Sexy Sadie by The Beatles

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse ×2 → Bridge → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• D – C – D – G – F♯ – F – D
  V – IV – V – I – VII – bVII – V

Verse 1

• G – F♯ – Bm
  I – VII – iii
• C – D – G – F♯ (×2)
  IV – V – I – VII
• F – D
  bVII – V

Verse 2

• G – F♯ – Bm – Bm7
  I – VII – iii – iii7
• C – D – G – F♯ (×2)
  IV – V – I – VII
• F – D
  bVII – V

Bridge 1

• G – Am – Bm – C (×2)
  I – ii – iii – IV
• A – A♭
  II – bII

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

• G – Am – Bm – C (×2)
  I – ii – iii – IV
• A – A♭ – G – F♯
  II – bII – I – VII

Outro

• Bm
  iii
• C – D – G – F♯ (×2)
  IV – V – I – VII
• F – D – G – F♯ – Bm
  bVII – V – I – VII – iii
• C – D – G – F♯ (×2)
  IV – V – I – VII
• F – D – G – F♯ – Bm – C – D – G – F♯ – C – D – G
  bVII – V – I – VII – iii – IV – V – I – VII – IV – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F♯ acts as V/iii: it resolves to Bm.

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.