Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Pop heartbeat

Do You Hear What I Hear: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Third Day

Play the full song with sheet music
Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Fluttering heartbeatRight hand Heartbeat chordsChords 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 Do You Hear What I Hear without reading music. The left hand plays fluttering heartbeat (root bass · 1 · 1a · 2 · 2& · 3& · 4) and the right hand heartbeat chords.

Do You Hear What I Hear accompaniment in letter notes

The C#m – E – C#m – E loop with fluttering heartbeat in the left hand and heartbeat chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
C#mRG#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5
LC#3 C#3 C#4 C#3 C#3 C#4
Bar 2
ERB4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5
LE2 E2 E3 E2 E2 E3
Bar 3
C#mRG#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5
LC#3 C#3 C#4 C#3 C#3 C#4
Bar 4
ERB4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5 D#4 E4 F#4 G#4 A4 B4 C#5 D#5
LE2 E2 E3 E2 E2 E3
Bar 5
C#mRG#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5
LC#3 C#3 C#4 C#3 C#3 C#4
Bar 6
ERB4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5
LE2 E2 E3 E2 E2 E3
Bar 7
C#mRG#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5 G#4+C#5+E5
LC#3 C#3 C#4 C#3 C#3 C#4
Bar 8
ERB4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5 B4+E5+G#5
LE2 E2 E3 E2 E2 E3

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 Third Day

All 41 songs

The same vi–I–vi–I loop

About this progression

The same left hand: Fluttering heartbeat

About this pattern

Questions about Do You Hear What I Hear

What are the letter notes for the Do You Hear What I Hear 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#m – E – C#m – E, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in Do You Hear What I Hear?

The loop is C#m – E – C#m – E (vi – I – vi – I) in E major, and the song ends on A – B – E.

What key is Do You Hear What I Hear in?

E major, at about 88 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Do You Hear What I Hear?

Fluttering heartbeat: root bass · 1 · 1a · 2 · 2& · 3& · 4, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Do You Hear What I Hear 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.