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If I Wanted To: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

Written by Melissa Etheridge

Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Hurry-and-wait pulseRight hand Wobbly 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 If I Wanted To without reading music. The left hand plays hurry-and-wait pulse (root bass · 1 · 1a · 2&) and the right hand wobbly chords.

If I Wanted To accompaniment in letter notes

The D – A – D – A loop with hurry-and-wait pulse in the left hand and wobbly chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
DRD4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4
LD2 D2 D2
Bar 2
ARA3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4
LA2 A2 A2
Bar 3
DRD4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4
LD2 D2 D2
Bar 4
ARA3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 C#4 D4 E4 F#4 G#4 A4 B4 C#5
LA2 A2 A2
Bar 5
DRD4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4
LD2 D2 D2
Bar 6
ARA3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4
LA2 A2 A2
Bar 7
DRD4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4 D4+F#4+A4
LD2 D2 D2
Bar 8
ARA3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4 A3+C#4+E4
LA2 A2 A2

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 Melissa Etheridge

All 35 songs

The same IV–I–IV–I loop

About this progression

The same left hand: Hurry-and-wait pulse

About this pattern

Questions about If I Wanted To

What are the letter notes for the If I Wanted To 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 D – A – D – A, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in If I Wanted To?

The loop is D – A – D – A (IV – I – IV – I) in A major, and the song ends on A – D – A.

What key is If I Wanted To in?

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

What does the left hand play in If I Wanted To?

Hurry-and-wait pulse: root bass · 1 · 1a · 2&, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is If I Wanted To easy to play on piano?

Yes. Both hands play easy patterns over 4 chords. Learn the chords first, then add one hand at a time.

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