Black Bird by The Beatles

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Outro

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

• G – Am7 – G/B – G
  I – ii7 – I⁶ – I

Verse 1

• G – Am7 – G/B – G – C – C♯dim – D – D♯dim – Em – E♭aug – D – C♯dim – C – Cm – G/B – A7 – D7sus4
  I – ii7 – I⁶ – I – IV – #iv° – V – #v° – vi – bVI+ – V – #iv° – IV – iv – I⁶ – II7 – V7sus4

Interlude 1

• G – C – G/B – A7 – D7sus4 – G
  I – IV – I⁶ – II7 – V7sus4 – I

Verse 2

• G – Am7 – G/B – G – C – C♯dim – D – D♯dim – Em – E♭aug – D – C♯dim – C – Cm – G/B – A7 – D7sus4 – G
  I – ii7 – I⁶ – I – IV – #iv° – V – #v° – vi – bVI+ – V – #iv° – IV – iv – I⁶ – II7 – V7sus4 – I

Chorus 1

• F – C/E – Dm – C – B♭ – C – F – C/E – Dm – C – B♭ – A7 – D7sus4 – G – Am7 – G/B
  bVII – IV⁶ – v – IV – bIII – IV – bVII – IV⁶ – v – IV – bIII – II7 – V7sus4 – I – ii7 – I⁶

Solo

• G – C – C♯dim – D – D♯dim – Em – E♭aug – D – C♯dim – C – Cm – G/B – A7 – D7sus4 – G
  I – IV – #iv° – V – #v° – vi – bVI+ – V – #iv° – IV – iv – I⁶ – II7 – V7sus4 – I

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

• G – Am7 – G/B – C – G/B – Gdim/B♭ – D7sus4
  I – ii7 – I⁶ – IV – I⁶ – i°⁶ – V7sus4

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Outro

• C – G/B – A7 – D7sus4 – G (×2)
  IV – I⁶ – II7 – V7sus4 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Dm (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• B♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• A7 acts as V/V: it resolves to D7sus4.

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.