Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Verse → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → 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

• D – Cadd9 – G (×4)
  V – IVadd9 – I

Verse 1

• D – Cadd9 – G (×4)
  V – IVadd9 – I

Solo 1

• D – C – G (×2)
  V – IV – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• D – Cadd9 – G – C5 (×3)
  V – IVadd9 – I – IV5
• D – Cadd9 – G – F – C/E
  V – IVadd9 – I – bVII – IV⁶

Solo 2

• D – Cadd9 – G (×2)
  V – IVadd9 – I

Verse 3

• D – Cadd9 – G – F – C
  V – IVadd9 – I – bVII – IV
• D – Cadd9 – G (×3)
  V – IVadd9 – I

Chorus 2

• D – Cadd9 – G – C5 (×3)
  V – IVadd9 – I – IV5
• D – Cadd9 – G
  V – IVadd9 – I

Solo 3

• D – C – G (×10)
  V – IV – I

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Outro

• D – C – G (×8)
  V – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0107, 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.