Piano chords · Pop heartbeat

How to play A Case For Shame on piano

Artist unknown

Tuning the piano…

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Learn A Case For Shame in 5 steps

The chords first, then one hand at a time. Each step plays in the player above.

1
Chords: C – Am – Em – C
A Case For Shame sits in E minor: E is home, where the song ends. It goes round 4 chords: C is C, E and G; Am is A, C and E; Em is E, G and B. Play each one as a block with your right hand until the changes feel easy.
CVIAmivEmiCVI
- CC · E · G
- AmA · C · E
- EmE · G · B
2
Left hand: Pop heartbeat
Long, short, long: the heartbeat under a thousand pop songs. Musicians call it root bass · charleston push (1 · 2& · 3) (root bass rhythm), an easy pattern heard in thousands of songs of the library.
Pop heartbeatRoot bass rhythm · PopLeft handEasy
3
Right hand: Rising light
Three notes climb again and again, starting just after the beat. It moves with the chords, so it fits every bar of the loop.
Rising lightRising arpeggio · BalladRight handMedium
4
Both hands at 72 BPM
Put the two hands together over the loop. Start at half speed with the player's speed control, and bring it up once every change is easy.
5
Ending: C – D – Em
The last chords are bVI – bVII – i, then one chord rolled from the bottom up, left to ring.
CDEm
- DD · F# · A

What chords are in A Case For Shame?

The loop is C – Am – Em – C (bVI – iv – i – bVI) in E minor, and the song ends on C – D – Em.

What key is A Case For Shame in?

E minor, at about 72 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in A Case For Shame?

Pop heartbeat: root bass · charleston push (1 · 2& · 3), an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is A Case For Shame easy to play on piano?

It is a medium one: learn the 4 chords as blocks first, then add the left hand, then the right, slowly.

Made from one arrangement of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.