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I Can’t Help You Now: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Bonnie Raitt

  • A major
  • 4/4
  • 120 BPM
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Tick-tick-boom pulseRight hand Push chordsChords the loop the song repeats most

Play the full song with sheet music

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 Help You Now without reading music. The left hand plays tick-tick-boom pulse (root bass · 8ths 1-2, 3-4) and the right hand push chords.

I Can’t Help You Now accompaniment in letter notes

The A7 – G7 – A – A7 loop with tick-tick-boom pulse in the left hand and push chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
A7
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4
LA2 A2 A3 A2 A2 A3
Bar 2
G7
RB4+D5+G5 B4+D5+G5 B4+D5+G5
LG2 G2 G3 G2 G2 G3
Bar 3
A
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4
LA2 A2 A3 A2 A2 A3
Bar 4
A7
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 D4 E4 F#4 G#4 A4 B4 C#5 D5
LA2 A2 A3 A2 A2 A3
Bar 5
A7
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4
LA2 A2 A3 A2 A2 A3
Bar 6
G7
RB4+D5+G5 B4+D5+G5 B4+D5+G5
LG2 G2 G3 G2 G2 G3
Bar 7
A
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4
LA2 A2 A3 A2 A2 A3
Bar 8
A7
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4
LA2 A2 A3 A2 A2 A3

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 Help You Now

What are the letter notes for the I Can’t Help You Now 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 A7 – G7 – A – A7, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in I Can’t Help You Now?

The loop is A7 – G7 – A – A7 (I7 – bVII7 – I5 – I7) in A major, and the song ends on D – E – A.

What key is I Can’t Help You Now in?

A major, at about 120 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in I Can’t Help You Now?

Tick-tick-boom pulse: root bass · 8ths 1-2, 3-4, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is I Can’t Help You Now 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.