Save Me by Queen

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 6

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

Key changes

• Chorus 1 moves to D major.
• Verse 2 moves to G major.
• Chorus 2 moves to D major.
• Solo moves to G major.
• Outro moves to D major.

Section by section

Verse 1

• G – D/F♯ – Em7 – G – C – G/B – Am – C – D – G – C – G – D – Am – G – C – Am – C – G – D – C – D – G – C – G/B – G – C – G
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I – IV – I⁶ – ii – IV – V – I – IV – I – V – ii – I – IV – ii – IV – I – V – IV – V – I – IV – I⁶ – I – IV – I

Chorus 1

• D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – D – E7 – A – G – D – A/C♯ – D/C♯ – G/B – Gm/B♭ – D – C – G – D
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I – II7 – V – IV – I – V⁶ – I (bass C♯) – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I – bVII – IV – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – D – E7 – A – G – D – A/C♯ – D/C – G/B – Gm/B♭ – D – C – G/B – Am
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I – II7 – V – IV – I – V⁶ – I (bass C) – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I – bVII – IV⁶ – v

Solo

• G – D/F♯ – Em – G – C – G/B – Am – C – D – G – C – G – D – C – D – G – C – G/B – G – C – G
  I – V⁶ – vi – I – IV – I⁶ – ii – IV – V – I – IV – I – V – IV – V – I – IV – I⁶ – I – IV – I

Outro

• D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – D – E7 – A – G – D – A/C♯ – D/C – G/B – Gm/B♭ – D – C – Bm7 – D – G – D – A/C♯ – D/C – G/B – Gm/B♭ – D – C – G/B – D – C – G – D
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I – II7 – V – IV – I – V⁶ – I (bass C) – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I – bVII – vi7 – I – IV – I – V⁶ – I (bass C) – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I – bVII – IV⁶ – I – bVII – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm/B♭ (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Am (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• E7 acts as V/V: it resolves to A.
• D/C acts as V/IV: it resolves to G/B.

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.