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SongsMary Had a Little Lamb
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2 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the tuning or capo brings some of them into reach.

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Traditional; Lowell Mason setting, 1831. Public domain.

3 strings · D3–D6 · No capo · D · Today’s standard — Mixolydian from the open string, and the tuning every modern tab is written for.

Tap a string, or drag down across them to strum. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press — they follow the strings, melody first.

DulcimerFree · printable · plays in your browser

Mary Had a Little Lamb — Dulcimer Tab

Mary Had a Little Lamb, written out for the dulcimer as fret numbers for the melody string and set up above on the DAD. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the dulcimer waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes26, 4 pitches
  • RangeD4–A4
  • Key hereD major
  • Tempo104 bpm · about 17 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a dulcimer play Mary Had a Little Lamb?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • DAD✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–A4 · loaded above
  • DAA✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–A4 · load it

Mary Had a Little Lamb: dulcimer tab

The large line is the fret, on the melody string unless a string is named; the small line under it is the note. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Mary Had a Little Lamb — dulcimer tab (DAD) · tonalics.com

The 4 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 4 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 0D4×3
  • 1E4×10
  • 2F♯4×11
  • 4A4×2

What to expect on a dulcimer

  • It runs from D4 to A4, a fifth, using 4 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 17 above.
  • 92% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor third, F♯4 to A4, at note 12.
  • It uses 4 fret positions: 0, 1, 2, 4.
  • The whole tune is on the melody string, so it can be played with a noter while the other strings drone.

About the tune

The poem is by Sarah Josepha Hale, published in Boston in 1830; the hymn composer Lowell Mason set it to this tune the following year. In 1877 Thomas Edison recited its opening lines to test his phonograph, which makes it the first verse ever recorded and played back.

Traditional; Lowell Mason setting, 1831. Public domain. More about Mary Had a Little Lamb →

Mary Had a Little Lamb on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation.

More songs for the dulcimer

All 35 dulcimer songs · Christmas songs for dulcimer · The online dulcimer on its own

Playing it on a real dulcimer?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The dulcimer tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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