Super Simple Chords

Piano chords · Rock drive

You Can’t Stop The Beat: easy piano accompaniment in letter notes

By Glee Cast

Tuning the piano…
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Left hand Engine 8thsRight hand Bouncy-ball chordsChords the loop the song repeats most

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 You Can’t Stop The Beat without reading music. The left hand plays engine 8ths (root bass · 8ths) and the right hand bouncy-ball chords.

You Can’t Stop The Beat accompaniment in letter notes

The Ab – Db – Ab – Db loop with engine 8ths in the left hand and bouncy-ball chords in the right. Notes struck together are joined with a plus; C4 is middle C.

Bar 1
Ab
REb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6
LAb2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2
Bar 2
Db
RAb4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5
LDb3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3
Bar 3
Ab
REb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6
LAb2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2
Bar 4
Db
RAb4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab6 F6 Db6 Ab5 G5 Gb5 F5 Fb5
LDb3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3
Bar 5
Ab
REb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6
LAb2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2
Bar 6
Db
RAb4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5
LDb3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3
Bar 7
Ab
REb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6 Eb5+Ab5+C6
LAb2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2 Ab2
Bar 8
Db
RAb4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5 Ab4+Db5+F5
LDb3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3 Db3

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 You Can’t Stop The Beat

What are the letter notes for the You Can’t Stop The Beat 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 Ab – Db – Ab – Db, so the letters repeat with the chords.

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.