
• B9 acts as V/V: it resolves to E9sus4.
• C♯9 acts as V/VI: it resolves to F♯9sus4.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0380, 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.