Dream On by Aerosmith

Overview

Key: F minor · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Tag → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Chorus → Chorus → Pre-Chorus → 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

• Fm – Cm/E♭ – B♭/D – B♭m/D♭ – Fm – B♭ – Cm/E♭ – C/E – Fm
  i – v⁶ – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – i – IV – v⁶ – V⁶ – i

Verse 1

• Fm – B♭/D – C – B♭/D – B♭m/D♭ – C
  i – IV⁶ – V – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – V

Pre-Chorus 1

• Fm – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII
• Fm
  i

Verse 2

• Fm
  i

Pre-Chorus 2

• Fm – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ – Fm – E♭ – B♭/D – B♭m/D♭ – C
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII – i – bVII – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – V

Tag

• Fm – B♭ – Cm/E♭ – C/E (×2)
  i – IV – v⁶ – V⁶

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 2.

Chorus 1

• B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭ – Fm
  IV – V – bVI – bVII – i

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

• B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭ – Fm – Gm – A♭ – B♭ – C
  IV – V – bVI – bVII – i – ii – bIII – IV – V

Pre-Chorus 4

• Fm – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×3)
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII
• Fm – E♭ – B♭/D – B♭m/D♭ – C
  i – bVII – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – V

Outro

• C
  V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭/D (IV⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.
• B♭ (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.
• Gm (ii) is borrowed from the parallel key, F 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 72% of the song.
• Not verified: the two RS 200 analysts differ in places (see their agreement above).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.