Cry by Rihanna

There are 3 parts in this song… the verse, chorus and the bridge.

The intro is just the first 2 lines of the verse. It goes like this:

Cm –> Ab/C –> Bb/C

These are the notes on the left and right hands:

Chord	Left hand notes	Right hand notes
Cm	C –> G	C –> G –> Eb –> D
Ab/C and Bb/C	C –> Ab	C –> D –> F –> Eb

This is repeated twice.

The rest of the verse goes like this:

AbM7 –> Bb –> Gm7 –> Fm7

These are the notes on the left and right hands:

Chord	Left hand notes	Right hand notes
AbM7	Ab –> Eb	C –> G –> Eb –> D
Bb	Bb –> F	C –> D –> Eb –> Bb
Gm7	G –> D	Bb –> F –> D –> C
Fm7	F –> C	Bb –> C –> D –> C

This progression is played twice too.

Then the chorus goes like this:

Cm –> AbM7 –> Fm7 –> Bb

These are the notes on the left and right hands:

Chord	Left hand notes	Right hand notes
Cm	C –> G	C –> G –> Eb –> C
AbM7	Ab –> Eb	C –> D –> Eb –> C
Fm7	F –> C	C –> G –> Eb –> D
Bb	Bb –> F	Bb –> C –> D –> C

It ends with a Cm.

There is also a bridge, which goes like this:

Cm –> Fm7 –> Gm7 –> AbM7 –> Bb –> Cm –> Bb/D –> Eb –> Ab –> Bb –> Cm

Now, that may look very complicated, but if you know that the key is Eb, then the bass notes’ pattern should be obvious, i.e.,

6 –> 2 –> 3 –> 4 –> 5 –> 6 –> 7 –> 1 –> 4 –> 5 –> 6

Note that the bass notes simply climb up the scale from “re” (2) all the way to “do” (1), before going to “fa” (4), “so” (5) and “la” (6).

The minor chords can be improvised using the 3 basic major chords. See “The 3 Minor Chords” post to find out about improvisation.

That’s all. And here’s the video illustration…

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• The Left Hand
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• Minor & Modes