Piano chords · Rock drive
Mary’s Boy Child: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
Written by Jester Hairston
- Bb major
- 4/4
- 110 BPM
- I–IV–I–V7 loop
- 1956
- Medium
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 Mary’s Boy Child without reading music. The left hand plays power fifths (lh power fifths) and the right hand steady chords.
Mary’s Boy Child accompaniment in letter notes
The Bb – Eb – Bb – F7 loop with power fifths in the left hand and steady 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 Mary’s Boy Child
What are the letter notes for the Mary’s Boy Child 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 – Eb – Bb – F7, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in Mary’s Boy Child?
The loop is Bb – Eb – Bb – F7 (I – IV – I – V7) in Bb major, and the song ends on Bb – Bbsus4 – Bb.
What key is Mary’s Boy Child in?
Bb major, at about 110 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in Mary’s Boy Child?
Power fifths: lh power fifths, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Mary’s Boy Child 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.