Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones

Overview

Key: C♯ major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 15

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus ×3 → Transition → Verse → Chorus ×3

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

• C♯ – B – A – B (×3)
  I – bVII – bVI – bVII
• C♯ – B – A/C♯ – B/F♯ – C♯ – B – A/C♯ – B – C♯ – B – A – B
  I – bVII – bVI⁶ – bVII⁶₄ – I – bVII – bVI⁶ – bVII – I – bVII – bVI – bVII

Verse 1

• C♯
  I

Chorus 1

• C♯ – B – A – B (×2)
  I – bVII – bVI – bVII

Transition 1

• C♯
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 6

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 7

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 8

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C♯	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Transition
B	bVII	Borrowed from C♯ minor	Intro, Chorus
A	bVI	Borrowed from C♯ minor	Intro, Chorus
A/C♯	bVI⁶	Borrowed from C♯ minor	Intro
B/F♯	bVII⁶₄	Borrowed from C♯ minor	Intro

Harmonic highlights

• B (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C♯ minor.
• A (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, C♯ minor.
• A/C♯ (bVI⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, C♯ minor.
• B/F♯ (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, C♯ minor.

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 91% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.