Piano chords · Lullaby boat
Kansas City: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
Written by Richard Rodgers
- Ab major
- 6/8
- 158 BPM
- V7–I–V7–I loop
- Medium
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 Kansas City without reading music. The left hand plays swelling 6/8 (open arpeggio 1-5-8-10-8-5 (6/8)) and the right hand hammock chords.
Kansas City accompaniment in letter notes
The Eb7 – Ab – Eb7 – Ab loop with swelling 6/8 in the left hand and hammock 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 Kansas City
What are the letter notes for the Kansas City 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 Eb7 – Ab – Eb7 – Ab, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in Kansas City?
The loop is Eb7 – Ab – Eb7 – Ab (V7 – I – V7 – I) in Ab major, and the song ends on Ab – Eb7 – Ab.
What key is Kansas City in?
Ab major, at about 158 beats a minute in 6/8.
What does the left hand play in Kansas City?
Swelling 6/8: open arpeggio 1-5-8-10-8-5 (6/8), a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Kansas City 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.