When It's Love by Van Halen

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Solo → Bridge → 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

• D – A – D/F♯ – G (×4)
  I – V – I⁶ – IV
• F – C – G
  bIII – bVII – IV

Transition 1

• D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – G5 – B♭ – C – D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – G5
  I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – IV5 – bVI – bVII – I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – IV5

Verse 1

• D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – G5 – B♭ – C – D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – C – Am
  I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – IV5 – bVI – bVII – I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – bVII – v

Chorus 1

• D – A – Bm – Esus4 – A (×2)
  I – V – vi – IIsus4 – V

Transition 2

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

Verse 2

• D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – G5 – B♭ – C – D5 – F – G – Am – D5 – F – G – A
  I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – IV5 – bVI – bVII – I5 – bIII – IV – v – I5 – bIII – IV – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• F – G (×3)
  bIII – IV
• Am
  v

Solo

• D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – G5 – B♭ – C – D5 – F – G5 – Am – D5 – F – C – Am
  I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – IV5 – bVI – bVII – I5 – bIII – IV5 – v – I5 – bIII – bVII – v

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 3

• D – A – Bm – Esus4 – A (×3)
  I – V – vi – IIsus4 – V

Outro

• D – A – D/F♯ – G – D – A – D/F♯ – A
  I – V – I⁶ – IV – I – V – I⁶ – V
• D – A – D/F♯ – G (×5)
  I – V – I⁶ – IV
• F – C (×2)
  bIII – bVII
• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Am (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1281, 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.