Piano chords · Lullaby boat
When Johnny Comes Marching Home: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
By Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore
- G minor
- 6/8
- 120 BPM
- vi–V–vi–V loop
- 1995
- Medium
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 When Johnny Comes Marching Home without reading music. The left hand plays sea-breeze roll (open arpeggio 1-5-8-10 (6/8)) and the right hand cradle chords.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home accompaniment in letter notes
The Em – D – Em – D loop with sea-breeze roll in the left hand and cradle 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 When Johnny Comes Marching Home
What are the letter notes for the When Johnny Comes Marching Home 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 Em – D – Em – D, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in When Johnny Comes Marching Home?
The loop is Em – D – Em – D (vi – V – vi – V) in G minor, and the song ends on Eb – F – Gm.
What key is When Johnny Comes Marching Home in?
G minor, at about 120 beats a minute in 6/8.
What does the left hand play in When Johnny Comes Marching Home?
Sea-breeze roll: open arpeggio 1-5-8-10 (6/8), a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is When Johnny Comes Marching Home 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 3 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.