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I Wanna Be Your Lover by Prince

Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 17 steps · 5 unique chords · 1980s

Community chart. These chords come from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums, not from a transcription checked against the recording. Charts are sometimes written in a different key or simplified, and no second chart of this song agreed closely enough to mark this page verified. Trust your ears.
A Section 1Step 1 of 17

Emaj9

LeftE2, B2RightB3, D♯4, F♯4, G♯4
C4E2B2B3D♯4F♯4G♯4
Left hand Right hand Middle C (C4)

No source cited for this step

Harmonic Analysis & Structure

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 6

Form: A Section → A Section → B Section → Bridge → C Section → C Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

A Section 1

  • Emaj9 – B/D♯ – Emaj7 – B/D♯ – Emaj9 – G♯m – F♯ – Emaj9 – B/D♯ – Emaj9 – G♯m – F♯
    IVmaj9 – I⁶ – IVmaj7 – I⁶ – IVmaj9 – vi – V – IVmaj9 – I⁶ – IVmaj9 – vi – V

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section

  • Emaj9 – B/D♯ – G♯m
    IVmaj9 – I⁶ – vi

Bridge

  • G♯m
    vi

C Section 1

  • G♯m
    vi

C Section 2

Same chords as C Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

ChordRoman numeralRoleHeard in
Emaj9IVmaj9In the keyA Section, B Section
B/D♯I⁶Home chord (tonic)A Section, B Section
Emaj7IVmaj7In the keyA Section
G♯mviIn the keyA Section, B Section, Bridge, C Section
F♯VIn the keyA Section

Sources & accuracy

  • Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (credited “Prince”, style Even 8ths) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
  • Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
  • Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
  • About the song: Wikipedia.
  • Not verified: only one chart of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
  • Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.

Sources & Accuracy

Every chord on this page comes from the community chart listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.

  • Chords from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums (archived in the ChoCo research dataset); may be in a different key from the recording, and not checked against it.

    Community chord chart “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (credited “Prince”, style Even 8ths) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.

All Piano Voicings

#SectionChordLeft handRight handSources
1A Section 1Emaj9E2, B2B3, D♯4, F♯4, G♯4—
2A Section 1B/D♯D♯2B3, D♯4, F♯4—
3A Section 1Emaj7E2, B2B3, D♯4, G♯4—
4A Section 1B/D♯D♯2B3, D♯4, F♯4—
5A Section 1Emaj9E2, B2B3, D♯4, F♯4, G♯4—
6A Section 1G♯mG♯2, D♯3B3, D♯4, G♯4—
7A Section 1F♯F♯2, C♯3A♯3, C♯4, F♯4—
8A Section 1Emaj9E2, B2G♯3, B3, D♯4, F♯4—
9A Section 1B/D♯D♯2B3, D♯4, F♯4—
10A Section 1Emaj9E2, B2B3, D♯4, F♯4, G♯4—
11A Section 1G♯mG♯2, D♯3B3, D♯4, G♯4—
12A Section 1F♯F♯2, C♯3A♯3, C♯4, F♯4—
13B SectionEmaj9E2, B2G♯3, B3, D♯4, F♯4—
14B SectionB/D♯D♯2B3, D♯4, F♯4—
15B SectionG♯mG♯2, D♯3B3, D♯4, G♯4—
16BridgeG♯mG♯2, D♯3B3, D♯4, G♯4—
17C Section 1G♯mG♯2, D♯3B3, D♯4, G♯4—