Piano chords · Pop heartbeat
How to play Break Your Heart on piano
Artist unknown
- C minor
- 4/4
- 120 BPM
- 2009
- Medium
Learn Break Your Heart in 5 steps
The chords first, then one hand at a time. Each step plays in the player above.
- 1
Chords: Cm – Ab – Eb – Gm
Break Your Heart sits in C minor: C is home, where the song ends. It goes round 4 chords: Cm is C, Eb and G; Ab is Ab, C and Eb; Eb is Eb, G and Bb; Gm is G, Bb and D. Play each one as a block with your right hand until the changes feel easy.
CmiAbVIEbIIIGmv- CmC · Eb · G
- AbAb · C · Eb
- EbEb · G · Bb
- GmG · Bb · D
- 2
Left hand: Groovy roots
Notes jump around the “ands”, giving the bass a funky bounce. Musicians call it root bass · syncopated 8ths (root bass rhythm), a medium pattern heard in 363 songs of the library.
- 3
Right hand: Offbeat skank
Chords only on the “and”: reggae and swing. It moves with the chords, so it fits every bar of the loop.
- 4
Both hands at 120 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: Ab – Bb – Cm
The last chords are bVI – bVII – i, then one chord rolled from the bottom up, left to ring.
AbBbCm- BbBb · D · F
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Questions about Break Your Heart
What chords are in Break Your Heart?
The loop is Cm – Ab – Eb – Gm (i – bVI – bIII – v) in C minor, and the song ends on Ab – Bb – Cm.
What key is Break Your Heart in?
C minor, at about 120 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in Break Your Heart?
Groovy roots: root bass · syncopated 8ths, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Break Your Heart 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 2 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.