Straight From the Heart by The Allman Brothers Band

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Bridge → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

• A – E/A – A – D/A (×4)
  I – V (bass A) – I – IV⁶₄

Verse 1

• A – Dm/A (×6)
  I – iv⁶₄
• Bm7 – E
  ii7 – V

Chorus 1

• A – E/A – A – D/A (×2)
  I – V (bass A) – I – IV⁶₄
• C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – E – C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – D – E
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – IV – V

Transition

• A – E/A – A – D/A (×2)
  I – V (bass A) – I – IV⁶₄

Verse 2

• A – Dm/A – A – Dm6/A
  I – iv⁶₄ – I – iv6 (bass A)
• A – Dm/A (×3)
  I – iv⁶₄
• Bm7 – E
  ii7 – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• A – Dm/A (×6)
  I – iv⁶₄
• Bm7 – E
  ii7 – V

Bridge

• C♯m7 – D (×3)
  iii7 – IV
• Bm7 – E
  ii7 – V

Chorus 3

• A – E/A – A – D/A (×4)
  I – V (bass A) – I – IV⁶₄

Outro

• A – A/C♯ – D – E (×14)
  I – I⁶ – IV – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Dm/A (iv⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm6/A (iv6 (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0798, CC0), 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.