Sweet Love by Anita Baker

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 10

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

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

• B♭maj7 – G♭maj7 – E♭m9 – A♭11 – F7 (×2)
  Imaj7 – bVImaj7 – iv9 – bVII11 – V7

Verse 1

• B♭maj7 – E♭m9 – G♭maj7 – Fm7 – A♭11 – F7 – B♭maj7 – E♭m9 – G♭maj7 – A♭11 – F7
  Imaj7 – iv9 – bVImaj7 – v7 – bVII11 – V7 – Imaj7 – iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII11 – V7

Chorus 1

• B♭maj7 – E♭m9 – G♭maj7 – A♭11 – F7 (×2)
  Imaj7 – iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII11 – V7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• E♭m7 – B♭7sus4 – B♭7 (×3)
  iv7 – I7sus4 – I7
• C♭maj7 – B♭m7 – F11
  bIImaj7 – i7 – V11

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• B♭maj7 – E♭m9 – G♭maj7 – A♭11 – F7 (×6)
  Imaj7 – iv9 – bVImaj7 – bVII11 – V7

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♭maj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m9 (iv9) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭11 (bVII11) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• Fm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• B♭7sus4 (I7sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• B♭m7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0837, 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.