Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Dreamy ballad

Take This Life: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Shawn McDonald

Tuning the piano…
Learn it
Style

Left hand Round-trip rippleRight hand Groovy 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 Take This Life without reading music. The left hand plays round-trip ripple (broken chord 1-5-8-5-1) and the right hand groovy chords.

Take This Life accompaniment in letter notes

The Gm – F – Eb – Bb loop with round-trip ripple in the left hand and groovy chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Gm
RBb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5
LG2 D3 G3 D3 G2
Bar 2
F
RA4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5
LF2 C3 F3 C3 F2
Bar 3
Eb
RG4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5
LEb2 Bb2 Eb3 Bb2 Eb2
Bar 4
Bb
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 F4 Bb4 D5 F5 Bb5 D6 F6 Bb6
LBb2 F3 Bb3 F3 Bb2
Bar 5
Gm
RBb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5 Bb4+D5+G5
LG2 D3 G3 D3 G2
Bar 6
F
RA4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5 A4+C5+F5
LF2 C3 F3 C3 F2
Bar 7
Eb
RG4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5 G4+Bb4+Eb5
LEb2 Bb2 Eb3 Bb2 Eb2
Bar 8
Bb
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4
LBb2 F3 Bb3 F3 Bb2

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 Take This Life

What are the letter notes for the Take This Life 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 Gm – F – Eb – Bb, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in Take This Life?

The loop is Gm – F – Eb – Bb (vi – V – IV – I) in Bb major, and the song ends on Eb – F – Bb.

What key is Take This Life in?

Bb major, at about 96 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Take This Life?

Round-trip ripple: broken chord 1-5-8-5-1, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Take This Life 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.