Trying to Live My Life Without You by Bob Seger

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Chorus → Transition → 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

• D7 – G (×5)
  I7 – IV

Verse 1

• D7 – G (×2)
  I7 – IV
• Bm – G – A
  vi – IV – V

Chorus 1

• D – G (×2)
  I – IV

Transition 1

• Bm – A – G – Bm – G – A
  vi – V – IV – vi – IV – V

Verse 2

• D – G (×2)
  I – IV
• Bm – G – A
  vi – IV – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 3

• D – G (×4)
  I – IV

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• Bm – A – G – Bm – G – A – D
  vi – V – IV – vi – IV – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0830, 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.