Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix

Overview

Key: E♭ minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Solo

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

• E♭m
  i

Chorus 1

• E♭m
  i

Verse 1

• E♭m – E♭m7/D♭ – A♭/C – E♭m
  i – i⁴₂ – IV⁶ – i

Chorus 2

• B7 – D♭ – E♭m
  #V7 – bVII – i

Solo 1

• E♭m
  i

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Solo 2

Same chords as Solo 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E♭m	i	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Solo
E♭m7/D♭	i⁴₂	Home chord (tonic)	Verse
A♭/C	IV⁶	Borrowed from E♭ major	Verse
B7	#V7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
D♭	bVII	In the key	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• A♭/C (IV⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.