You Are My Sunshine – Easy Piano Notes

Here’s a simple arrangement of You Are My Sunshine for easy piano with free sheet music. It’s a simple little tune, but not quite as simple as the first five finger pieces. It’s a good one to move onto after you have mastered these.

This well loved song is always popular with children as it never fails to make us smile!

There are two types of piano music included below, the easy piano sheet music and then a simplified note chart showing the notes and the fingerings. There is also a step by step guide on how to teach yourself or a student to play the piece.

Easy Piano Notes and Fingering for You Are My Sunshine

How To Play You Are My Sunshine on the Piano

• At first, only attempt the right hand tune.
• Because this is such a well known song, kids love singing along. So you can make the most of this as you teach them how to play it on the piano.
• First sing the song and clap the rhythm together without any accompaniment.
• Then sing through again but this time following the music.
• Trace the melody with your finger as you sing the song.
• Then ask the child to have a go themselves, tracing the notes on the music as you both sing them together.
• Then using a treble clef note chart, help the child to identify the notes of the first phrase.
• Follow the sheet music and take a phrase at a time. Sing the note names while tapping the correct fingers in the rhythm of the tune. You can demonstrate this first.
• Then let the child try to play the first phrase on the piano, demonstrate first if they aren’t sure.
• Work through the song in this way, one phrase at a time and repeat each phrase a few times before moving on to the next.
• Always break up learning a new piece into shorter sections, don’t try to push on until they can manage each phrase with ease.

Adding the Left Hand

• The left hand should only be attempted once the child understands the bass clef.
• To introduce the left hand notes and how they fit with the tune above, play the left hand as a duet as the child plays the right hand tune.
• Then help them to identify the notes in the left hand, a phrase at a time.
• Children usually find the bass clef harder to grasp, so keep it light and playful and give them lots of clues if they get stuck.
• A bass clef note chart is very helpful and encourages kids to work it out for themselves.
• Make sure they are using the correct fingers.
• Happily the left hand for this piece moves slowly , so once they’ve got it, it should be relatively easy to play both hands together.
• When they can play the left hand notes, you can play a duet again but this time you play the right hand while they practice the left.
• Only attempt hands together once they can play each hand easily separately on its own.
• Then you can attempt hands together very slowly in short phrases.

You Are My Sunshine Easy Piano Sheet Music

Print off the easy piano sheet music for You Are My Sunshine here.

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