Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Dreamy ballad

Born Free: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By John Barry

Tuning the piano…
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Left hand River rollThe right hand sings the tuneChords the loop the song repeats most

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 Born Free without reading music. The left hand plays river roll (open arpeggio 1-5-8-9-10), and the right hand sings the tune.

Born Free accompaniment in letter notes

The C – F – C – F loop with river roll in the left hand. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
C
RC4+E4+G4
LC3 G3 C4 D4 E4
Bar 2
F
RF4+A4+C5
LF2 C3 F3 G3 A3
Bar 3
C
RC4+E4+G4
LC3 G3 C4 D4 E4
Bar 4
F
RF4+A4+C5 F4 A4 C5 F5 A5 C6 F6 A6
LF2 C3 F3 G3 A3
Bar 5
C
RC4+E4+G4
LC3 G3 C4 D4 E4
Bar 6
F
RF4+A4+C5
LF2 C3 F3 G3 A3
Bar 7
C
RC4+E4+G4
LC3 G3 C4 D4 E4
Bar 8
F
RF4+A4+C5
LF2 C3 F3 G3 A3

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 Born Free

What are the letter notes for the Born Free 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 C – F – C – F, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in Born Free?

The loop is C – F – C – F (I – IV – I – IV) in C major, and the song ends on Dm – G7 – C.

What key is Born Free in?

C major, at about 70 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Born Free?

River roll: open arpeggio 1-5-8-9-10, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Born Free 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.