The Needle And The Damage Done: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

D major
4/4
105 BPM
Medium

Tuning the piano…

Learn it

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 Needle And The Damage Done without reading music. The left hand plays lazy seesaw (root–fifth 1-5-5) and the right hand ticking clock.

The Needle And The Damage Done accompaniment in letter notes

The D – G – Gm – C loop with lazy seesaw in the left hand and ticking clock in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
DRD4 D4 D4 D4 D4 D4 D4
LD2 A2 A2

Bar 2
GRG4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LG2 D3 D3

Bar 3
GmRG4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LG2 D3 D3

Bar 4
CRC4 C4 C4 E6 D6 Db6 B5 A5 G5 F#5 E5
LC3 G3 G3

Bar 5
DRD4 D4 D4 D4 D4 D4 D4
LD2 A2 A2

Bar 6
GRG4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LG2 D3 D3

Bar 7
GmRG4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LG2 D3 D3

Bar 8
CRC4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4 C4
LC3 G3 G3

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.

Play next

More by Neil Young

All 34 songs

The same left hand: Lazy seesaw

About this pattern

Questions about The Needle And The Damage Done

What are the letter notes for the The Needle And The Damage Done 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 D – G – Gm – C, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in The Needle And The Damage Done?

The loop is D – G – Gm – C (I – IV – iv – bVII) in D major, and the song ends on G – A – D.

What key is The Needle And The Damage Done in?

D major, at about 105 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in The Needle And The Damage Done?

Lazy seesaw: root–fifth 1-5-5, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is The Needle And The Damage Done 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.