Free as a Bird by The Beatles

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → Interlude → B Section → A Section → Tag → Vamp → Vamp

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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 – F♯m – Fmaj7 – E7 – A – F♯m – Dm – E – A – F♯m – Dm – G – C – Am – E7sus4 – E
  I – vi – bVImaj7 – V7 – I – vi – iv – V – I – vi – iv – bVII – bIII – i – V7sus4 – V

A Section 1

• A – F♯m – Fmaj7 – E7 – A – F♯m – Dm – E – A – F♯m – Dm – G – C – Am – E7sus4 – E
  I – vi – bVImaj7 – V7 – I – vi – iv – V – I – vi – iv – bVII – bIII – i – V7sus4 – V

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 1

• F – D7/F♯ – G – A – Aadd9/G – F – D7/F♯ – G
  bVI – IV⁶₅ – bVII – I – Iadd9 (bass G) – bVI – IV⁶₅ – bVII

A Section 3

• A – F♯m – Fmaj7 – E7 – A – F♯m – Dm – E – A – F♯m – Dm – G – C – Am
  I – vi – bVImaj7 – V7 – I – vi – iv – V – I – vi – iv – bVII – bIII – i

Interlude

• Eaug – G
  V+ – bVII

B Section 2

• F – D7/F♯ – G – E7sus4 – E – C – Am – A♭maj7
  bVI – IV⁶₅ – bVII – V7sus4 – V – bIII – i – bImaj7
• G – C – Am – Fm (×2)
  bVII – bIII – i – bvi
• G
  bVII

A Section 4

• A – F♯m – Fmaj7 – E7 – A – F♯m – Dm – E – A – F♯m
  I – vi – bVImaj7 – V7 – I – vi – iv – V – I – vi

Tag

• Dm – G – A – F♯m (×3)
  iv – bVII – I – vi
• Dm – G – A
  iv – bVII – I

Vamp 1

• A – A/G (×2)
  I – I (bass G)

Vamp 2

Same chords as Vamp 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, B Section, Tag, Vamp
F♯m	vi	In the key	Intro, A Section, Tag
Fmaj7	bVImaj7	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, A Section
E7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section
Dm	iv	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, A Section, Tag
E	V	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
G	bVII	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, A Section, B Section, Interlude, Tag
C	bIII	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, A Section, B Section
Am	i	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, A Section, B Section
E7sus4	V7sus4	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
F	bVI	Borrowed from A minor	B Section
D7/F♯	IV⁶₅	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Aadd9/G	Iadd9 (bass G)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Eaug	V+	Borrowed from A minor	Interlude
A♭maj7	bImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Fm	bvi	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
A/G	I (bass G)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Vamp

Harmonic highlights

• Fmaj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Am (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Eaug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Free As A Bird” (credited “John Lennon (The Beatles)”, style Pop Rock) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Free As A Bird” (credited “Beatles The”, style Rock Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 82%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.