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SongsOde to Joy
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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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Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, 1824. 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

Ode to Joy — Dulcimer Tab

Ode to Joy, 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.

  • Notes30, 5 pitches
  • RangeD4–A4
  • Key hereD major
  • Tempo112 bpm · about 17 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a dulcimer play Ode to Joy?

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

Ode to Joy: 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

Ode to Joy — dulcimer tab (DAD) · tonalics.com

The 5 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 5 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 0D4×6
  • 1E4×7
  • 2F♯4×9
  • 3G4×4
  • 4A4×4

What to expect on a dulcimer

  • It runs from D4 to A4, a fifth, using 5 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 17 above.
  • Every move is a step or a repeated note — there is no leap anywhere in it.
  • It uses 5 fret positions: 0, 1, 2, 3, 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 theme of the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, first performed in Vienna in 1824, where a choir joins the orchestra to sing Schiller’s poem “An die Freude”. An instrumental arrangement of it has been the anthem of the Council of Europe since 1972 and of the European Union since 1985.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, 1824. Public domain. More about Ode to Joy →

Ode to Joy on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, which does not have the notes.

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.

🎙 Open the Dulcimer Tuner