Hells Bells by AC/DC

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 29

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:20)

• A5 – Asus4 – Am7 – Asus4 (×2)
  I5 – Isus4 – i7 – Isus4

Part 2 (0:29)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:20).

Part 3 (0:39)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:20).

Part 4 (0:49)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:20).

Part 5 (0:59)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:20).

Part 6 (1:08)

• A5 – Asus4 – Am7 – Asus4 – A5 – Asus4 – G5 – D5
  I5 – Isus4 – i7 – Isus4 – I5 – Isus4 – bVII5 – IV5

Part 7 (1:18)

• A5 – D5 – C5 – G/B (×2)
  I5 – IV5 – bIII5 – bVII⁶
• A5
  I5

Part 8 (1:28)

• D5 – C5 – G/B – A5 (×2)
  IV5 – bIII5 – bVII⁶ – I5

Part 9 (1:38)

• D5 – C5 – G/B – A5 – D5 – C5 – G/B – D5
  IV5 – bIII5 – bVII⁶ – I5 – IV5 – bIII5 – bVII⁶ – IV5

Part 10 (1:49)

• C5 – G5 – D5 – C5 – G5 – E5 – D5 – A5
  bIII5 – bVII5 – IV5 – bIII5 – bVII5 – V5 – IV5 – I5

Part 11 (1:59)

• E5 – G5 – A5 – Asus4 – Am7 – Asus4 – A5
  V5 – bVII5 – I5 – Isus4 – i7 – Isus4 – I5

Part 12 (2:09)

• Asus4 – Am7 – Asus4 – A5 (×2)
  Isus4 – i7 – Isus4 – I5

Part 13 (2:18)

• Asus4 – G5 – D5 – A5 – D5 – C5 – G/B – A
  Isus4 – bVII5 – IV5 – I5 – IV5 – bIII5 – bVII⁶ – I

Part 14 (2:27)

• D5 – C5 – G/B – A5 (×2)
  IV5 – bIII5 – bVII⁶ – I5
• D5
  IV5

Part 15 (2:37)

• C5 – G/B – A5 – D5 (×2)
  bIII5 – bVII⁶ – I5 – IV5
• C5
  bIII5

Part 16 (2:48)

• G/B
  bVII⁶
• D5 – C5 – G5 (×2)
  IV5 – bIII5 – bVII5
• E5
  V5

Part 17 (2:58)

• D5 – A5 – E5 – G5 – A5 – Asus4
  IV5 – I5 – V5 – bVII5 – I5 – Isus4

Part 18 (3:08)

• Am7 – Asus4 – A5 – Asus4 (×2)
  i7 – Isus4 – I5 – Isus4

Part 19 (3:17)

• Am7 – Asus4 – A5 – Asus4 – G – D5 – A5
  i7 – Isus4 – I5 – Isus4 – bVII – IV5 – I5

Part 20 (3:26)

• C5 – D5
  bIII5 – IV5

Part 21 (3:37)

• A5 – C5 – D5 (×2)
  I5 – bIII5 – IV5
• A5
  I5

Part 22 (3:47)

• C5 – D5 – C5 – G5 – D5
  bIII5 – IV5 – bIII5 – bVII5 – IV5

Part 23 (3:58)

• C5 – G5 – E5 – D5 – A5 – E5 – G5
  bIII5 – bVII5 – V5 – IV5 – I5 – V5 – bVII5

Part 24 (4:08)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:20).

Part 25 (4:17)

• A5 – Asus4 – Am7 – Asus4 – A5 – Asus4 – G5
  I5 – Isus4 – i7 – Isus4 – I5 – Isus4 – bVII5

Part 26 (4:26)

Same chords as Part 6 (1:08).

Part 27 (4:35)

• A5 – Asus4 – Am7 – Asus4 – A5 – Asus4 – C5 – D5
  I5 – Isus4 – i7 – Isus4 – I5 – Isus4 – bIII5 – IV5

Part 28 (4:44)

• A5 – C5 – D5 (×2)
  I5 – bIII5 – IV5
• A5 – C5
  I5 – bIII5

Part 29 (4:56)

• D5 – A5 – C5 – D5 – A5
  IV5 – I5 – bIII5 – IV5 – I5

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Back In Black), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Back In Black), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.