Skip to content
NotePlayMusic

Ode to Joy — melody and bass

Bring both hands together: play the eight-bar melody with your right hand while the left hand holds one bass note per bar.

Next stepsLudwig van Beethoven · Simplified melody with added bass · piano both handsPiano · Both hands · C major · 4/4

60 beats per minute. Changing speed stops playback; press Play to start again.

Try it at the keyboard

  1. Learn the right-hand melody on its own first. It stays on C4 to G4, with your thumb on middle C.
  2. For the bass, place your left little finger on G2 and your thumb on C3. Hold each written bass note for all four beats.
  3. Practise one bar at a time with both hands. Release the bass note as you start the next bar; do not use the sustain pedal.

About this score

NotePlayMusic adaptation of the first eight soprano bars: transposed from G major to C major, accompaniment omitted, and the dotted-crotchet/quaver endings in bars 4 and 8 replaced by two crotchets. This is a teaching excerpt, not the complete work or the original rhythm. NotePlayMusic added a simple C/G bass exercise for both-hand coordination; this is not the source edition’s accompaniment.

Source edition typeset by Peter Chubb; melody by Ludwig van Beethoven. The source edition is marked Public Domain by its typesetter.

Source notation · Source score & rights notice