Easy by Commodores

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Solo → Chorus → Chorus

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

• A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7 – D♭/E♭ – A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV (bass E♭) – I – iii7 – ii7

Verse 1

• A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7 – D♭/E♭ (×4)
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV (bass E♭)

Chorus 1

• A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7 – D♭/E♭ (×3)
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV (bass E♭)
• G♭ – D♭/F – D♭/E♭ – A♭
  bVII – IV⁶ – IV (bass E♭) – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• G♭maj7 – Fm7 – E♭m7 – G♭/A♭ – Fm7 (×2)
  bVIImaj7 – vi7 – v7 – bVII (bass A♭) – vi7
• G♭maj7 – Fm7 – E♭m7 – G♭/A♭ – B – G♭/B♭ – E♭m7 – D♭
  bVIImaj7 – vi7 – v7 – bVII (bass A♭) – #II – bVII⁶ – v7 – IV

Solo

• A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7 – D♭/E♭ (×4)
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV (bass E♭)

Chorus 3

• A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7 – D♭/E♭ (×3)
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV (bass E♭)
• A♭ – Cm7 – B♭m7 – Bm7 – D/E
  I – iii7 – ii7 – #ii7 – #IV (bass E)

Chorus 4

• A – C♯m7 – Bm7 – D/E (×4)
  #I – #iii7 – #ii7 – #IV (bass E)
• A
  #I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• E♭m7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• G♭/A♭ (bVII (bass A♭)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• B (#II) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• G♭/B♭ (bVII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• C♯m7 (#iii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0341, 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.