Piano chords · Blues & boogie
The Candy Man: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
Written by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley
- Eb major
- 4/4
- 138 BPM
- 1970
- Medium
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 The Candy Man without reading music. The left hand plays velvet jazz (lh shell voicings (1-7 / 1-3)) and the right hand tap-and-nudge.
The Candy Man accompaniment in letter notes
The Eb – Cm – F7 – Fm loop with velvet jazz in the left hand and tap-and-nudge in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.
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 The Candy Man
What are the letter notes for the The Candy Man 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 – Cm – F7 – Fm, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in The Candy Man?
The loop is Eb – Cm – F7 – Fm (I – vi – II7 – ii) in Eb major, and the song ends on Eb – Ab – Eb.
What key is The Candy Man in?
Eb major, at about 138 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in The Candy Man?
Velvet jazz: lh shell voicings (1-7 / 1-3), an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is The Candy Man 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.