Sugar Magnolia by Grateful Dead

Overview

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

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Interlude → Verse ×2 → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → 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 – D/A – A – E (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – V
• A – E – A
  I – V – I

Verse 1

• A – D/A – A – G – E – A – C♯m – F♯m – E – D – A – E – A
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – bVII – V – I – iii – vi – V – IV – I – V – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 1

• D – G – D – A – D – G – D
  IV – bVII – IV – I – IV – bVII – IV
• E – A (×2)
  V – I

Interlude

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

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus

• A – G – D (×3)
  I – bVII – IV
• A – E – G – D – A – E – A
  I – V – bVII – IV – I – V – I

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 5

• A – D/A (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄
• A – B – E/B – B – F♯ – E – D
  I – II – V⁶₄ – II – VI – V – IV
• A – E – B (×2)
  I – V – II

Outro

• B – E/B – B – F♯ – E (×6)
  II – V⁶₄ – II – VI – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• B acts as V/V: it resolves to E/B.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1034, 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.