He's So Shy by The Pointer Sisters

Overview

Key: C minor · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 8

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

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

• Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ – E♭/B♭ – B♭ (×3)
  iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII – bIII⁶₄ – bVII
• Cm
  i

Verse 1

• Fm9 – Cm – Fm9 – B♭ – Fm9 – B♭ – G – Cm (×2)
  iv9 – i – iv9 – bVII – iv9 – bVII – V – i

Chorus 1

• Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ (×2)
  iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII
• Fm/B♭ – A♭maj7/C
  iv (bass B♭) – bVImaj⁶₅
• B♭ – Fm9 – A♭maj7 (×2)
  bVII – iv9 – bVImaj7
• B♭ – Fm9/B♭ – A♭maj7 – B♭ – Cm
  bVII – iv9 (bass B♭) – bVImaj7 – bVII – i

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ (×2)
  iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII
• Fm/B♭ – A♭maj7/C
  iv (bass B♭) – bVImaj⁶₅
• B♭ – Fm9 – A♭maj7 (×2)
  bVII – iv9 – bVImaj7
• B♭ – Fm9/B♭ – A♭maj7 – B♭
  bVII – iv9 (bass B♭) – bVImaj7 – bVII

Solo

• Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ (×3)
  iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII
• A♭ – E♭ (×2)
  bVI – bIII
• B♭
  bVII

Chorus 3

• Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ – Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ – Fm/B♭ – A♭maj7/C – B♭ (×2)
  iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII – iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII – iv (bass B♭) – bVImaj⁶₅ – bVII

Chorus 4

• Fm9 – A♭maj7 – B♭ (×4)
  iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0663, 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.