Piano chords · Rock drive

How to play You Can’t Stop The Beat on piano

Tuning the piano…

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Learn You Can’t Stop The Beat in 5 steps

The chords first, then one hand at a time. Each step plays in the player above.

1
Chords: Ab – Db – Ab – Db
You Can’t Stop The Beat sits in Ab major: Ab is home, where the song ends. It goes round 4 chords: Ab is Ab, C and Eb; Db is Db, F and Ab. Play each one as a block with your right hand until the changes feel easy.
AbIDbIVAbIDbIV
- AbAb · C · Eb
- DbDb · F · Ab
782 songs go round the same chords
2
Left hand: Engine 8ths
The lowest note on every eighth: the engine of rock. Musicians call it root bass · 8ths (root bass rhythm), a medium pattern heard in thousands of songs of the library.
Engine 8thsRoot bass rhythm · RockLeft handMedium
3
Right hand: Bouncy-ball chords
One chord, then chords bouncing on every “and”, like a ball. It moves with the chords, so it fits every bar of the loop.
Bouncy-ball chordsSyncopated chords · PopRight handEasy
4
Both hands at 100 BPM
Put the two hands together over the loop. Start at half speed with the player's speed control, and bring it up once every change is easy.
5
Ending: Db – Eb – Ab
The last chords are IV – V – I, then one chord rolled from the bottom up, left to ring.
DbEbAb
- EbEb · G · Bb

What chords are in You Can’t Stop The Beat?

The loop is Ab – Db – Ab – Db (I – IV – I – IV) in Ab major, and the song ends on Db – Eb – Ab.

What key is You Can’t Stop The Beat in?

Ab major, at about 100 beats a minute in 4/4.

What does the left hand play in You Can’t Stop The Beat?

Engine 8ths: root bass · 8ths, a medium pattern. It follows the chords, so the same shape works for every bar.

Is You Can’t Stop The Beat 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.