Maria Elena by Lorenzo Barcelata

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 5

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → E 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

• F – Caug – F
  I – V+ – I
• D7 – Gm (×2)
  VI7 – ii
• Gm7 – C – C7 – Caug – F – F7
  ii7 – V – V7 – V+ – I – I7

B Section

• Gm – D7 – Gm – Gm7 – C – C7 – Caug – Gm – C7 – Gm – Gm7 – C – C7
  ii – VI7 – ii – ii7 – V – V7 – V+ – ii – V7 – ii – ii7 – V – V7

C Section

• Caug – F (×2)
  V+ – I
• Am
  iii
• D7 – Gm (×2)
  VI7 – ii
• Gm7 – A7
  ii7 – III7

D Section

• Dm – Cm – F7 – B♭ – B♭m – F – D7 – Gm – Gm7 – C7
  vi – v – I7 – IV – iv – I – VI7 – ii – ii7 – V7

E Section

• F – Cm6 – D7 – Gm – Gm7 – C7 – F – B♭m – F
  I – v6 – VI7 – ii – ii7 – V7 – I – iv – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
F	I	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, C Section, D Section, E Section
Caug	V+	Borrowed from F minor	A Section, B Section, C Section
D7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section, B Section, C Section, D Section, E Section
Gm	ii	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section, D Section, E Section
Gm7	ii7	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section, D Section, E Section
C	V	In the key	A Section, B Section
C7	V7	In the key	A Section, B Section, D Section, E Section
F7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	D Section
Am	iii	In the key	C Section
A7	III7	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
Dm	vi	In the key	D Section
Cm	v	Borrowed from F minor	D Section
B♭	IV	In the key	D Section
B♭m	iv	Borrowed from F minor	D Section, E Section
Cm6	v6	Outside the key (chromatic)	E Section

Harmonic highlights

• Caug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Cm (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• D7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Gm.
• F7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to B♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Maria Elena 1 1” (credited “Barcelata L.”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: the chart has no section markings, so sections were detected by code from repeated 8-, 12- and 16-bar phrases (letters such as A and B mark different phrases).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Maria Elena ( los indigos tabajaras)” (credited “Lorenzo Barcelata-Bob Russell”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 66%).
• 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.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.