3 Easy Beatles Piano Songs: Chords & Tutorials

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!

1. Let It Be
2. Hey Jude
3. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
4. Practice Tips

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Let It Be

“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:

Adding the Turnaround

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:

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Hey Jude

“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.

🎹 HOT TIP! INVERSIONS: You might notice in the video that I don’t always play the chords in root position. Sometimes I play the notes in a different order—these are called inversions! This is a handy concept to learn because they can help you change chords faster.

Slash Chords

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.

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

“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:

Tips to Master Easy Beatles Piano Songs:

Sing Along

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.

Play With a Backing Track

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.

Listen to the Song

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:

• “Imagine” (John Lennon) Tutorial
• “Don’t Stop Believin'” (Journey) Tutorial
• “Great Balls of Fire” (Jerry Lee Lewis) Tutorial

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