Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Waltz garden

If You Go Away: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Jacques Brel

  • Bb major
  • 3/4
  • 60 BPM
  • 1959
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
Learn it
Learn it
Style

Left hand Drifting wavesRight hand Chattering waltzChords 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 You Go Away without reading music. The left hand plays drifting waves (open arpeggio 1-5-10-5-10 (3/4)) and the right hand chattering waltz.

If You Go Away accompaniment in letter notes

The Bb – Am – D7 – Gm loop with drifting waves in the left hand and chattering waltz in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Bb
RBb4+D5 Bb4+D5 F4 Bb4+D5 F4
LBb2 F3 D4 F3 D4
Bar 2
Am
RA4+C5 A4+C5 E4 A4+C5 E4
LA2 E3 C4 E3 C4
Bar 3
D7
RD5+F#5 D5+F#5 A4 D5+F#5 A4
LD2 A2 F#3 A2 F#3
Bar 4
Gm
RG5+Bb5 G4 Bb4 D5 G5 Bb5 D6 G6 Bb6
LG2 D3 Bb3 D3 Bb3
Bar 5
Bb
RBb4+D5 Bb4+D5 F4 Bb4+D5 F4
LBb2 F3 D4 F3 D4
Bar 6
Am
RA4+C5 A4+C5 E4 A4+C5 E4
LA2 E3 C4 E3 C4
Bar 7
D7
RD5+F#5 D5+F#5 A4 D5+F#5 A4
LD2 A2 F#3 A2 F#3
Bar 8
Gm
RG5+Bb5 G5+Bb5 D5 G5+Bb5 D5
LG2 D3 Bb3 D3 Bb3

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.

Questions about If You Go Away

What are the letter notes for the If You Go Away 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 Bb – Am – D7 – Gm, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in If You Go Away?

The loop is Bb – Am – D7 – Gm (I – vii – III7 – vi) in Bb major, and the song ends on Eb – F – Bb.

What key is If You Go Away in?

Bb major, at about 60 beats a minute in 3/4.

What does the left hand play in If You Go Away?

Drifting waves: open arpeggio 1-5-10-5-10 (3/4), a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is If You Go Away 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.