Piano chords · Old-time stride
Yankee Doodle Boy: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes
- F major
- 2/4
- 120 BPM
- V7–I–V7–I loop
- 2002
- 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 Yankee Doodle Boy without reading music. The left hand plays ragtime bounce (boom-chick (2/4)) and the right hand marching chords.
Yankee Doodle Boy accompaniment in letter notes
The C7 – F – C7 – F loop with ragtime bounce in the left hand and marching 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.
Play next
More by George M. Cohan
The same V7–I–V7–I loop
Questions about Yankee Doodle Boy
What are the letter notes for the Yankee Doodle Boy 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 Yankee Doodle Boy?
The loop is C7 – F – C7 – F (V7 – I – V7 – I) in F major, and the song ends on F – C7 – F.
What key is Yankee Doodle Boy in?
F major, at about 120 beats a minute in 2/4.
What does the left hand play in Yankee Doodle Boy?
Ragtime bounce: boom-chick (2/4), a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.
Is Yankee Doodle Boy 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 2 arrangements of this song: the left and right hands are the patterns these scores repeat most.