Friends Will Be Friends by Queen

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Break → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Chorus → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• G – B7 – Em – G7 – C – F – C
  I – III7 – vi – I7 – IV – bVII – IV

Verse 1

• G – D/F♯ – Em – Bm – G – C – Am7 – D – G – B – Em – G7 – Am – D
  I – V⁶ – vi – iii – I – IV – ii7 – V – I – III – vi – I7 – ii – V

Chorus 1

• C – A/C♯ – G – Em – D – B/D♯ – Em – D♯aug – G/D – A/C♯ – C6 – D
  IV – II⁶ – I – vi – V – III⁶ – vi – #V+ – I⁶₄ – II⁶ – IV6 – V

Break

• G – B7 – Em – G7 – C – Am – F – C
  I – III7 – vi – I7 – IV – ii – bVII – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• G5 – Fsus2 – C – B♭ (×2)
  I5 – bVIIsus2 – IV – bIII
• G – D/F♯ – Em – Bm – G – C – Am – D – G – B7 – Em – G7 – Am – D
  I – V⁶ – vi – iii – I – IV – ii – V – I – III7 – vi – I7 – ii – V

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

• C – A/C♯ – G – Em – D – B/D♯ – Em – Em/D♯ – G/D – A/C♯ – C6 – D
  IV – II⁶ – I – vi – V – III⁶ – vi – vi (bass D♯) – I⁶₄ – II⁶ – IV6 – V

Outro

• C – A/C♯ – G – Em – D – B/D♯ – Em – D♯aug – G/D – A/C♯ – C6 – D – C – A/C♯ – G – Em – D – B/D♯ – Em – D♯aug – G/D – A/C♯ – C – D
  IV – II⁶ – I – vi – V – III⁶ – vi – #V+ – I⁶₄ – II⁶ – IV6 – V – IV – II⁶ – I – vi – V – III⁶ – vi – #V+ – I⁶₄ – II⁶ – IV – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Fsus2 (bVIIsus2) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• B♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• B7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Em.
• G7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to C.
• B acts as V/vi: it resolves to Em.
• B/D♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to Em.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.