Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar

Overview

Key: F minor · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 10

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

• A♭ – Fm – F (×2)
  bIII – i – I
• A♭ – Fm
  bIII – i

Verse 1

• F5 – E♭5 – D♭5 – B♭5 – C – E♭ (×2)
  I5 – bVII5 – bVI5 – IV5 – V – bVII
• Fm – E♭ – D♭ – B♭ – C – Fm – E♭ – D♭ – B♭ – C5 – C
  i – bVII – bVI – IV – V – i – bVII – bVI – IV – V5 – V

Chorus 1

• Fm – Gm – A♭ – B♭ – C – D♭ – C (×2)
  i – ii – bIII – IV – V – bVI – V
• Fm – A♭ (×2)
  i – bIII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• E♭ – F – C – B♭ – A♭ – G♭ – Fm – E♭ – D – E♭ – F – C – B♭ – C
  bVII – I – V – IV – bIII – bII – i – bVII – VI – bVII – I – V – IV – V

Verse 3

• C5 – C
  V5 – V

Chorus 3

• Fm – Gm – A♭ – B♭ – C
  i – ii – bIII – IV – V
• D♭ – C – Fm – A♭ – B♭ (×2)
  bVI – V – i – bIII – IV
• D♭ – C
  bVI – V

Solo

• Fm – A♭ – B♭ – D♭ – C (×6)
  i – bIII – IV – bVI – V

Outro

• Fm
  i

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.
• B♭ (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.
• Gm (ii) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1053, 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.