Piano chords · Bossa beach
An Old Fashioned Christmas: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
Written by Johnny Marks
- F major
- 2/2
- 160 BPM
- 1952
- Easy
Play the full song with sheet music
The accompaniment with every note named, bar by bar: the bar sheet shows each note as a bar on the staff with its letter inside, so you can accompany An Old Fashioned Christmas without reading music. The left hand plays island seesaw (root–fifth 1-5-1) and the right hand hopscotch bells.
An Old Fashioned Christmas accompaniment in letter notes
The C7 – F – Fdim – F loop with island seesaw in the left hand and hopscotch bells in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.
How to read the bar sheet
The player above shows the treble staff (right hand) over the bass staff (left hand). Every note is a bar as long as it sounds, at its place on the staff, with its name inside, and the music scrolls past a line that marks now. The chord names run along the top.
Start with the left hand alone at a slow speed, then the right, then both. When the letters feel easy, try the sheet music.
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Questions about An Old Fashioned Christmas
What are the letter notes for the An Old Fashioned Christmas piano accompaniment?
Bar by bar, both hands: the bar sheet on this page names every note of the accompaniment (C4 is middle C) and plays along. The loop is C7 – F – Fdim – F, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in An Old Fashioned Christmas?
The loop is C7 – F – Fdim – F (V7 – I – io – I) in F major, and the song ends on Bb – C – F.
What key is An Old Fashioned Christmas in?
F major, at about 160 beats a minute in 2/2.
What does the left hand play in An Old Fashioned Christmas?
Island seesaw: root–fifth 1-5-1, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is An Old Fashioned Christmas easy to play on piano?
Yes. Both hands play easy patterns over 4 chords. Learn the chords first, then add one hand at a time.
Made from 2 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.