Rock and Roll Music by Chuck Berry

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus

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

• E♭7
  I7

Chorus 1

• E♭ – A♭
  I – IV
• E♭ – B♭ (×2)
  I – V
• E♭
  I

Verse 1

• B♭7 – E♭ – A♭ – B♭
  V7 – I – IV – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E♭7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
E♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus, Verse
A♭	IV	In the key	Chorus, Verse
B♭	V	In the key	Chorus, Verse
B♭7	V7	In the key	Verse

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.