Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Dreamy ballad

The Prayer: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

Written by Carole Bayer Sager & David Foster

  • F major
  • 4/4
  • 90 BPM
  • 1998
  • Medium
Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Open skyRight hand Hurrying chordsChords the loop the song repeats most

Play the full song with sheet music

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 Prayer without reading music. The left hand plays open sky (open arpeggio 1-5-10) and the right hand hurrying chords.

The Prayer accompaniment in letter notes

The Dm – Bb – Dm – Am loop with open sky in the left hand and hurrying chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Dm
RF4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5
LD2 A2 F3
Bar 2
Bb
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4
LBb2 F3 D4
Bar 3
Dm
RF4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5
LD2 A2 F3
Bar 4
Am
RC4+E4+A4 C4+E4+A4 E4 A4 C5 E5 A5 C6 E6 A6
LA2 E3 C4
Bar 5
Dm
RF4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5
LD2 A2 F3
Bar 6
Bb
RD4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4 D4+F4+Bb4
LBb2 F3 D4
Bar 7
Dm
RF4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5 F4+A4+D5
LD2 A2 F3
Bar 8
Am
RC4+E4+A4 C4+E4+A4 C4+E4+A4 C4+E4+A4 C4+E4+A4 C4+E4+A4
LA2 E3 C4

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 Prayer

What are the letter notes for the The Prayer 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 Dm – Bb – Dm – Am, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in The Prayer?

The loop is Dm – Bb – Dm – Am (vi – IV – vi – iii) in F major, and the song ends on Bb – C – F.

What key is The Prayer in?

F major, at about 90 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in The Prayer?

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

Is The Prayer 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.