Piano chords · Pop heartbeat
This Christmas: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
By Donny Hathaway
- F major
- 4/4
- 100 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 This Christmas without reading music. The left hand plays tick-tick-boom pulse (root bass · 8ths 1-2, 3-4) and the right hand wait-a-beat chords.
The intro of This Christmas in letter notes
The real notes from a score, both hands, bar by bar. R is the right hand, L the left; C4 is middle C.
This Christmas accompaniment in letter notes
The Bbmaj7 – Ebmaj7 – Am – Am – Bbmaj7 – Ebmaj7 – Am – Am loop with tick-tick-boom pulse in the left hand and wait-a-beat chords 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 This Christmas
What are the letter notes for the This Christmas 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 Bbmaj7 – Ebmaj7 – Am – Am – Bbmaj7 – Ebmaj7 – Am – Am, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in This Christmas?
The loop is Bbmaj7 – Ebmaj7 – Am – Am – Bbmaj7 – Ebmaj7 – Am – Am (IVmaj7 – bVIImaj7 – iii – IVmaj7 – bVIImaj7 – iii – IVmaj7 – bVIImaj7) in F major, and the song ends on Bb – C – F.
What key is This Christmas in?
F major, at about 100 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in This Christmas?
Tick-tick-boom pulse: root bass · 8ths 1-2, 3-4, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is This Christmas easy to play on piano?
It is a medium one: learn the 8 chords as blocks first, then add the left hand, then the right, slowly.
Can I hear the real melody of This Christmas?
Yes: "The part you know" plays the intro of the song from a score, with both hands.
Made from 3 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.