Revolution 1 by The Beatles

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• A – E7
  bVII – IV7

Verse 1

• A – D (×2)
  bVII – bIII
• E – Bm (×2)
  IV – i
• G – A – F♯ – E
  bVI – bVII – V – IV

Chorus 1

• A – D (×3)
  bVII – bIII
• E
  IV

Verse 2

• A – D/A (×2)
  bVII – bIII⁶₄
• E – Bm (×2)
  IV – i
• G – A – F♯ – E
  bVI – bVII – V – IV

Chorus 2

• A – D (×3)
  bVII – bIII

Solo

• E
  IV

Verse 3

• A – D/A (×2)
  bVII – bIII⁶₄
• E – E7sus2 – E6 – E7 – Bm – E – Bm – G – A – F♯ – E
  IV – IV7sus2 – IV6 – IV7 – i – IV – i – bVI – bVII – V – IV

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• A – D/A (×9)
  bVII – bIII⁶₄
• A
  bVII

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• D (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Bm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• G (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• D/A (bIII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• E7sus2 (IV7sus2) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.

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.