Piano chords · Old-time stride
Why Was I Born?: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
By Jerome Kern
- Eb major
- 4/4
- 90 BPM
- I–ii–I–ii loop
- 1929
- Easy
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 Why Was I Born? without reading music. The left hand plays oom-pah (bass + chords) and the right hand wait-a-beat chords.
Why Was I Born? accompaniment in letter notes
The Eb – Fm – Eb – Fm loop with oom-pah 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 Why Was I Born?
What are the letter notes for the Why Was I Born? 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 Eb – Fm – Eb – Fm, so the letters repeat with the chords.
What chords are in Why Was I Born??
The loop is Eb – Fm – Eb – Fm (I – ii – I – ii) in Eb major, and the song ends on Fm – Bb7 – Eb.
What key is Why Was I Born? in?
Eb major, at about 90 beats a minute in 4/4.
What does the left hand play in Why Was I Born??
Oom-pah: bass + chords, an easy pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Why Was I Born? easy to play on piano?
Yes. Both hands play easy patterns over 4 chords. Learn the chords first, then add one hand at a time.
Made from 3 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.