Come as You Are by Nirvana

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 15

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Interlude → Verse ×2 → Chorus → Bridge → Interlude → Intro → 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 1

• Em – D (×4)
  i – bVII

Verse 1

• Em – D (×4)
  i – bVII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• Em – G (×4)
  i – bIII

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• A – C (×4)
  IV – bVI

Interlude 1

• Em – D (×2)
  i – bVII

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Interlude 2

• A – C (×2)
  IV – bVI

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

Outro

• Em
  i

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em	i	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Interlude, Outro
D	bVII	In the key	Intro, Verse, Interlude
G	bIII	In the key	Chorus
A	IV	Borrowed from E major	Bridge, Interlude
C	bVI	In the key	Bridge, Interlude

Harmonic highlights

• A (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, E major.

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 90% 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.