Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Rock drive

The First Time: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Vance Joy

  • F minor
  • 4/4
  • 80 BPM
  • 2014
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
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Style

Left hand Engine 8thsRight hand Cuckoo clockChords 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 The First Time without reading music. The left hand plays engine 8ths (root bass · 8ths) and the right hand cuckoo clock.

The First Time accompaniment in letter notes

The Db – C – Bb – Eb loop with engine 8ths in the left hand and cuckoo clock in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Db
RDb5 Db5 Bb4 Db5 Db5 Bb4
LDb3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3
Bar 2
C
RC5 C5 A4 C5 C5 A4
LC3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3
Bar 3
Bb
RBb4 Bb4 G4 Bb4 Bb4 G4
LBb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2
Bar 4
Eb
REb5 Eb5 C5 Bb6 G6 Eb6 Bb5 A5 Ab5 G5 Gb5
LEb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2
Bar 5
Db
RDb5 Db5 Bb4 Db5 Db5 Bb4
LDb3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3
Bar 6
C
RC5 C5 A4 C5 C5 A4
LC3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3
Bar 7
Bb
RBb4 Bb4 G4 Bb4 Bb4 G4
LBb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2 Bb2
Bar 8
Eb
REb5 Eb5 C5 Eb5 Eb5 C5
LEb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2 Eb2

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 First Time

What are the letter notes for the The First Time 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 Db – C – Bb – Eb, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in The First Time?

The loop is Db – C – Bb – Eb (bVI5 – V5 – IV5 – bVII) in F minor, and the song ends on Db – Eb – Fm.

What key is The First Time in?

F minor, at about 80 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in The First Time?

Engine 8ths: root bass · 8ths, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is The First Time 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.