Piano chords · Old-time stride
Bill: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
By Jerome Kern
- Bb major
- 4/4
- 100 BPM
- 1927
- Easy
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 Bill without reading music. The left hand plays oom-pah (bass + chords) and the right hand hopscotch chords.
Bill accompaniment in letter notes
The Cm – F7 – Bb – Dm loop with oom-pah in the left hand and hopscotch chords 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 Bill
What are the letter notes for the Bill 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 Cm – F7 – Bb – Dm, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in Bill?
The loop is Cm – F7 – Bb – Dm (ii – V7 – I – iii) in Bb major, and the song ends on Eb – F – Bb.
What key is Bill in?
Bb major, at about 100 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in Bill?
Oom-pah: bass + chords, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Bill 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 4 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.