Talk to Me by Chico DeBarge

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse

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♭
  II

Verse 1

• A♭7 – A♭9 (×2)
  I7 – I9

Chorus

• G♭ – B♭m – C♭ – D♭7sus4 – G♭ – B♭m – C♭ – B♭
  bVII – ii – bIII – IV7sus4 – bVII – ii – bIII – II

Interlude

• G♭sus2 – A♭7
  bVIIsus2 – I7

Verse 2

• A♭7 – A♭9 (×4)
  I7 – I9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• C♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• D♭7sus4 (IV7sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• G♭sus2 (bVIIsus2) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0590, 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.