Piano chords · Pop heartbeat
What’s Up: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
Written by Linda Perry
- A major
- 2/2
- 80 BPM
- 1992
- 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 What’s Up without reading music. The left hand plays pop heartbeat (root bass · charleston push (1 · 2& · 3)) and the right hand gear-shift chords.
The intro of What’s Up 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.
What’s Up accompaniment in letter notes
The A – A – Bm – Bm loop with pop heartbeat in the left hand and gear-shift 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.
Questions about What’s Up
What are the letter notes for the What’s Up 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 A – A – Bm – Bm, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in What’s Up?
The loop is A – A – Bm – Bm (I – ii – I – ii) in A major, and the song ends on Bm – D – A.
What key is What’s Up in?
A major, at about 80 beats a minute in 2/2.
What does the left hand play in What’s Up?
Pop heartbeat: root bass · charleston push (1 · 2& · 3), an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is What’s Up 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.
Can I hear the real melody of What’s Up?
Yes: "The part you know" plays the intro of the song from a score, with both hands.
Made from 2 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.