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Traditional; "New Britain" melody, published 1835. Public domain. The first half of the verse.

21 strings · D2–D6 · D pentatonic · The modern standard — four octaves of D-pentatonic plus a top D.

Tap a string, or sweep across them for a glissando, or drag down a string to bend it. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press — they follow the strings left to right.

GuzhengFree · printable · plays in your browser

Amazing Grace — Guzheng Tabs

Amazing Grace (the first half of the verse), written out for the guzheng as number tabs with the letter under every note. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the guzheng waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes16, 6 pitches
  • RangeA4–A5
  • Key hereD major
  • Tempo76 bpm · about 17 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a guzheng play Amazing Grace?

✓ Plays as written Every note of it is on the guzheng, in D major from A4 to A5. The check is made note by note against what the instrument can actually sound.

Amazing Grace: guzheng tabs

The large line is the note’s number in the scale; the small line under it is the string to pluck. 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.

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Amazing Grace — guzheng tabs · tonalics.com

The 6 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 6 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 5str. 8×3
  • 6str. 7×1
  • 1•str. 6×5
  • 2•str. 5×2
  • 3•str. 4×4
  • 5•str. 3×1

What to expect on a guzheng

  • It runs from A4 to A5, an octave, using 6 different notes. That leaves 31 semitones unused below and 5 above.
  • 33% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fourth, A4 to D5, at note 2.
  • It is played on strings 3 to 8 of 21, 6 strings in all.

About the tune

The words are John Newton’s, written in England in the 1770s; the tune they are sung to is an American folk melody called “New Britain”, joined to them by William Walker in his shape-note tunebook Southern Harmony in 1835.

Traditional; "New Britain" melody, published 1835. Public domain. The first half of the verse. More about Amazing Grace →

Amazing Grace on other instruments

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

More songs for the guzheng

All 7 guzheng songs · The online guzheng on its own

Playing it on a real guzheng?

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

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