Do Your Thing by Isaac Hayes
Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 10 steps · 4 unique chords · 1970s
Fm
Whole song transcribed by
Harmonic Analysis & Structure
Overview
Key: F minor · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 6
Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → 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
- Fm – Fm7/C (×6)
i – i⁴₃
Verse 1
- Fm – Fm7/C (×12)
i – i⁴₃
Chorus 1
- A♭ – C7/B♭
bIII – V⁴₂ - Fm – Fm7/C (×4)
i – i⁴₃
Verse 2
Same chords as Verse 1.
Chorus 2
Same chords as Chorus 1.
Outro
- Fm – Fm7/C (×21)
i – i⁴₃
Chord vocabulary
| Chord | Roman numeral | Role | Heard in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fm | i | Home chord (tonic) | Intro, Verse, Chorus, Outro |
| Fm7/C | i⁴₃ | Home chord (tonic) | Intro, Verse, Chorus, Outro |
| A♭ | bIII | In the key | Chorus |
| C7/B♭ | V⁴₂ | In the key | Chorus |
Sources & accuracy
- Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0216, 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.
Sources & Accuracy
Every chord on this page comes from the expert transcription listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.
- the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0216, CC0), via ChoCo.
All Piano Voicings
| # | Section | Chord | Left hand | Right hand | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro (×6) | Fm | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 2 | Intro (×6) | Fm7/C | C2 | C4, E♭4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 3 | Verse 1 (×12) | Fm | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 4 | Verse 1 (×12) | Fm7/C | C2 | C4, E♭4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 5 | Chorus 1, part 1 | A♭ | A♭2, E♭3 | C4, E♭4, A♭4 | — |
| 6 | Chorus 1, part 1 | C7/B♭ | B♭2 | B♭3, C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 7 | Chorus 1, part 2 (×4) | Fm | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 8 | Chorus 1, part 2 (×4) | Fm7/C | C2 | C4, E♭4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 9 | Outro (×21) | Fm | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 10 | Outro (×21) | Fm7/C | C2 | C4, E♭4, F4, A♭4 | — |