Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Dreamy ballad

How to play If I Loved You on piano

By Rodgers & Hammerstein

  • C major
  • 4/4
  • 100 BPM
  • 1945
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Open skyRight hand Spinning lanternChords from the chord symbols in the score

Play the full song with sheet music

Learn If I Loved You in 5 steps

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

  1. 1

    Chords: Cdim – C – E – Dm

    How it goes

    If I Loved You sits in C major: C is home, where the song ends. It goes round 4 chords: Cdim is C, Eb and Gb; C is C, E and G; E is E, G# and B; Dm is D, F and A. Play each one as a block with your right hand until the changes feel easy.

    Cdimi°CIEIIIDmii
    • CdimC · Eb · Gb
    • CC · E · G
    • EE · G# · B
    • DmD · F · A
  2. 2

    Left hand: Open sky

    How it goes

    Root, fifth, then a high third: open and airy, the sound of a big sky. Musicians call it open arpeggio 1-5-10 (open arpeggio), a medium pattern heard in 918 songs of the library.

  3. 3

    Right hand: Spinning lantern

    How it goes

    Notes circle up through the chord and widen, like a spinning lantern. It moves with the chords, so it fits every bar of the loop.

  4. 4

    Both hands at 100 BPM

    How it goes

    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: Dm – G7 – C

    How it goes

    The last chords are ii – V7 – I, then one chord rolled from the bottom up, left to ring.

    DmG7C
    • G7G · B · D · F

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Questions about If I Loved You

What chords are in If I Loved You?

The loop is Cdim – C – E – Dm (i° – I – III – ii) in C major, and the song ends on Dm – G7 – C.

What key is If I Loved You in?

C major, at about 100 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in If I Loved You?

Open sky: open arpeggio 1-5-10, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is If I Loved You 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.

Can I hear the real melody of If I Loved You?

Yes: "The part you know" plays the repeating figure of the song from a score, with both hands.

Made from 5 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.