Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Transition → Verse → Bridge → Transition → Verse → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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
  I

Verse 1

• G
  I

Transition 1

• G – F (×2)
  I – bVII
• G
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge

• C – E♭ – C – G – C – D – C – G
  IV – bVI – IV – I – IV – V – IV – I

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• G – F (×2)
  I – bVII
• G
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Transition, Bridge, Outro
F	bVII	Borrowed from G minor	Transition, Outro
C	IV	In the key	Bridge
E♭	bVI	Borrowed from G minor	Bridge
D	V	In the key	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• E♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 99% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.