Take on Me by a-ha

Overview

Key: F♯ minor · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 19

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:05)

• Bmadd9 – B9 – Bm – B9
  ivadd9 – IV9 – iv – IV9

Part 2 (0:17)

• Bm7 – E7 – A – Dmaj7 – C♯m7 (×2)
  iv7 – bVII7 – bIII – bVImaj7 – v7

Part 3 (0:28)

• Bm7 – E7 (×3)
  iv7 – bVII7
• A – Dmaj7 – C♯m7
  bIII – bVImaj7 – v7

Part 4 (0:40)

• Bm7 – E7 – A – Dmaj7 – C♯m7 – Bm7 – E7 – F♯m7 – Dmaj7
  iv7 – bVII7 – bIII – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII7 – i7 – bVImaj7

Part 5 (0:51)

• A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m7 – D (×2)
  bIII – v⁶₄ – i7 – bVI

Part 6 (1:02)

• A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m7 – D – A – E7/G♯ – Bm7/D – E7
  bIII – v⁶₄ – i7 – bVI – bIII – bVII⁶₅ – iv⁶₅ – bVII7

Part 7 (1:14)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:17).

Part 8 (1:25)

• Bm7 – E7 – F♯m7 – Dmaj7 – A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m7 – D
  iv7 – bVII7 – i7 – bVImaj7 – bIII – v⁶₄ – i7 – bVI

Part 9 (1:36)

Same chords as Part 5 (0:51).

Part 10 (1:48)

• A – E7/G♯ – D – E7 – C♯m – G
  bIII – bVII⁶₅ – bVI – bVII7 – v – bII

Part 11 (1:59)

• C♯m – C♯m7 – G – Gmaj7 – Bm – E
  v – v7 – bII – bIImaj7 – iv – bVII

Part 12 (2:16)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:17).

Part 13 (2:28)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:28).

Part 14 (2:39)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:40).

Part 15 (2:50)

Same chords as Part 5 (0:51).

Part 16 (3:02)

Same chords as Part 5 (0:51).

Part 17 (3:13)

Same chords as Part 5 (0:51).

Part 18 (3:24)

Same chords as Part 5 (0:51).

Part 19 (3:36)

• A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m7 – D – A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m7
  bIII – v⁶₄ – i7 – bVI – bIII – v⁶₄ – i7

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Hunting High And Low), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Hunting High And Low), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.