Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → Bridge → A Section → Outro

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E (×2)
  I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)

A Section 1

• A – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E (×2)
  I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)
• F♯m – B/F♯ (×2)
  vi – II⁶₄
• A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – A/E – G♯m7 – C♯ – Dmaj7 – C♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E – A – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – vii7 – III – IVmaj7 – iii7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E) – I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)

A Section 2

• A – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E (×2)
  I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)
• F♯m – B/F♯ (×2)
  vi – II⁶₄
• A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – A/E – G♯m7 – C♯ – Dmaj7 – C♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E – A
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – vii7 – III – IVmaj7 – iii7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E) – I

Bridge

• C♯7 – F♯m7 – Bm – Bm7/E – A – G♯7/D♯ – G♯7♭9 – C♯maj7 – F♯m7 – F♯m/B
  III7 – vi7 – ii – ii7 (bass E) – I – VII⁴₃ – VII7b9 – IIImaj7 – vi7 – vi (bass B)

A Section 3

• A – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E (×2)
  I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)
• F♯m – B/F♯ (×2)
  vi – II⁶₄
• A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – A/E – G♯m7 – C♯
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – vii7 – III

Outro

• Dmaj7 – C♯m7 – Bm7 (×3)
  IVmaj7 – iii7 – ii7
• A – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E (×2)
  I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)
• F♯m – B/F♯ (×2)
  vi – II⁶₄
• A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – A/E – G♯m7 – C♯
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – vii7 – III
• Dmaj7 – C♯m7 – Bm7 (×3)
  IVmaj7 – iii7 – ii7
• A – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Bm7/E (×2)
  I – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass E)

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, Bridge, Outro
F♯m7	vi7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge, Outro
Bm7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Outro
Bm7/E	ii7 (bass E)	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge, Outro
F♯m	vi	In the key	A Section, Outro
B/F♯	II⁶₄	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Outro
E/G♯	V⁶	In the key	A Section, Outro
A/E	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, Outro
G♯m7	vii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Outro
C♯	III	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Outro
Dmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section, Outro
C♯m7	iii7	In the key	A Section, Outro
C♯7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Bridge
Bm	ii	In the key	Bridge
G♯7/D♯	VII⁴₃	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
G♯7♭9	VII7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
C♯maj7	IIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
F♯m/B	vi (bass B)	In the key	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• C♯7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to F♯m7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Saving All My Love For You” (credited “Houston Whitney”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Saving All My Love For You” (credited “Whitney Houston (Goffin, Masser)”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 69%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.