Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 15

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:01)

• G – D – Cadd9
  I – V – IVadd9

Part 2 (0:06)

• G – D – G5/D
  I – V – I5 (bass D)
• Cadd9 – G – D (×3)
  IVadd9 – I – V
• Cadd9
  IVadd9

Part 3 (0:23)

• G – D – Cadd9 (×2)
  I – V – IVadd9
• G – D – G5/D – Cadd9 – G – D
  I – V – I5 (bass D) – IVadd9 – I – V

Part 4 (0:41)

• Cadd9 – G – D (×2)
  IVadd9 – I – V
• G5/D – Cadd9 – G – D – Cadd9 – G
  I5 (bass D) – IVadd9 – I – V – IVadd9 – I

Part 5 (0:59)

• D – G5/D
  V – I5 (bass D)
• Cadd9 – G – D (×3)
  IVadd9 – I – V
• Cadd9
  IVadd9

Part 6 (1:16)

• G – D – Cadd9 (×4)
  I – V – IVadd9

Part 7 (1:35)

• D – Cadd9 (×3)
  V – IVadd9
• D – G – D – Cadd9 – G – D – G5/D – Cadd9
  V – I – V – IVadd9 – I – V – I5 (bass D) – IVadd9

Part 8 (1:53)

• G – D – Cadd9 (×2)
  I – V – IVadd9
• G5 – Dadd11 – C – G5 – Dadd11 – Cadd9
  I5 – Vadd11 – IV – I5 – Vadd11 – IVadd9

Part 9 (2:12)

• G – D – Cadd9 (×2)
  I – V – IVadd9
• D – Cadd9 (×3)
  V – IVadd9
• G
  I

Part 10 (2:30)

• D – Cadd9 (×3)
  V – IVadd9
• Gsus4/D – Gadd11/C (×2)
  Isus4 (bass D) – Iadd11 (bass C)
• Gsus4/D – Gadd11/D – G
  Isus4 (bass D) – Iadd11 (bass D) – I

Part 11 (2:52)

• D – Cadd9 – G (×3)
  V – IVadd9 – I
• D – G5/D – Cadd9
  V – I5 (bass D) – IVadd9

Part 12 (3:09)

• G – C – G5 – D – C – G5 – D5 – C5 – G – D
  I – IV – I5 – V – IV – I5 – V5 – IV5 – I – V

Part 13 (3:28)

• C – G/B – Am (×3)
  IV – I⁶ – ii
• G
  I

Part 14 (3:43)

• D – Cadd9 – G (×4)
  V – IVadd9 – I

Part 15 (4:02)

• D – Cadd9 – G (×3)
  V – IVadd9 – I
• D – Cadd9
  V – IVadd9

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Third Eye Blind), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Third Eye Blind), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.