Canon in D on piano: easy versions, chords and notes
Pachelbel's Canon in D is built on eight bass notes, D–A–B–F♯–G–D–G–A, repeated from beginning to end, with the chords D – A – Bm – F♯m – G – D – G – A above them. Learn those eight notes in your left hand and you have the foundation of every version, from a one-minute beginner arrangement to a full concert one; the right hand plays a new melody over the same pattern each time.
Canon in D Beginner–Easy is in the PianoKite library in four versions: one for beginners and three easy ones, the longest about two minutes.
What is Pachelbel's Canon?
Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) wrote it for three violins and basso continuo, paired with a gigue. Nobody knows exactly when: suggested dates range from 1680 to 1706. It was first published only in 1919, and it became famous after a 1968 recording by Jean-François Paillard's orchestra, at a much slower tempo than earlier performances. Today it's a favourite at weddings. (Source: Wikipedia.)
Two things in that description explain how it works. A canon means the three violins play the same melody, each entering two bars after the one before, like a round. And the bass is a ground bass: one short pattern repeated throughout, 28 times in the original. Every piano version is an arrangement that squeezes these parts into two hands.
Canon in D chords and bass line
| # | Bass note | Chord | Chord notes | In C (no black keys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | D major | D F♯ A | C |
| 2 | A | A major | A C♯ E | G |
| 3 | B | B minor | B D F♯ | Am |
| 4 | F♯ | F♯ minor | F♯ A C♯ | Em |
| 5 | G | G major | G B D | F |
| 6 | D | D major | D F♯ A | C |
| 7 | G | G major | G B D | F |
| 8 | A | A major | A C♯ E | G |
In Roman numerals that's I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V. The bass has a simple logic that helps you memorise it: down a fourth, up a step, three times (D down to A, up to B; down to F♯, up to G; down to D), then up to G and A, ready to start again.
The piece is in D major, so the black keys you need are F♯ and C♯. If you'd rather start without black keys, the same progression in C is C–G–Am–Em–F–C–F–G. That's the key the beginner course uses: unit 10, Real Pieces, opens with a Canon lesson that teaches the right hand's slow line, then the bass line on its own, then both hands together.
How to play the Canon in D chords in the left hand
Go through these patterns in order. Each one is a complete accompaniment, and you can play the melody over any of them.
- Single bass notes. One note per chord, held: D, A, B, F♯, G, D, G, A. Play D and A with the little finger and thumb, and move the hand rather than stretching. This is what most easy versions do.
- Root and fifth. Add the fifth above each bass note: D+A, A+E, B+F♯, F♯+C♯, G+D, D+A, G+D, A+E. The hand keeps one shape and moves as a block, which makes it a good exercise for jumps.
- Broken chords. Play each chord as four eighth notes going up, for example D–F♯–A–D, then A–C♯–E–A. One of the easy versions in the library starts exactly like this.
- Chords in the right hand. To accompany yourself or someone else, play the bass in the left hand and the chord in the right, choosing positions close to each other: F♯–A–D, E–A–C♯, F♯–B–D, F♯–A–C♯, G–B–D, F♯–A–D, G–B–D, E–A–C♯. The right hand hardly moves.
Use the sustain pedal to join each chord to the next: press it just after you play a new bass note and lift it as you play the next one. Change it for every chord, or the harmonies run into each other.
Pachelbel's Canon piano notes: the famous melody
The first violin's opening line is eight slow notes, one over each bass note: F♯ E D C♯ B A B C♯. Played over the bass, F♯ sounds with D, E with A, D with B and so on, and every pair belongs to its chord in the table above. In C it becomes E D C B A G A B.
From there the melody gets busier with each repetition: quarter notes, then eighth notes, then sixteenths and fast runs, while the bass goes round unchanged. That's why the Canon suits learners so well: the left hand is the same all the way through, and each new right-hand variation is a short, separate thing to learn.
Easy Canon in D vs full arrangements
| Library version | Left hand | Right hand |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1, about 50 seconds, D major | The bass line as half notes, two per bar; later with a second note above | A simple melody, mostly quarter and eighth notes, around middle C |
| Level 2, about 70 seconds, no black keys | One bass note per bar, in C: C–G–A–E, then G–D–G–A (this arranger changes the second half of the pattern) | The chords as broken triads, one chord per bar |
| Level 2, about 2 minutes, D major | One long bass note per bar | The famous F♯–E–D–C♯ line, then quicker variations |
| Level 2, just over 2 minutes, D major | Broken chords in eighth notes, then half notes | Variations up to sixteenth notes and up to high D |
Most of the easy versions slow the bass down: one or two notes per bar instead of the original's eight notes every two bars, which gives you time to find each one. Full piano arrangements, the kind played at weddings, usually keep the bass moving at the original speed, fill in the chords and give the right hand the original variations, including the fast runs. They're intermediate to advanced pieces. If you learn the easy versions first, you already know the bass, the chords and the opening melody of any full arrangement you pick up later.
How to learn Canon in D: a plan
- Listen and watch. Play the preview on the Canon in D page and watch the left hand: the same eight notes keep coming round.
- Learn the bass by name. Say "D, A, B, F♯, G, D, G, A" as you play it with the left hand alone, until you can play it with your eyes closed. Then play it in time with a metronome.
- Add the chords. Play each chord as a block in the right hand over the bass (pattern 4 above). Now you can hear the whole harmony of the piece.
- Learn the melody. Right hand alone, in Wait mode, one variation at a time.
- Hands together, slowly. Each variation over the bass, first in Wait mode, then at 50% and 75% speed. Because the left hand never changes, it becomes automatic quickly, and you can give your attention to the right.
- Move up a version. When the beginner version is clean at full speed, take the next one. You'll recognise the bass and some of the melody straight away.
- Shape it. The Canon builds up from calm to busy. Start softly, let each variation grow a little, and keep the bass smooth and quiet under the melody.
The full method behind these steps is in how to practise a new piano piece.
Common difficulties
- The left-hand jumps. Going down a fourth from D to A and from B to F♯ means moving the hand, not stretching it. Look ahead and move early.
- F♯ minor. F♯–A–C♯ has two black keys and feels odd at first. Practise the move from B minor to F♯ minor to G on its own.
- Rushing the right hand. When the melody gets faster, it's tempting to speed up the bass too. Practise with the metronome or the app's play-along, which keeps a steady tempo for you.
- Losing your place in the variations. Count the repetitions of the bass: every variation starts with the bass back on D. Name each variation by its rhythm ("the slow one", "the eighth notes") to keep them apart.
- Too much pedal. If the sound turns to mush, you're not lifting the pedal at each chord change.
In PianoKite, every bar is scored for each hand, so it's easy to see whether a problem is in the bass or the melody. Once the Canon is learned, the same chord progression turns up in a lot of other music, pop songs included. For more pieces at this level, see the easy (level 2) pieces or the easy classical pieces for beginners.