Play the Game by Queen

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 24 · Sections: 10

Form: Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Break → Solo → Verse → Part → 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.

Key changes

• Bridge moves to F major.
• Solo moves to C major.

Section by section

Verse 1

• C – B♭ – B♭maj7 – Am – Fm/A♭ – C – Am7 – Dm – G7 – C – C/B♭ – F – Fm
  I – bVII – bVIImaj7 – vi – iv⁶ – I – vi7 – ii – V7 – I – I (bass B♭) – IV – iv

Chorus 1

• C – G/B – C – Gm9 – A♭ – B♭ – C – C/B – C/B♭ – Am7 – A♭ – G – A♭ – F – B♭
  I – V⁶ – I – v9 – bVI – bVII – I – I (bass B) – I (bass B♭) – vi7 – bVI – V – bVI – IV – bVII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• C – G/B – C – Gm9 – A♭ – B♭ – C – C/B – C/B♭ – Am7 – C/G – C
  I – V⁶ – I – v9 – bVI – bVII – I – I (bass B) – I (bass B♭) – vi7 – I⁶₄ – I

Bridge

• F – B♭/F – F – Dm7 – G – C/G
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – vi7 – II – V⁶₄
• Em – C (×2)
  vii – V
• D – Em – C – C/B♭ – Gm7
  VI – vii – V – V (bass B♭) – ii7

Break

• A♭ – B♭
  bIII – IV
• C – G/B (×4)
  V – II⁶
• B♭
  IV
• E/G♯ – Am (×3)
  VII⁶ – iii
• Fm
  i

Solo

• C – Am – Dm – G – C – C7/E – F – Fm – C – G/B – C – Gm9 – A♭ – B♭
  I – vi – ii – V – I – I⁶₅ – IV – iv – I – V⁶ – I – v9 – bVI – bVII

Verse 3

• C – Am7 – Dm – G7 – C – C/B♭ – F – Fm
  I – vi7 – ii – V7 – I – I (bass B♭) – IV – iv

Part

• C – G/B – C – Gm9 – A♭ – B♭
  I – V⁶ – I – v9 – bVI – bVII

Outro

• C – Am7 – Dm – G7 – C – C/B♭ – F – Fm – C – G/B – C – Gm9
  I – vi7 – ii – V7 – I – I (bass B♭) – IV – iv – I – V⁶ – I – v9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm/A♭ (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭ (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.
• Am (iii) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.
• C/B♭ acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.
• G acts as V/V: it resolves to C/G.
• G/B acts as V/V: it resolves to C.
• C7/E acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.

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.