Someone You Loved

Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi has a knack for writing hit songs that always feature piano at the fore, and that’s why we love him here at HDpiano. Someone You Loved is Capaldi’s first big hit, released in late 2018, and it landed him at the top of the UK Singles Charts for seven straight weeks and became the best selling song of the year in the UK.

Capaldi says writing this song, and any song for that matter, wasn’t easy. It often takes him weeks or months of “bashing [his] head against a brick wall for hours and hours on end to get one good melody.” Lucky for us, his head was able to withstand the force, and he left us with a beautiful song about parting ways with someone you loved, featuring a simple, but evocative piano part.

The song is based on a simple four chord progression, and the piano part is based on simple three note voicing of each chord. Instead of using a root position triad for each chord, the middle note (the 3rd) is brought up an octave to create a nice wide spread, which allows the harmony to breathe a bit. Then, the top two notes are alternated as eighth notes while the LH plays and holds the root as a bass line.

If you haven’t watched any interviews I highly recommend it – this fella is a breath of fresh air in the world of pop music. Enjoy our exact transcription of the piano part here! -Dan