Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Dreamy ballad

What Can You Do With A General: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

Written by Irving Berlin

Tuning the piano…
Learn it
Style

Left hand Tumble downRight hand Pitter-patterChords 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 What Can You Do With A General without reading music. The left hand plays tumble down (broken chord 8-5-1) and the right hand pitter-patter.

What Can You Do With A General accompaniment in letter notes

The C7 – F – C7 – F loop with tumble down in the left hand and pitter-patter in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
C7
RE4+C5 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LC4 G3 C3
Bar 2
F
RA4+F5 C5 C5 C5 C5 C5
LF3 C3 F2
Bar 3
C7
RE4+C5 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LC4 G3 C3
Bar 4
F
RA4+F5 C5 F4 A4 C5 F5 A5 C6 F6 A6
LF3 C3 F2
Bar 5
C7
RE4+C5 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LC4 G3 C3
Bar 6
F
RA4+F5 C5 C5 C5 C5 C5
LF3 C3 F2
Bar 7
C7
RE4+C5 G4 G4 G4 G4 G4
LC4 G3 C3
Bar 8
F
RA4+F5 C5 C5 C5 C5 C5
LF3 C3 F2

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 What Can You Do With A General

What are the letter notes for the What Can You Do With A General 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 C7 – F – C7 – F, so the letters repeat with the chords.

What chords are in What Can You Do With A General?

The loop is C7 – F – C7 – F (V7 – I – V7 – I) in F major, and the song ends on G7 – C7 – F.

What key is What Can You Do With A General in?

F major, at about 100 beats a minute in 2/2.

What does the left hand play in What Can You Do With A General?

Tumble down: broken chord 8-5-1, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is What Can You Do With A General 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.