Learn how to play three easy Beatles piano songs that are perfect for beginners!
Some of the best piano pop music is found among the Beatles. You can even say that the Beatles made the piano a pop star!
Beatles songs are also splendidly written and many aren’t that difficult! In this lesson, I’ll show you three easy Beatles songs you can start playing right now. They’re all beginner-friendly!
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“Let It Be” might be the Beatles song. Paul McCartney wrote it around the time the Beatles broke up. Worried and stressed, Paul’s mother (Mary) appeared to him in a dream and told him to “let it be.” It’s a beautiful and meaningful piece.
Another beautiful thing about this song is that it’s built on the four basic chords that beginner piano players learn first. So, chances are you already know these chords and can transition between them!
If not, no worries. Here are diagrams of the chords in their basic root position:
Once you’re familiar with the basic chords, I’ll teach you a few extra things you can do to make your playing sound more like the original. Our YouTube tutorial has timestamps throughout, so feel free to replay and repeat sections as much as you like!
You’ll learn the turnaround Paul uses at the end of the intro and verses, which looks like this:
Get accurate transcriptions, play along with backing tracks, speed up or slow down, and loop a tricky section to get it perfect! Try the Pianote song library with a seven-day free trial of the Pianote Membership—the ultimate online piano lessons experience.
TRY PIANOTE FOR FREE“Hey Jude” is another Paul McCartney masterpiece. Paul took piano lessons as a kid but didn’t enjoy them, preferring to play his own way. He wrote “Hey Jude” for Julian Lennon (John’s son) when his parents split up.
“Let It Be” only uses a few basic chords as well: F, C, Bb. Eb makes an appearance in the outro “na na na” section.
Ready for the next level? Try a dominant seventh chord (C7) on “sad song”! It sounds amazing. You can also use an Fmaj7 in the “na na na” section.
To take “Hey Jude” to the next level, in the bridge section, you can play a descending series of slash chords like this:
Slash chords just mean you play the note to the right of the slash in the bass with your left hand.
“O-Bla-Di” is a fun one. It has a ska influence but is also built on very simple chords! The chords you’ll need to know are:
I think the rhythm is the trickiest part of this song. Count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”: your right hand plays on the “and.”
Ready for a challenge? Here’s a more complex pattern that adds in the third in the left hand:
You don’t need to be a fantastic singer. But simply humming along with the melody while you play the chords with your hands can help you with timing and tempo.
Pianote Members can play with our Practice-Along feature. But even if you’re not a Member, try playing with the original recording. If you’re not up to speed yet, you can play with a YouTube video and set the playback speed to 0.75x, 0.5x, or even 0.25x.
Finally, knowing a song super well definitely helps with learning how to play it!
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to play hit easy Beatles piano songs 🙂 Check out some of these other free lessons that might interest you:
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Lisa Witt has been teaching piano for more than 20 years and in that time has helped hundreds of students learn to play the songs they love. Lisa received classical piano training through the Royal Conservatory of Music, but she has since embraced popular music and playing by ear in order to accompany herself and others. Learn more about Lisa.
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