Piano chords · Dreamy ballad
I Can't Get Started: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
By Ira Gershwin
- C major
- 4/4
- 90 BPM
- I–vi–ii–V7 loop
- 1935
- 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 I Can't Get Started without reading music. The left hand plays open sky (open arpeggio 1-5-10) and the right hand steady chords.
I Can't Get Started accompaniment in letter notes
The C – Am – Dm – G7 loop with open sky in the left hand and steady 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.
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Questions about I Can't Get Started
What are the letter notes for the I Can't Get Started 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 – Am – Dm – G7, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in I Can't Get Started?
The loop is C – Am – Dm – G7 (I – vi – ii – V7) in C major, and the song ends on Dm – G7 – C.
What key is I Can't Get Started in?
C major, at about 90 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in I Can't Get Started?
Open sky: open arpeggio 1-5-10, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is I Can't Get Started 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.