Anyone can play the Beatles!

I have always been thankful to have my piano, but since the pandemic started I have become that much more aware of it. I don’t know what I would do without it! So it makes complete sense to me that piano sales would be up, and other people would also be looking for something positive to do at home during these difficult times. 

If you’re an adult who took lessons as a kid, you will be surprised at how quickly your skills can return to you. You could learn a new song in no time, if you really put your mind to it! 

All you have to do is learn the melody for the chorus in the right hand, add a single note for some harmony in the left, and you’ve got yourself a song! If you have a guitarist at home, who knows some basic chords- rally them up! Most pop songs are built on the same 4 chords anyways, so you could have them play the chords along with you. Not all of us have guitarists at home just waiting to accompany our melodies of course, but that’s still ok! What’s the part you remember most about a song, after hearing it only once? The melody! Particularly from the chorus, since we hear it multiple times throughout the song. People will instantly know which song you’re playing, and maybe even sing along! This really does add a lot of positive energy to the room. (And it helps to cover your mistakes 😉). 

Here’s a simple arrangement I’ve come up with for ‘Hey Jude’ by the Beatles. It’s written in the key of F Major, but I have transposed it to C Major so there are no sharps or flats (black keys) to navigate. I’ve also written out the rhythms in longer note values so it’s easy to read. You wouldn’t know that by listening to it, though! Once you speed it up, it all sounds the same.