Lightly Row — Guitar Tab

• Notes49, 5 pitches
• RangeG3–D4
• Key hereG major
• Tempo120 bpm · about 32 s
• LevelEasy

Can a guitar play Lightly Row?

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.

• Acoustic✓ Plays as writtenIn G major, G3–D4 · loaded above
• Classical✓ Plays as writtenIn G major, G3–D4 · load it

Lightly Row: guitar tab

The large line is the fret — 0 is the open string; the small line under it is the string it is on. 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.

Lightly Row guitar tab as text

The same notes as tablature: one line per string, the thin high E on top, and each number the fret to press on that line — 0 is the open string. Read it left to right, one note at a time.

e|--------------------------------------------|
B|-3-0-0--1----------0-1-3-3-3--3-0-0--1------|
G|----------2-2--0-2---------------------2-2--|
D|--------------------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------|

e|---------------------------------------------|
B|---0-3-3---------------0-1--0-0-0-0-0-1-3--3-|
G|-0-------0---2-2-2-2-2-----------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------|
B|-0-0--1--------0-3-3-----|
G|--------2-2--0-------0---|
D|-------------------------|
A|-------------------------|
E|-------------------------|

Are there chords for it?

Not on this page. The chords here are chosen by rule — the three chords of the key — and they are only offered where that rule can be checked against a published harmonisation and agrees with it on most bars. This melody has no barred score in its sources to hang chords on. The tab above is the whole tune.

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.

• 0G×5
• 2G×12
• 0B×15
• 1B×6
• 3B×11

What to expect on a guitar

• It runs from G3 to D4, a fifth, using 5 different notes. That leaves 15 semitones unused below and 14 above.
• 75% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, D4 to G3, at note 24.
• The whole tune sits in first position: nothing above the 3rd fret, one finger per fret.
• It is played on 2 strings (G and B), and 20 notes are an open string.
• The picking hand changes string 9 times.

About the tune

Lightly Row is the English name for the German children’s song “Hänschen klein”, whose words were written by the Dresden teacher Franz Wiedemann around 1860 to a folk melody already in circulation. The tune travelled further than the words did: it is sung with different texts across Europe, Japan and the Americas.

German folk song “Hänschen klein”, 19th century; the English “Lightly Row” uses the same melody. Public domain. More about Lightly Row →

Lightly Row 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.

• Lightly Row — kalimbatabs
• Lightly Row — pianoletter notes
• Lightly Row — ukuleletab
• Lightly Row — mbiratabs
• Lightly Row — handpantabs
• Lightly Row — oudnotes
• Lightly Row — violinnotes
• Lightly Row — cellonotes
• Lightly Row — erhunotes
• Lightly Row — dulcimertab
• Lightly Row — xylophoneletter notes
• Lightly Row — marimbaletter notes
• Lightly Row — glockenspielletter notes
• Lightly Row — steel drumletter notes
• Lightly Row — ocarinanotes
• Lightly Row — harmonicatabs
• Lightly Row — trumpetnotes
• Lightly Row — clarinetnotes
• Lightly Row — saxophonenotes
• Lightly Row — flutenotes
• Lightly Row — recordernotes
• Lightly Row — tubanotes
• Lightly Row — euphoniumnotes
• Lightly Row — trombonenotes
• Lightly Row — accordionletter notes
• Lightly Row — harpletter notes
• Lightly Row — lyretabs

More songs for the guitar

• Hot Cross BunsNursery rhymes · major third
• Twinkle Twinkle Little StarNursery rhymes · major sixth
• Mary Had a Little LambNursery rhymes · fifth
• Row, Row, Row Your BoatNursery rhymes · octave
• London BridgeNursery rhymes · major sixth
• Old MacDonaldNursery rhymes · major sixth
• Frère JacquesNursery rhymes · major sixth
• Going Home (New World Largo)Classical melodies · fifth

All 36 guitar songs · Christmas songs for guitar · The online guitar on its own