Honey Pie by The Beatles

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 10

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

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• Em – A – Am/D – Cm – G (×2)
  vi – II – ii (bass D) – iv – I
• A9 – D
  II9 – V

Verse 1

• G – E♭ – E – A – D – G – E♭ – D
  I – bVI – VI – II – V – I – bVI – V

Verse 2

• G – E♭ – E – A – D – G – F♯/C♯ – F/C
  I – bVI – VI – II – V – I – VII⁶₄ – bVII⁶₄

Bridge 1

• Em/B – A7/C♯ – G/B – G – F♯dim/A – Bdim – C – E/B – Am – D – D/E – D/F♯
  vi⁶₄ – II⁶₅ – I⁶ – I – vii°⁶ – iii° – IV – VI⁶₄ – ii – V – V (bass E) – V⁶

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo 1

• G – E♭ – E – A – D – G – E♭ – D
  I – bVI – VI – II – V – I – bVI – V

Solo 2

• G – E♭ – E – A – D – G – F♯/C♯ – F/C
  I – bVI – VI – II – V – I – VII⁶₄ – bVII⁶₄

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo 3

• G – E♭ – E – A – D – G – E♭ – D – G
  I – bVI – VI – II – V – I – bVI – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• E♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F/C (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• A acts as V/V: it resolves to D.
• A9 acts as V/V: it resolves to D.
• E/B acts as V/ii: it resolves to Am.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.