Redemption Song by Bob Marley & The Wailers

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Outro

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 1

• G – C (×2)
  I – IV
• G
  I

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

Verse 1

• G – Em – C – G/B – Am (×3)
  I – vi – IV – I⁶ – ii
• G – Em – C – D
  I – vi – IV – V

Chorus 1

• G – C – D (×2)
  I – IV – V
• Em
  vi
• C – D – G (×2)
  IV – V – I
• C – D
  IV – V

Verse 2

• G – Em – C – G/B – Am – G – Em – C – G/B – D (×2)
  I – vi – IV – I⁶ – ii – I – vi – IV – I⁶ – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• G
  I
• C – D – Em (×4)
  IV – V – vi
• C – D
  IV – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 3

• G – C – D (×2)
  I – IV – V
• Em – C – D – G
  vi – IV – V – I
• C – D – Em (×2)
  IV – V – vi
• C – D – G (×2)
  IV – V – I

Outro

• C – G/B – Am – D7
  IV – I⁶ – ii – V7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo
C	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Outro
Em	vi	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Solo
G/B	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Outro
Am	ii	In the key	Verse, Outro
D	V	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Solo
D7	V7	In the key	Outro

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 96% 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.