You Really Got Me by The Kinks

Overview

Key: G♯ major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Solo → Outro

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

• G♯
  I

Verse 1

• G♯ – A♯ – D♯ – C♯
  I – II – V – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo

• G♯
  I

Outro

• G♯ – A♯ – D♯
  I – II – V

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G♯	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Solo, Outro
A♯	II	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Verse, Outro
D♯	V	In the key	Verse, Outro
C♯	IV	In the key	Verse

Harmonic highlights

• A♯ acts as V/V: it resolves to D♯.

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.