Waiting on a Friend by The Rolling Stones

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Verse → Transition → Solo → Verse → Verse → Transition → Solo

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

• Cadd9 – Dm/F – F (×8)
  Iadd9 – ii⁶ – IV

Verse 1

• Am – F – G
  vi – IV – V
• C – G7 (×2)
  I – V7
• C
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 3

• Am – F – G
  vi – IV – V
• C – G7 (×2)
  I – V7

Transition 1

• Cadd9 – Dm/F – F (×3)
  Iadd9 – ii⁶ – IV

Solo 1

• Cadd9 – Dm/F – F (×9)
  Iadd9 – ii⁶ – IV

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 3.

Transition 2

• Cadd9 – Dm/F – F (×2)
  Iadd9 – ii⁶ – IV

Solo 2

• Cadd9 – Dm/F – F (×16)
  Iadd9 – ii⁶ – IV
• Cadd9
  Iadd9

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0278, 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.