Last Child by Aerosmith
Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 14 steps · 7 unique chords · 1970s
D♭madd9
Whole song transcribed by
Harmonic Analysis & Structure
Overview
Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 5
Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Solo → Outro
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
- D♭madd9 – G♭13 – E♭7 – E♭7♯9
bviiadd9 – bIII13 – I7 – I7#9
Verse 1
- E♭7♯9 – A♭7 – E♭7♯9 – D♭ – A♭ – E♭7♯9
I7#9 – IV7 – I7#9 – bVII – IV – I7#9
Verse 2
Same chords as Verse 1.
Solo
- E♭7♯9 – D♭ – A♭ (×2)
I7#9 – bVII – IV
Outro
- E♭7♯9
I7#9
Chord vocabulary
| Chord | Roman numeral | Role | Heard in |
|---|---|---|---|
| D♭madd9 | bviiadd9 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Intro |
| G♭13 | bIII13 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Intro |
| E♭7 | I7 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Intro |
| E♭7♯9 | I7#9 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Intro, Verse, Solo, Outro |
| A♭7 | IV7 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Verse |
| D♭ | bVII | Borrowed from E♭ minor | Verse, Solo |
| A♭ | IV | In the key | Verse, Solo |
Harmonic highlights
- D♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
Sources & accuracy
- Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0015, 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.
Sources & Accuracy
Every chord on this page comes from the expert transcription listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.
- the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0015, CC0), via ChoCo.
All Piano Voicings
| # | Section | Chord | Left hand | Right hand | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | D♭madd9 | D♭2, A♭2 | E♭4, F♭4, A♭4 | — |
| 2 | Intro | G♭13 | G♭2, D♭3 | E♭4, F♭4, A♭4, B♭4 | — |
| 3 | Intro | E♭7 | E♭2, B♭2 | D♭4, G4, B♭4 | — |
| 4 | Intro | E♭7♯9 | E♭2, B♭2 | D♭4, F♯4, G4, B♭4 | — |
| 5 | Verse 1 | E♭7♯9 | E♭2, B♭2 | D♭4, F♯4, G4, B♭4 | — |
| 6 | Verse 1 | A♭7 | A♭2, E♭3 | E♭4, G♭4, C5 | — |
| 7 | Verse 1 | E♭7♯9 | E♭2, B♭2 | D♭4, F♯4, G4, B♭4 | — |
| 8 | Verse 1 | D♭ | D♭2, A♭2 | D♭4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 9 | Verse 1 | A♭ | A♭2, E♭3 | C4, E♭4, A♭4 | — |
| 10 | Verse 1 | E♭7♯9 | E♭2, B♭2 | B♭3, D♭4, F♯4, G4 | — |
| 11 | Solo (×2) | E♭7♯9 | E♭2, B♭2 | B♭3, D♭4, F♯4, G4 | — |
| 12 | Solo (×2) | D♭ | D♭2, A♭2 | D♭4, F4, A♭4 | — |
| 13 | Solo (×2) | A♭ | A♭2, E♭3 | C4, E♭4, A♭4 | — |
| 14 | Outro | E♭7♯9 | E♭2, B♭2 | B♭3, D♭4, F♯4, G4 | — |