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Try A Little Tenderness: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Glee Cast

Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Hurrying footstepsRight hand Freeze-tag chordsChords 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 Try A Little Tenderness without reading music. The left hand plays hurrying footsteps (root bass · 1 · 2 · 3 · 3& · 4 · 4&) and the right hand freeze-tag chords.

Try A Little Tenderness accompaniment in letter notes

The D – Bm – Em – A loop with hurrying footsteps in the left hand and freeze-tag chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
D
RF#4+A4+D5 F#4+A4+D5 F#4+A4+D5
LD2 D3 D2 D2 D3 D2
Bar 2
Bm
RD4+F#4+B4 D4+F#4+B4 D4+F#4+B4
LB2 B3 B2 B2 B3 B2
Bar 3
Em
RG4+B4+E5 G4+B4+E5 G4+B4+E5
LE2 E3 E2 E2 E3 E2
Bar 4
A
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4 D4 E4 F#4 G4 A4 B4 C#5
LA2 A3 A2 A2 A3 A2
Bar 5
D
RF#4+A4+D5 F#4+A4+D5 F#4+A4+D5
LD2 D3 D2 D2 D3 D2
Bar 6
Bm
RD4+F#4+B4 D4+F#4+B4 D4+F#4+B4
LB2 B3 B2 B2 B3 B2
Bar 7
Em
RG4+B4+E5 G4+B4+E5 G4+B4+E5
LE2 E3 E2 E2 E3 E2
Bar 8
A
RC#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4 C#4+E4+A4
LA2 A3 A2 A2 A3 A2

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 Try A Little Tenderness

What are the letter notes for the Try A Little Tenderness 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 – Bm – Em – A, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in Try A Little Tenderness?

The loop is D – Bm – Em – A (I – vi – ii – V) in D major, and the song ends on G – A – D.

What key is Try A Little Tenderness in?

D major, at about 98 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in Try A Little Tenderness?

Hurrying footsteps: root bass · 1 · 2 · 3 · 3& · 4 · 4&, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is Try A Little Tenderness 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.