Piano chords · Rock drive
Cocaine: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
By Eric Clapton
- E major
- 4/4
- 100 BPM
- 1975
- Medium
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 Cocaine without reading music. The left hand plays heartbeat octaves (rocking octaves) and the right hand gear-shift chords.
Cocaine accompaniment in letter notes
The E – D – E – D loop with heartbeat octaves in the left hand and gear-shift 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.
Play next
More by Eric Clapton
The same left hand: Heartbeat octaves
Questions about Cocaine
What are the letter notes for the Cocaine 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 E – D – E – D, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in Cocaine?
The loop is E – D – E – D (I5 – bVII5 – I5 – bVII5) in E major, and the song ends on A – B – E.
What key is Cocaine in?
E major, at about 100 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in Cocaine?
Heartbeat octaves: rocking octaves, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Cocaine 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.