- Notes17, 3 pitches
- RangeD4–F♯4
- Key hereD major
- Tempo100 bpm · about 10 s
- LevelEasy
Can a guzheng play Hot Cross Buns?
✓ Plays as written Every note of it is on the guzheng, in D major from D4 to F♯4. The check is made note by note against what the instrument can actually sound.
Hot Cross Buns: 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.
Hot Cross Buns — guzheng tabs · tonalics.com
The 3 notes it uses
Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 3 and you can play the whole tune.
- 1str. 11×7
- 2str. 10×7
- 3str. 9×3
What to expect on a guzheng
- It runs from D4 to F♯4, a major third, using 3 different notes. That leaves 24 semitones unused below and 20 above.
- 94% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major third, D4 to F♯4, at note 4.
- It is played on strings 9 to 11 of 21, 3 strings in all.
About the tune
Hot Cross Buns began as a street cry: the call of London bakers selling spiced buns on Good Friday. It was in print as a rhyme by the end of the 18th century, and the tune it settled on is about as small as a tune can be — three neighbouring notes, most of it a single falling step repeated.
Traditional English street cry and nursery rhyme, 18th century. Public domain. More about Hot Cross Buns →
Hot Cross Buns on other instruments
The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation.
- Hot Cross Buns — kalimba
- Hot Cross Buns — piano
- Hot Cross Buns — mbira
- Hot Cross Buns — handpan
- Hot Cross Buns — oud
- Hot Cross Buns — violin
- Hot Cross Buns — cello
- Hot Cross Buns — erhu
- Hot Cross Buns — dulcimer
- Hot Cross Buns — xylophone
- Hot Cross Buns — marimba
- Hot Cross Buns — glockenspiel
- Hot Cross Buns — steel drum
- Hot Cross Buns — ocarina
- Hot Cross Buns — harmonica
- Hot Cross Buns — trumpet
- Hot Cross Buns — clarinet
- Hot Cross Buns — saxophone
- Hot Cross Buns — flute
- Hot Cross Buns — recorder
- Hot Cross Buns — tuba
- Hot Cross Buns — euphonium
- Hot Cross Buns — trombone
- Hot Cross Buns — accordion
- Hot Cross Buns — harp
- Hot Cross Buns — lyre