Accompaniments
Also see the Fake Books page for many more accompaniment options.
Below you will find “cheat sheets” with simple accompaniment versions of well known songs. Sing for yourself, or enjoy a sing-along or play-along with others. Here are the available selections, followed by instructions on how to use the cheat sheets.
For each song, you’ll see its title, followed by a list of one or more ratios you can use to coordinate your hands rhythmically, e.g., with some number of left hand events for every however many right hand events. When more than one ratio is provided, you can choose which to use. Smaller numbers usually means easier performance. Experiment with higher numbers if you’re feeling bold, and feel free to even switch ratios mid-song to give the song a sense of direction.
After the title line you’ll see lists of chord names with occasional lyrics snippets. The chord names are used just as with any accompaniments. They are always limited here to simple chords based around a C starting position, allowing even the most novice accompanists to take them on. More advanced players who know how to transpose using I-IV-V can do so on their own as they see fit.
The lyric bits are provided because people can sometimes be confused about just how the singing fits with the chords and ratios. Complete lyrics are not provided for a few reasons — to keep things simple for the performer, to pack as many songs as possible into individual pages, and not least of all to avoid copyright infringement! Of course, this means that whoever might want to sing had better know or have all the words!
Let’s use Jingle Bells as an example to see how you would use the brief lyric cues. Before the chords begin, you’ll see a line that says:
(Dashing through the snow…)
Notice that “Dash” and “snow” are both underlined. This means that “Dash” is to be sung when you first play the first chord listed right below the lyric cue, while “snow” is to be sung when you first play the second chord. Any words in between the two underlines are sung over the course of just that first chord and its ratio.
Occasionally, the lyric cue begins with something not underlined. This means that singing begins before the chord, as in Auld Lang Syne where we sing “Should” before the chords come in with “auld.”
You’ll usually find more than one lyric cue line for each song, helping you to know what section of the song you’re on. These lyric cues should help everything come together.
