Beginner tabs · public domain · play-along
Easy Guitar Melodies (Tabs & Chords)
45 easy guitar melodies with tabs — nursery rhymes, folk songs, hymns, carols and classical themes, all in the public domain. Every tune has a free tab in open position, the chords to strum along, and a player that highlights each note as it plays.
Learn them by ear: the melody trainer plays a tune and asks you to name it, name its last note, or (on the hardest levels) tap out every note.
Start the melody ear trainer →Beginner melodies
Intermediate melodies
How to read guitar tab
The six lines are the six strings, drawn as you look down at the guitar: the top line is the thin high E string, the bottom line is the thick low E. A number tells you which fret to press (0 means play the open string). Read left to right; chord names above the tab show what to strum if someone else plays the melody.
All tabs here stay in the first few frets and use standard tuning (E A D G B E). Need to tune up first? Use the free online guitar tuner.
Questions
What is the easiest song to play on guitar?
Single-note melodies such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Hot Cross Buns", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Ode to Joy" use only a few notes on the top three strings, so they are ideal first songs.
Are these melodies free to use?
Yes. Every tune in this library is traditional or was composed more than a century ago, so the melodies are in the public domain. The tabs and arrangements here are free to print and use for practice and teaching.
Should I learn melodies or chords first?
Both help. Melodies train your fretting accuracy and your ear; chords let you accompany songs. Many teachers alternate: learn a melody, then strum its chords while someone else (or the player on this page) plays the tune.