Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 6

Form: Verse → Verse → Interlude → Bridge → Solo → 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

Verse 1

• Am – E/G♯ – Am7/G – D/F♯ – Fmaj7 – G (×2)
  i – V⁶ – i⁴₂ – IV⁶ – bVImaj7 – bVII
• Am – C – D – Fmaj7 – Am – C – G – D – C – D – Fmaj7 – Am – C – D – Fmaj7
  i – bIII – IV – bVImaj7 – i – bIII – bVII – IV – bIII – IV – bVImaj7 – i – bIII – IV – bVImaj7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude

• Am – E/G♯ – Am7/G – D/F♯ – Fmaj7 – G (×2)
  i – V⁶ – i⁴₂ – IV⁶ – bVImaj7 – bVII
• Am – G
  i – bVII
• Am7 – D (×4)
  i7 – IV
• C – G/B – Am – C – G/B – F – Am (×2)
  bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bIII – bVII⁶ – bVI – i
• C – G/B
  bIII – bVII⁶
• Am7 – D (×4)
  i7 – IV
• C – G/B – Am – C – G/B – F – Am (×2)
  bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bIII – bVII⁶ – bVI – i
• C – G/B
  bIII – bVII⁶
• Am7 – D (×4)
  i7 – IV
• C – G/B – Am – C – G/B – F – Am (×2)
  bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bIII – bVII⁶ – bVI – i
• C – G/B
  bIII – bVII⁶
• Am7 – D (×4)
  i7 – IV
• C – G/B – Am – C – G/B – F – Am (×2)
  bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bIII – bVII⁶ – bVI – i
• C – G/B
  bIII – bVII⁶

Bridge

• D – Caug7 (×2)
  IV – bIII+7
• G/B
  bVII⁶

Solo

• Am – G – F (×10)
  i – bVII – bVI

Outro

• Am – G – F (×13)
  i – bVII – bVI
• Am
  i

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Am	i	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Interlude, Solo, Outro
E/G♯	V⁶	In the key	Verse, Interlude
Am7/G	i⁴₂	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Interlude
D/F♯	IV⁶	Borrowed from A major	Verse, Interlude
Fmaj7	bVImaj7	In the key	Verse, Interlude
G	bVII	In the key	Verse, Interlude, Solo, Outro
C	bIII	In the key	Verse, Interlude
D	IV	Borrowed from A major	Verse, Interlude, Bridge
Am7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	Interlude
G/B	bVII⁶	In the key	Interlude, Bridge
F	bVI	In the key	Interlude, Solo, Outro
Caug7	bIII+7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• D/F♯ (IV⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• D (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.

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 99% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• 2 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.