Heartaches by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 9

Form: Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus ×2 → Verse → Chorus ×2 → 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

Verse 1

• D – A (×2)
  bVII – IV
• E – D – A – B
  I – bVII – IV – V

Chorus 1

• E – G – A (×3)
  I – bIII – IV
• B
  V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• E – G – A – E – G – A – E – G – A – B (×3)
  I – bIII – IV – I – bIII – IV – I – bIII – IV – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0699, 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.