Wait by The Beatles

Overview

Key: F♯ minor · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 11

Form: Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Verse

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

Verse 1

• F♯m – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯ – F♯m – F♯m7 – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯ – F♯m
  i – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V – i – i7 – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V – i

Chorus 1

• A – Dmaj7 (×3)
  bIII – bVImaj7
• A – C♯7 – F♯m
  bIII – V7 – i

Verse 2

• F♯m7 – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯7 – F♯m (×2)
  i7 – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V7 – i

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• B5 – E – A – F♯m – B5 – E – A – C♯sus4 – C♯
  IV5 – bVII – bIII – i – IV5 – bVII – bIII – Vsus4 – V

Verse 3

• F♯m7
  i7
• B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯ – F♯m (×2)
  IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V – i

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

• F♯m – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯7 – F♯m – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯ – F♯m
  i – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V7 – i – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V – i

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

• F♯m – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯ – F♯m – B/F♯ – Bm/F♯ – F♯m – C♯7 – F♯m
  i – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V – i – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – i – V7 – i

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B/F♯ (IV⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ major.

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.