Free Beginner Sheet Music
Cowboy Song

Free beginner sheet music "Cowboy Song" has a repeating left hand boogie chord, and solid right hand chords for a full sound. Especially popular with boys!

This printable piano music is most appropriate in the second year of piano playing, for most students. It takes a bit of coordination to execute the two hands together. I never give them this piece until they have become very familiar with the "boogie" left hand open chords that accompany a simple 12-bar-blues pattern, in my studio.

That open chord pattern looks like this:

If your piano students have not gotten used to stretching the LH thumb for this pattern, I find that they can't seem to remember to break out of the 5-finger-scale habit to stretch the thumb in Cowboy Song -- they come back Week 2 playing "c,f,g,f" instead of "c,g,a,g" as written.

Free beginner sheet music Cowboy Song

Separately, each hand is very easy. Together, students MAY have trouble, initially, bringing left and right hands together on beat 3 of measure 3. I let them try to put it HT (hands together) right away, but if they have trouble coordinating the hands, I tell them to just go to the end of line 1, or even just to the end of measure 4, for all of the 1st or even 2nd week.

And if they have a little trouble, I say, "Can you pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time?" I demonstrate, and watch them do the same. Of course, not all can perform this feat of coordination very gracefully, and I tell them that over time it will improve! Just like Cowboy Song will improve. One suggestion for actual lesson time: as you play along with them, tell them to slow the notes down as they approach the tricky part to SUPER SLOW, "freezing" the hands as they meet. This will help the hands memorize the feeling they must have as they come together.

Notice that this free beginner sheet music is to be performed with a swing; a LONG,short,LONG,short-rhythm. This really does, somehow, suggest the motion of a horse and cowboy moving along. Must be all the Westerns with the same loping kind of rhythm our ears have come to identify as the Cowboy sound! The song really has more of a cut-time rhythm (2/2), but I wrote it 4/4 to make it easier to read.

This piece is especially popular with boys; for some students, it marks a new milestone as they struggle with the challenge of two-hand coordination... and they feel rewarded when they can play it with ease!

Recent Articles

The Moldau Solo & Duet Easy Beginner Piano Sheet Music
The Moldau, now with a secondo duet part for beginning piano. This famous piece is one of the most beautiful themes of Romantic orchestral literature.

Read More
Free Fur Elise Sheet Music - Beautifully Readable Copies
Fur Elise sheet music in its entirety, with quarter notes for easy deciphering! These beautiful transcriptions are perfect for students who've just mastered coordination of right hand melody against l…

Read More
Irish Piano Sheet Music Keegan's Waltz
Beautiful Irish piano sheet music, now for late elementary as well as for intermediate students, this lovely, lilting piece in a minor key will easily win their hearts.

Read More
Fuzzy Wuzzy, Free, Easy Sheet Music, 4 Versions
Fuzzy Wuzzy, now with a RIGHT HAND ONLY arrangement, is a cute piano piece that uses rests to create musical surprise.

Read More
Thank you
Hello, I have finally returned to playing the organ after a long, traumatic divorce. Music has made my soul come alive again thanks to your free music

Read More

See what's new at Music-for-Music-Teachers. Use the sign-up form below to receive "Take Note":

Comments: Do you have a story or a question about music teaching? Share it!

Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...

Enter Your Title

Enter your text here: [ ? ]