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SongsSilent Night
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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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  1. 5
  2. 6
  3. 5
  4. 3
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 5
  8. 3
  9. 2'
  10. 2'
  11. 7
  12. 1'
  13. 1'
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 6
  17. 1'
  18. 7
  19. 6
  20. 5
  21. 6
  22. 5
  23. 3
  24. 6
  25. 6
  26. 1'
  27. 7
  28. 6
  29. 5
  30. 6
  31. 5
  32. 3
  33. 2'
  34. 2'
  35. 4'
  36. 2'
  37. 7
  38. 1'
  39. 3'
  40. 1'
  41. 5
  42. 3
  43. 5
  44. 4
  45. 2
  46. 1

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. 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

Silent Night — Dulcimer Tab

Silent Night, 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.

  • Notes46, 11 pitches
  • RangeD4–G5
  • Key hereD major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a dulcimer play Silent Night?

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–G5 · loaded above
  • DAA✓ Plays as writtenIn D major, D4–G5 · load it

Silent Night: 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

Silent Night — dulcimer tab (DAD) · tonalics.com

The 11 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 11 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 0D4×1
  • 1E4×1
  • 2F♯4×5
  • 3G4×1
  • 4A4×11
  • 5B4×10
  • 6½C♯5×4
  • 7D5×6
  • 8E5×5
  • 9F♯5×1
  • 10G5×1

What to expect on a dulcimer

  • It runs from D4 to G5, an octave and a fourth, using 11 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 7 above.
  • 53% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor seventh, F♯4 to E5, at note 9.
  • It uses 11 fret positions: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6½, 7, 8, 9, 10.
  • The whole tune is on the melody string, so it can be played with a noter while the other strings drone.
  • It needs the 6½ fret, which dulcimers built before about 1980 often lack.

About the tune

Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher and organist, wrote the melody on Christmas Eve 1818 for a poem by the young priest Joseph Mohr, and the two sang it that night in the church of St Nicholas in Oberndorf with Mohr accompanying on guitar. It spread through travelling Tyrolean singers and has since been translated into several hundred languages.

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain. The notes follow Wikipedia, “Silent Night” (engraved score), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Silent Night →

Silent Night on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng or handpan, which do 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.

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