Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 7

Form: Verse → Verse ×5 → Outro

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

Verse 1

• E – A – B – E
  I – IV – V – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• E – F – E
  I – bII – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Outro
A	IV	In the key	Verse
B	V	In the key	Verse
F	bII	Outside the key (chromatic)	Outro

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 100% 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.