Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Dreamy ballad

How to play Everybody Knows on piano

By Leonard Cohen

  • Ab major
  • 4/4
  • 84 BPM
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
Learn it
Style

Left hand Busy rockingRight hand Wait-a-beat chordsChords the loop the song repeats most

Learn Everybody Knows in 5 steps

The chords first, then one hand at a time. Each step plays in the player above.

  1. 1

    Chords: G – Ab – Cm – Cbm

    Everybody Knows sits in Ab major: Ab is home, where the song ends. It goes round 4 chords: G is G, B and D; Ab is Ab, C and Eb; Cm is C, Eb and G; Cbm is Cb, Ebb and Gb. Play each one as a block with your right hand until the changes feel easy.

    GVIIAbICmiiiCbmbiii
    • GG · B · D
    • AbAb · C · Eb
    • CmC · Eb · G
    • CbmCb · Ebb · Gb
  2. 2

    Left hand: Busy rocking

    A low root, then quick notes rocking between two higher keys. Musicians call it broken chord 1-5 (broken chord), a medium pattern heard in 200 songs of the library.

  3. 3

    Right hand: Wait-a-beat chords

    Silence on beat 1, then chords on 2, 3 and 4, leaving room for the bass. It moves with the chords, so it fits every bar of the loop.

  4. 4

    Both hands at 84 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. 5

    Ending: Db – Eb – Ab

    The last chords are IV – V – I, then one chord rolled from the bottom up, left to ring.

    DbEbAb
    • DbDb · F · Ab
    • EbEb · G · Bb

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Questions about Everybody Knows

What chords are in Everybody Knows?

The loop is G – Ab – Cm – Cbm (VII – I – iii – biii) in Ab major, and the song ends on Db – Eb – Ab.

What key is Everybody Knows in?

Ab major, at about 84 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Everybody Knows?

Busy rocking: broken chord 1-5, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Everybody Knows 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.