Simple Gifts: piano accompaniment sheet music

By Traditional Shaker Hymn

E major
4/4
116 BPM
Medium

Tuning the piano…

Learn it

Simple Gifts written out as piano music: the I – IV – V7 – IV loop in E major for both hands, with chord names and finger numbers. Press play and follow the cursor. The left hand plays rolling waves (open arpeggio 1-5-10-5) and the right hand double-skip chords.

Simple Gifts chord chart

The loop once round, bar by bar, in E major. The roman numeral says the chord's place in the key, so the same chart works in any key.

Bar	Chord	Numeral	Notes
1	E	I	E G# B
2	A	IV	A C# E
3	B7	V7	B D# F# A
4	A	IV	A C# E

What the sheet music shows

The grand staff: the right hand on the treble staff, the left hand on the bass staff, with the chord names above and a finger number on each note (1 is the thumb). It is the accompaniment: rolling waves (open arpeggio 1-5-10-5) in the left hand and double-skip chords in the right, over the E – A – B7 – A chords.

Press play and a cursor follows the music. Above it, Colours paints each note in its key’s colour and Note names writes its letter on its head.

Play next

The same left hand: Rolling waves

About this pattern

Questions about Simple Gifts

Does the sheet music for Simple Gifts have finger numbers?

Yes: every note of both hands has its finger number, 1 being the thumb. To read the notes alone, turn Fingers off above the music.

What chords are in Simple Gifts?

The loop is E – A – B7 – A (I – IV – V7 – IV) in E major, and the song ends on A – B – E.

What key is Simple Gifts in?

E major, at about 116 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Simple Gifts?

Rolling waves: open arpeggio 1-5-10-5, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Simple Gifts 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 3 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.