Letter Full of Tears by Gladys Knight & The Pips

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → 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

• E – C♯m – A – B
  I – vi – IV – V

Verse 1

• E – C♯m – A – E – G♯7 – A – A♯dim7
  I – vi – IV – I – III7 – IV – #iv°7

Chorus 1

• E – C♯m (×2)
  I – vi
• E – E7
  I – I7

Bridge

• A – E – E7 (×2)
  IV – I – I7
• A – E – C♯m – F♯7 – B7
  IV – I – vi – II7 – V7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• E – C♯m (×6)
  I – vi
• E
  I

Outro

• E – C♯m (×5)
  I – vi

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A.
• F♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to B7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0112, 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.