Hard Days Night by The Beatles

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 9

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

• D7sus4
  V7sus4

Chorus 1

• G – C – G – F (×2)
  I – IV – I – bVII
• G – C – D – G – C – G
  I – IV – V – I – IV – I

Verse

• G – C – G – F (×2)
  I – IV – I – bVII
• G – C – D – G – C – G
  I – IV – V – I – IV – I

Bridge 1

• Bm – Em – Bm – G – Em – C – D
  iii – vi – iii – I – vi – IV – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• G – C – G – F (×2)
  I – IV – I – bVII
• G – C – D – G – C – G
  I – IV – V – I – IV – I

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 3

• G – C – G – F (×2)
  I – IV – I – bVII
• G – C – D
  I – IV – V
• G – C (×3)
  I – IV

Outro

• Dm11
  v11

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1142, 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.