Ghostbusters Theme by Ray Parker Jr.

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 13

Form: Instrumental → Verse → Chorus → Instrumental → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Instrumental → Chorus → Verse → 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

Instrumental 1

• B – A – E (×8)
  I – bVII – IV

Verse 1

• B – A – E (×8)
  I – bVII – IV

Chorus 1

• Bm – Bm/A – Bm/G♯ – Bm/E (×2)
  i – i (bass A) – i (bass G♯) – i (bass E)

Instrumental 2

• B – A – E (×4)
  I – bVII – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge

• Bm – A (×4)
  i – bVII
• Bm
  i

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Instrumental 3

• F♯m
  v

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• B – A – E (×20)
  I – bVII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Bm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Bm/A (i (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Bm/E (i (bass E)) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• F♯m (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0621, 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.