Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Old-time stride

Shaking The Blues Away: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

Written by Irving Berlin

Tuning the piano…
Learn it
Style

Left hand Stride jumpsRight hand Steady chordsChords 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 Shaking The Blues Away without reading music. The left hand plays stride jumps (stride) and the right hand steady chords.

Shaking The Blues Away accompaniment in letter notes

The Eb – Bb7 – Fm – Bb7 loop with stride jumps in the left hand and steady chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Eb
RG4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5
LEb2 Bb2+Eb3 Eb2 Bb2+Eb3
Bar 2
Bb7
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4
LBb2 F3+Bb3 Bb2 F3+Bb3
Bar 3
Fm
RAb4+C5+F5 Ab4+C5+F5 Ab4+C5+F5 Ab4+C5+F5
LF2 C3+F3 F2 C3+F3
Bar 4
Bb7
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 F6 D6 Bb5 Ab5 G5 Gb5 F5 E5
LBb2 F3+Bb3 Bb2 F3+Bb3
Bar 5
Eb
RG4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5
LEb2 Bb2+Eb3 Eb2 Bb2+Eb3
Bar 6
Bb7
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4
LBb2 F3+Bb3 Bb2 F3+Bb3
Bar 7
Fm
RAb4+C5+F5 Ab4+C5+F5 Ab4+C5+F5 Ab4+C5+F5
LF2 C3+F3 F2 C3+F3
Bar 8
Bb7
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4
LBb2 F3+Bb3 Bb2 F3+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.

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Questions about Shaking The Blues Away

What are the letter notes for the Shaking The Blues 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 Eb – Bb7 – Fm – Bb7, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in Shaking The Blues Away?

The loop is Eb – Bb7 – Fm – Bb7 (I – V7 – ii – V7) in Eb major, and the song ends on Eb – Bb7 – Eb.

What key is Shaking The Blues Away in?

Eb major, at about 100 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Shaking The Blues Away?

Stride jumps: stride, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Shaking The Blues Away easy to play on piano?

Yes. Both hands play easy patterns over 4 chords. Learn the chords first, then add one hand at a time.

Made from one arrangement of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.