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How to play Seventy Six Trombones on piano

By Meredith Willson

  • C major
  • 6/8
  • 135 BPM
  • 1957
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
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Style

Left hand Swelling 6/8Right hand Hammock chordsChords the loop the song repeats most

Learn Seventy Six Trombones in 5 steps

The chords first, then one hand at a time. Each step plays in the player above.

  1. 1

    Chords: G7 – C – D#dim – G7

    Seventy Six Trombones sits in C major: C is home, where the song ends. It goes round 4 chords: G7 is G, B, D and F; C is C, E and G; D#dim is D#, F# and A. Play each one as a block with your right hand until the changes feel easy.

    G7V7CID#dimbiii°G7V7
    • G7G · B · D · F
    • CC · E · G
    • D#dimD# · F# · A
  2. 2

    Left hand: Swelling 6/8

    Rises to the top and falls back in one rocking six-note wave. Musicians call it open arpeggio 1-5-8-10-8-5 (6/8) (open arpeggio), a medium pattern heard in 73 songs of the library.

  3. 3

    Right hand: Hammock chords

    Long-short, long-short: soft chords sway like a hammock. It moves with the chords, so it fits every bar of the loop.

  4. 4

    Both hands at 135 BPM

    Put the two hands together over the loop. Start at half speed with the player's speed control, and bring it up once every change is easy.

  5. 5

    Ending: C – Bb – C

    The last chords are I – bVII – I, then one chord rolled from the bottom up, left to ring.

    CBbC
    • BbBb · D · F

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Questions about Seventy Six Trombones

What chords are in Seventy Six Trombones?

The loop is G7 – C – D#dim – G7 (V7 – I – biiio – V7) in C major, and the song ends on C – Bb – C.

What key is Seventy Six Trombones in?

C major, at about 135 beats a minute in 6/8.

What does the left hand play in Seventy Six Trombones?

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 Seventy Six Trombones 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.