Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Old-time stride

Oh Baby: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Garrison Keillor

Tuning the piano…
Learn it
Style

Left hand Boom-chickRight hand Stepping-down tapsChords the loop the song repeats most

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 Oh Baby without reading music. The left hand plays boom-chick (boom-chick) and the right hand stepping-down taps.

Oh Baby accompaniment in letter notes

The Bb – F7 – Bb – F7 loop with boom-chick in the left hand and stepping-down taps in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Bb
RF4 F4 F4 D4 D4 D4
LBb3 D4+F4 F3 D4+F4
Bar 2
F7
RC5 C5 C5 A4 A4 A4
LF3 A3+C4 C3 A3+C4
Bar 3
Bb
RF4 F4 F4 D4 D4 D4
LBb3 D4+F4 F3 D4+F4
Bar 4
F7
RC5 C5 A6 F6 Eb6 C6 A5 Ab5 G5 Gb5
LF3 A3+C4 C3 A3+C4
Bar 5
Bb
RF4 F4 F4 D4 D4 D4
LBb3 D4+F4 F3 D4+F4
Bar 6
F7
RC5 C5 C5 A4 A4 A4
LF3 A3+C4 C3 A3+C4
Bar 7
Bb
RF4 F4 F4 D4 D4 D4
LBb3 D4+F4 F3 D4+F4
Bar 8
F7
RC5 C5 C5 A4 A4 A4
LF3 A3+C4 C3 A3+C4

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 Oh Baby

What are the letter notes for the Oh Baby 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 – F7 – Bb – F7, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in Oh Baby?

The loop is Bb – F7 – Bb – F7 (I – V7 – I – V7) in Bb major, and the song ends on Bb – F7 – Bb.

What key is Oh Baby in?

Bb major, at about 160 beats a minute in 2/2.

What does the left hand play in Oh Baby?

Boom-chick: boom-chick, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Oh Baby 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.