If I Needed Someone by The Beatles

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 10

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

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

• A
  I

Verse 1

• A – G/A
  I – bVII (bass A)

Verse 2

• A – G/A – A
  I – bVII (bass A) – I

Bridge 1

• Em – F♯ – Bm (×2)
  v – VI – ii
• E
  V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Solo

• A – G/A – A
  I – bVII (bass A) – I

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 2.

Outro

• A
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G/A (bVII (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F♯ acts as V/ii: it resolves to Bm.

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.