Beginner melody
Hot Cross Buns
Traditional
Three notes, E, D and C, on the top two strings. The simplest tune in the library, and a first go at eighth notes.
Free guitar tabs
Free guitar tabs for songs everyone knows.
45 public-domain songs arranged for guitar, with tab and standard notation together. Play along in your browser at any speed, or download the MusicXML file for guitarnotation or any program that reads MusicXML.
Beginner melody
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Traditional
The nursery tune in quarter notes, almost all of it on three notes a fret apart.
Beginner melody
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Traditional
The tune everyone knows, in steady quarter notes on the top two strings, with a reach up to the fifth fret.
Beginner melody
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Traditional
The same tune as Twinkle, Twinkle, with the words giving it runs of eighth notes.
Beginner melody
Frère Jacques
Traditional
The French round, with eighth notes in bars 5 and 6 and a low G on the open third string.
Beginner melody
London Bridge Is Falling Down
Traditional
A dotted rhythm on “London” and a tune that stays between C and A on the top two strings.
Beginner melody
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Traditional
In 6/8 on the lower strings, with the “merrily” bar of six eighth notes.
Beginner melody
Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Traditional
The verse with the E-I-E-I-O, in quarter notes, mostly on the second and third strings.
Beginner melody
Au clair de la lune
Traditional French
The French lullaby in quarter notes, four notes wide, with a middle section that dips to the open G.
Beginner melody
Lightly Row
Traditional German
The first tune in many method books: eight bars of quarter notes on the top two strings.
Beginner melody
Taps
Daniel Butterfield
The bugle call on three notes, G, C and E, with long held notes to count through.
Beginner melody
Pop Goes the Weasel
Traditional
The English dance tune in 6/8, with the “pop” on the fifth fret.
Beginner melody
Alouette
Traditional French-Canadian
The French-Canadian song in 2/4: the refrain twice, the “je te plumerai” verse, and the refrain to finish.
Beginner melody
Lavender’s Blue
Traditional English
The 17th-century English song in 3/4, eight bars on four strings with one run of eighth notes.
Beginner melody
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Traditional
The spider's climb in 6/8 and G major, on the third and second strings with one F♯.
Beginner melody
For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow
Traditional
The celebration song in 6/8 on the top two strings, from an introduction bar to the long C at the end.
Beginner melody
Ode to Joy
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven's tune in steady quarter notes on the top two strings. A good first melody to read from the staff.
Beginner melody
Jingle Bells
James Lord Pierpont
The chorus as a single-note melody, with the chords written above for anyone strumming along. Adds dotted rhythms and eighth notes.
Beginner melody
Happy Birthday to You
Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill
The birthday song in 3/4, with the “happy” pickup written into an introduction bar.
Easy melody
Yankee Doodle
Traditional
Verse and chorus in quarter notes, moving between the top three strings and dipping to the fourth.
Beginner melody
When the Saints Go Marching In
Traditional
The gospel tune with its long held notes, and the “oh when the” pickups written out in full bars.
Easy melody
Deck the Halls
Traditional Welsh
The first two lines of the carol, with the fa-la-las as eighth notes.
Easy melody
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Traditional
The carol in G, in 3/4, on the middle strings with an F♯ at the fourth fret.
Easy melody
Aura Lee
George R. Poulton
The 1861 song whose melody became “Love Me Tender”, in slow quarter notes on the middle strings.
Easy melody
Auld Lang Syne
Traditional, words by Robert Burns
The New Year song with its dotted “should auld” rhythm, from an introduction bar to the top A at the fifth fret.
Easy melody
Oh! Susanna
Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster's verse and chorus in quarter notes, with the “I come from” pickups written into the bars before them.
Easy melody
Silent Night
Franz Xaver Gruber
The carol in 6/8, from the “si-lent night” rhythm to the peak on the open high E and the descent at the end.
Easy melody
Korobeiniki (the Tetris theme)
Traditional Russian
The Russian folk song the world knows from Tetris, eight bars of eighths and quarters in A minor, all in the first position.
Easy melody
Cielito Lindo
Quirino Mendoza y Cortés
The “ay, ay, ay, ay” chorus of the Mexican song in 3/4, on the top three strings with an introduction bar.
Easy melody
O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)
Traditional German
O Tannenbaum in G and 3/4: the familiar first phrase, the middle phrase that climbs, and the first phrase again.
Easy melody
Away in a Manger
James R. Murray
The carol as sung in America, in 3/4, with the dotted “a-way” rhythm, from an introduction bar to the last C.
Easy melody
We Three Kings
John Henry Hopkins Jr.
The verse of the carol in E minor and 3/4, on the middle strings with one F♯.
Easy melody
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Traditional English
The carol in E minor: the verse, which repeats, and the “tidings of comfort and joy” refrain, all in quarter notes.
Easy melody
Joy to the World
Lowell Mason, after Handel
The carol in D, beginning with the descending scale from D to D, with the dotted rhythms written as quarters and eighths.
Easy melody
Scarborough Fair
Traditional
The English ballad in 3/4 and the Dorian mode, on the lower four strings with a bass note where the tune pauses.
Easy melody
Brahms’ Lullaby
Johannes Brahms
The lullaby in 3/4 on the lower strings, from an introduction bar through the two “good night” phrases.
Easy melody
Bella Ciao
Traditional Italian
The Italian song in E minor on the lower strings, with its held notes and the “bella ciao, ciao, ciao” repeated Bs.
Easy fingerstyle
Amazing Grace
Traditional
The hymn tune in 3/4, with the melody on the top strings and a bass note under it. A first step into fingerstyle.
Arpeggios
House of the Rising Sun
Traditional
The well-known chords, Am, C, D, F and E, picked one string at a time in 6/8. Good practice for changing chords in time.
Fingerstyle
Danny Boy (Londonderry Air)
Traditional Irish
The Londonderry Air in C on the lower strings, with bass notes under the pauses, a dotted rhythm at the start of each phrase and a run of eighths at the end.
Classical
Minuet in G major
Christian Petzold
The minuet from Anna Magdalena Bach's notebook, 16 bars in 3/4, all in the first position.
Melody and bass
Canon in D
Johann Pachelbel
The famous bass line alone, then the first entry of the tune over it: two notes at a time, in 2/4.
Fingerstyle
Greensleeves
Traditional
The English tune in 3/4, its melody over a bass line, with the dotted rhythms that give it its lilt.
Classical
Für Elise
Ludwig van Beethoven
The opening of Beethoven's bagatelle: the E–D♯ figure and its two answers, written in eighth notes with a bass A under the pickup.
Classical
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Edvard Grieg
Grieg's theme in A minor, all eighth notes on the middle strings, then the same phrase a fifth higher.
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Free for your practice
All 45 melodies are in the public domain. The arrangements are ours, and you're welcome to download, print and play them for your own practice. See our terms.