Songs · Beginner
Amazing Grace
Traditional hymn tune “New Britain” (words by John Newton) · Hymn tune from the early 1800s, set to Newton’s words in The Southern Harmony (1835)
G major3/4 time15 barsboth handsstarts with a pickup
Arranged: Teddy Rook Book: the melody with a simple left hand. The notes here are not exactly the ones the composer wrote.
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About this piece
Count three beats in each bar. The tune starts with one pickup note on beat 3, before the first full bar. In bar 7 the melody climbs to the D above the staff: move your right hand up for it, and back down in bar 10.
What it practices
- hands together
- 3/4 time
- a pickup note
- dotted rhythms
- moving the hand
Where the notes come from
Melody checked note by note against the Mutopia Project’s “New Britain” hymn setting (SATB, from cyberhymnal.org, public domain). The left hand is our own, simplified from that setting’s bass line. History from Wikipedia.
How to practice with it
- Listen first. Press Play and follow the moving line with your eyes. The lit notes and keys show what sounds right now: blue is the right hand, orange the left.
- Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start.
- One hand at a time. Choose Right or Left, learn that hand, then put them together.
- Wait for me. Turn it on and press Start. The lit keys show what to play, and the music waits until you play them, on the screen, on your computer keyboard or on a MIDI keyboard.
- Loop the hard part. Turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row.
Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. The computer keys A S D F G H J K play C D E F G A B C (press ⌨ Computer keys under the music to see them on the piano).