Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

Overview

Key: F minor · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 14

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Tag → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Tag → Solo → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Outro

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

• Fm – B♭m – A♭ – D♭ (×6)
  i – iv – bIII – bVI

Verse 1

• Fm – B♭m – A♭ – D♭ (×6)
  i – iv – bIII – bVI

Pre-Chorus 1

• Fm – B♭m – A♭ – D♭ (×4)
  i – iv – bIII – bVI

Chorus 1

• Fm – B♭m – A♭ – D♭ (×6)
  i – iv – bIII – bVI

Tag 1

• Fm – G♭ – Fm/C – B♭m – A♭ (×2)
  i – bII – i⁶₄ – iv – bIII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Tag 2

Same chords as Tag 1.

Solo

• Fm – B♭m – A♭ – D♭ (×8)
  i – iv – bIII – bVI

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• Fm – B♭m – A♭ – D♭ (×4)
  i – iv – bIII – bVI
• Fm
  i

Chord vocabulary

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 75% of the song.
• Not verified: the two RS 200 analysts differ in places (see their agreement above).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.