Purple Haze by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Verse → Tag → Solo → Chorus → Verse → Tag → Solo

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

• Em
  i

Chorus 1

• Em
  i

Interlude

• Em7 – G – A (×2)
  i7 – bIII – IV

Verse 1

• Em7 – G – A (×3)
  i7 – bIII – IV
• Em
  i

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Tag 1

• A – Em/B – D
  IV – i⁶₄ – bVII

Solo 1

• Em – D/F♯ – D (×4)
  i – bVII⁶ – bVII

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Tag 2

Same chords as Tag 1.

Solo 2

• Em – D/F♯ – D (×6)
  i – bVII⁶ – bVII

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em	i	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Solo
Em7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	Interlude, Verse
G	bIII	In the key	Interlude, Verse
A	IV	Borrowed from E major	Interlude, Verse, Tag
Em/B	i⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Tag
D	bVII	In the key	Tag, Solo
D/F♯	bVII⁶	In the key	Solo

Harmonic highlights

• A (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, E major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 91% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.