Three Classic TV Ad Jingles You Can Play Using Letter Notes
Every Aussie who grew up watching free-to-air telly has a favourite advertising jingle lodged somewhere in the back of their brain. These earworms are short, melodic, and satisfying to play once you know the letters. With simplified notation, you don't need years of theory to knock out a recognisable tune after a few quiet sessions at the piano, and you can show off to mates at a barbie for instant recognition.
Letter notes strip music down to its bones, showing you exactly which keys to press. Instead of trying to decode treble clefs and remember what a minim is, you see a simple stream of letters running across the screen. That makes advertising melodies ideal practice material, because the tunes themselves are short, catchy, and built to lodge themselves in your memory. Play one through a couple of times and you'll probably find yourself humming along between arvo coffee runs.
Why advertising tunes are perfect practice material
Advertising jingles were literally designed to be remembered. The composers had thirty seconds to convince a viewer to buy a soft drink, switch insurance, or change brands, so every note counts. That economy makes them a fantastic training ground for beginners. There are no sprawling instrumental sections, no tricky key changes, and rarely more than a dozen unique pitches across the entire melody, so you can usually master the core riff in a single weekend.
Another reason these tunes work so well is repetition. The composers repeat phrases to make the song stick in your head, which happens to be exactly what you need when learning any instrument. Playing the same four-bar phrase three or four times builds muscle memory far faster than working through a long ballad, and you'll feel the difference in your fingers after just a couple of sittings.
Letter-note arrangements also let you focus on rhythm and finger placement before worrying about chords. Once the melody feels natural, you can add a simple left-hand accompaniment using the same letter system, and the layered approach keeps each session feeling fresh.
Tooheys Extra Dry and that pub-ready riff
Few jingles capture an Aussie mood as instantly as the Tooheys Extra Dry theme. The opening line, sung in that laid-back drawl, drops into a bluesy groove that feels right at home beside a schooner at a Sydney pub on a Friday arvo. The melody sits in a comfortable middle register of the keyboard, so your right hand doesn't have to stretch into awkward positions. It's a great first project because the rhythm is steady and predictable, almost like a relaxed chat with a mate.
Practising this jingle also gives you a feel for syncopation. The accents fall in unexpected places, which is exactly the kind of thing that trains your ear without you noticing. Start slowly with the letter notes in front of you, marking where each phrase starts and ends. Within a couple of repetitions, the muscle memory kicks in and you'll be able to glance away from the screen without losing your place.
When you finally nail it at full speed, the reward is the reaction. Drop it into a conversation at a footy gathering or a cricket viewing party and watch heads turn. People remember ads from their childhood even when they don't know the words anymore, so a familiar riff sparks instant nostalgia that keeps you practising through the duller early weeks.
Kmart's Aussie Christmas melody
Christmas in Australia means backyard cricket, pavlova, and a jolly Santa in board shorts. Kmart has turned that uniquely festive mood into a much-loved ad tune that translates surprisingly well to the keyboard. The melody is bright, bouncy, and uses mainly white keys, which makes it perfect for someone who hasn't built up finger strength yet, and it moves at a pace that lets you think one step ahead without feeling rushed.
A useful trick with this jingle is to play it with a friend taking the harmony line. Many letter-note arrangements include a simplified bass part you can learn in parallel, and singing along while playing reinforces the rhythm in a way silent practice never quite manages. If you happen to be practising in December, you'll have the perfect accompaniment to a sausage sizzle in the Brisbane summer heat.
The structure repeats every couple of bars, so you can break the song into small chunks and master each one before moving on. This chunking method is the same approach many piano teachers recommend for beginners, and advertising tunes are practically custom-built for it. By the time you've finished the full arrangement, you'll have built genuine fluency on a few common chord shapes too.
Cadbury's chocolate-loving chorus
Cadbury has been making chocolate in Hobart for generations, and the brand's "How Do You Eat Yours?" campaign became one of the most recognised jingles in Australian households. The tune has a playful, childlike quality that makes it feel friendly on the keys, and most of the melody stays within a five-note range. That means you can play it without shifting your hand position more than once or twice.
The jingle's biggest strength for learners is the simple rhythm. There are no sixteenth notes, no tricky triplets, and the tempo stays comfortable throughout. That makes it an excellent piece to work on if you are still building coordination between your two hands. Start with the right-hand melody alone, then bring in a basic left-hand pattern using just the root notes of each chord.
Once you've got both hands moving together, try varying the dynamics. Play the chorus louder than the verse, just like a real ad would. This kind of musical shaping transforms a simple exercise into something that actually sounds like music, which is a huge confidence boost. You might find yourself humming the tune under your breath during your lunch break.
Building speed without losing accuracy
Once you've learned one or two jingles, the temptation is always to race through them at full speed straight away. Resist that urge for at least the first few days. Accuracy always beats speed, because mistakes baked in at high tempo are much harder to undo later. A slow, careful run-through builds the neural pathways correctly, and the tempo comes naturally once the notes feel automatic.
A good benchmark is to play the melody through twice at half speed without a single stumble before attempting it any faster. If you can manage three clean passes in a row at that pace, push the metronome up by ten beats per minute, an approach seasoned players use for everything from jingles to classical études.
It also helps to schedule short, focused sessions rather than one long marathon. Twenty minutes after brekkie, another twenty after dinner, and a quick top-up before bed adds up quickly across a week. Consistency matters far more than duration, and shorter sessions keep your hands fresh. A small reward between blocks can make those breaks feel earned. Some players enjoy browsing something completely unrelated during those pauses, like this free spins tournament guide, which offers a tidy distraction between practice runs.
Growing your repertoire beyond the jingles
Once you've worked through a handful of advertising tunes, you'll probably want to branch out into something with a bit more weight. The same letter-note system that works for catchy jingles also works for full songs across many genres. Pop ballads, classic rock, and even heavier tracks translate well, because the method handles melody and rhythm without overwhelming the learner with theory. If you fancy something with a bit more drama, the 10th Man Down piano arrangement shows how a rock ballad can be tackled using the same approach.
From there, the catalogue keeps growing. Search the Piano Letters library for songs you've always wanted to learn, whether they're modern hits, old favourites, or the next advertising jingle that gets stuck in your head. Every new piece you add strengthens your reading skills, your coordination, and your musical ear. Before long, you'll be the person at the barbie who can sit down and play anything that comes on the telly, and that is a party trick worth every minute of practice.
