Straight to the Heart by David Sanborn

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 25 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → Solo → B Section → C Section → A Section → Outro

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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♭maj13 – E♭/F – F7♯11 – B♭9sus4 – E♭add9 – C9sus4 – Cadd9
  bVIImaj13 – I (bass F) – II7#11 – V9sus4 – Iadd9 – VI9sus4 – VIadd9

A Section 1

• Fmaj9 – G9sus4 – F7♯11 – Em7 – D7sus4/A – A7♭9 – B♭7sus4 – Gaug7 – F9sus4 – F7♯11 – D♭maj13 – E♭/F – F7♯11 – B♭9sus4 – E♭add9 – C9sus4 – Cadd9
  IImaj9 – III9sus4 – II7#11 – #i7 – VII7sus4 (bass A) – #IV7b9 – V7sus4 – III+7 – II9sus4 – II7#11 – bVIImaj13 – I (bass F) – II7#11 – V9sus4 – Iadd9 – VI9sus4 – VIadd9

A Section 2

• Fmaj9 – G9sus4 – F7♯11 – Em7 – D7sus4/A – A7♭9 – B♭7sus4 – Gaug7 – F9sus4 – F7♯11 – D♭maj13
  IImaj9 – III9sus4 – II7#11 – #i7 – VII7sus4 (bass A) – #IV7b9 – V7sus4 – III+7 – II9sus4 – II7#11 – bVIImaj13

Solo

• E♭/F – F7♯11 – B♭9sus4
  I (bass F) – II7#11 – V9sus4

B Section

• Gaug7 – A♭maj7 – F13 – B♭9sus4 (×2)
  III+7 – IVmaj7 – II13 – V9sus4
• E♭add9
  Iadd9
• Gaug7 – A♭maj7 – F13 – B♭9sus4 (×2)
  III+7 – IVmaj7 – II13 – V9sus4
• G7/B
  III⁶₅

C Section

• Cm7 – F9 – B♭9sus4 – E♭add9 – G9sus4 – G7♭9 – G7♭9/B – Cm7 – Fm7 – E♭/G – B♭9sus4
  vi7 – II9 – V9sus4 – Iadd9 – III9sus4 – III7b9 – III7b9 (bass B) – vi7 – ii7 – I⁶ – V9sus4
• C9sus4 – C (×2)
  VI9sus4 – VI

A Section 3

• Fmaj9 – G9sus4 – F7♯11 – Em7 – D7sus4/A – A7♭9 – B♭7sus4 – Gaug7 – F9sus4 – F7♯11 – D♭maj13 – E♭/F – F7♯11
  IImaj9 – III9sus4 – II7#11 – #i7 – VII7sus4 (bass A) – #IV7b9 – V7sus4 – III+7 – II9sus4 – II7#11 – bVIImaj13 – I (bass F) – II7#11
• B♭9sus4 – Gaug7 – A♭maj7 – F13 (×2)
  V9sus4 – III+7 – IVmaj7 – II13
• B♭9sus4 – E♭add9
  V9sus4 – Iadd9
• Gaug7 – A♭maj7 – F13 – B♭9sus4 (×2)
  III+7 – IVmaj7 – II13 – V9sus4
• E♭add9 – Gaug7 – A♭maj7 – F13 – B♭9sus4 – Gaug7 – A♭maj7
  Iadd9 – III+7 – IVmaj7 – II13 – V9sus4 – III+7 – IVmaj7

Outro

• F13 – F7♯11 – D♭maj13 – E♭/F – F7♯11 – B♭9sus4 – E♭add9
  II13 – II7#11 – bVIImaj13 – I (bass F) – II7#11 – V9sus4 – Iadd9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F7♯11 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭9sus4.
• F13 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭9sus4.
• F9 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭9sus4.
• G7♭9/B acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Straight To The Heart” (credited “Marcus Miller (David Sanborn)”, style Soul Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Not verified: other charts of this song differ in places from this one, so this page isn't marked verified.
• 14 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.