The Joker by Steve Miller Band

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 9

Form: Verse → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse ×2

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

Verse 1

• F – B♭ – C – B♭ (×4)
  I – IV – V – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• F – B♭ (×3)
  I – IV
• C
  V
• B♭ – F (×3)
  IV – I
• B♭ – C – Csus4
  IV – V – Vsus4

Solo 1

• F – B♭ – C – B♭ (×4)
  I – IV – V – IV

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• F – B♭ – F – B♭ – F – B♭ – C – B♭ (×2)
  I – IV – I – IV – I – IV – V – IV

Solo 2

• F – B♭ (×3)
  I – IV
• C
  V
• B♭ – F (×3)
  IV – I
• B♭ – C – Csus4
  IV – V – Vsus4

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0029, 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.