Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley
Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 32 steps · 4 unique chords · 1960s
C
Whole song transcribed by
Harmonic Analysis & Structure
Overview
Key: C major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 9
Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Verse → Verse → Instrumental → Verse → 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
- C
I
Chorus 1
- C – F (×2)
I – IV - Am – G – F – C
vi – V – IV – I
Verse 1
- C – F – C – F – Am – G – F (×2)
I – IV – I – IV – vi – V – IV - C
I
Verse 2
Same chords as Verse 1.
Verse 3
- C – F (×2)
I – IV - Am – G – F – C
vi – V – IV – I
Instrumental
- C – F (×3)
I – IV - C
I
Verse 4
- F – C – F – Am – G – F – C
IV – I – IV – vi – V – IV – I
Chorus 2
Same chords as Chorus 1.
Outro
- C
I
Chord vocabulary
| Chord | Roman numeral | Role | Heard in |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | I | Home chord (tonic) | Intro, Chorus, Verse, Instrumental, Outro |
| F | IV | In the key | Chorus, Verse, Instrumental |
| Am | vi | In the key | Chorus, Verse |
| G | V | In the key | Chorus, Verse |
Sources & accuracy
- Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0965, 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.
Sources & Accuracy
Every chord on this page comes from the expert transcription listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.
- the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0965, CC0), via ChoCo.
All Piano Voicings
| # | Section | Chord | Left hand | Right hand | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 2 | Chorus 1, part 1 (×2) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 3 | Chorus 1, part 1 (×2) | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 4 | Chorus 1, part 2 | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 5 | Chorus 1, part 2 | G | G2, D3 | B3, D4, G4 | — |
| 6 | Chorus 1, part 2 | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 7 | Chorus 1, part 2 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 8 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 9 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 10 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 11 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 12 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 13 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | G | G2, D3 | B3, D4, G4 | — |
| 14 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 15 | Verse 1, part 2 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 16 | Verse 3, part 1 (×2) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 17 | Verse 3, part 1 (×2) | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 18 | Verse 3, part 2 | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 19 | Verse 3, part 2 | G | G2, D3 | B3, D4, G4 | — |
| 20 | Verse 3, part 2 | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 21 | Verse 3, part 2 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 22 | Instrumental, part 1 (×3) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 23 | Instrumental, part 1 (×3) | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 24 | Instrumental, part 2 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 25 | Verse 4 | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 26 | Verse 4 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 27 | Verse 4 | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 28 | Verse 4 | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 29 | Verse 4 | G | G2, D3 | B3, D4, G4 | — |
| 30 | Verse 4 | F | F2, C3 | C4, F4, A4 | — |
| 31 | Verse 4 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 32 | Outro | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |