Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 3 · Sections: 10

Form: Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition ×2 → Chorus → Verse → Chorus ×2 → 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

Transition 1

• G – C – G – D – G
  I – IV – I – V – I

Verse 1

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

Chorus 1

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

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• G – D (×5)
  I – V

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G	I	Home chord (tonic)	Transition, Verse, Chorus, Outro
C	IV	In the key	Transition, Verse, Chorus
D	V	In the key	Transition, Verse, Chorus, 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 100% 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.