Giving You the Best That I Got by Anita Baker

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 9

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

Intro

• Dadd9 – Aadd9/C♯ – C – Bm7 – Am7 – Gadd9 – F♯m7 – B♭maj7 – Am7 – Gm7 – Fmaj9 – D/E
  IVadd9 – Iadd9 (bass C♯) – bIII – ii7 – i7 – bVIIadd9 – vi7 – bIImaj7 – i7 – bvii7 – bVImaj9 – IV (bass E)

Verse 1

• E/A – A (×2)
  V (bass A) – I
• C♯m7 – Dmaj7 – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D/E
  iii7 – IVmaj7 – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – IV (bass E)
• E/A – A (×2)
  V (bass A) – I
• C♯m7 – Dmaj7 – Dmaj9 – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D/E
  iii7 – IVmaj7 – IVmaj9 – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – IV (bass E)

Chorus 1

• Dmaj7 – Aadd9/C♯ – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D/E – Dmaj7 – Aadd9/C♯ – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – Aadd9/C♯ – Dmaj7 – Aadd9/C♯ – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D/E
  IVmaj7 – Iadd9 (bass C♯) – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – IV (bass E) – IVmaj7 – Iadd9 (bass C♯) – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – Iadd9 (bass C♯) – IVmaj7 – Iadd9 (bass C♯) – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – IV (bass E)

Verse 2

• E/A – A (×2)
  V (bass A) – I
• C♯m7 – Dmaj7 – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D/E
  iii7 – IVmaj7 – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – IV (bass E)

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• D/E – Cdim – Bm7 – C♯m7 – Dmaj7 – D/E
  IV (bass E) – biii° – ii7 – iii7 – IVmaj7 – IV (bass E)

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• Dmaj7 – Aadd9/C♯ – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D/E (×7)
  IVmaj7 – Iadd9 (bass C♯) – bIIImaj7 – ii7 – IV (bass E)

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Am7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Gadd9 (bVIIadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Fmaj9 (bVImaj9) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Cmaj7 (bIIImaj7) 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 0578, 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.