The Word by The Beatles

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 11

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

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• G – D7♯9
  IV – I7#9

Verse 1

• D7♯9 – G7 – D7♯9 – Asus4 – A – Gsus4 – G – D7♯9
  I7#9 – IV7 – I7#9 – Vsus4 – V – IVsus4 – IV – I7#9

Bridge 1

• D – C – F – G
  I – bVII – bIII – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 3

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo 1

• D – Cadd9 – F6 – G
  I – bVIIadd9 – bIII6 – IV

Solo 2

• D – D7♯9 – G7 – D7♯9 – Asus4 – A – Gsus4 – G – D7♯9
  I – I7#9 – IV7 – I7#9 – Vsus4 – V – IVsus4 – IV – I7#9

Bridge 4

• D – Cadd9 – F6
  I – bVIIadd9 – bIII6

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gsus4 (IVsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Cadd9 (bVIIadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• F6 (bIII6) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.