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SongsSilent Night
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3 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key 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.

16 strings · G3–A5 · C major · The common size, and what most lyre tabs assume. Two full octaves and a bit.

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

LyreFree · printable · plays in your browser

Silent Night — Lyre Tabs

Silent Night, written out for the lyre as number tabs with the letter under every note and set up above on the 16-string. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the lyre waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes46, 11 pitches
  • RangeC4–F5
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a lyre play Silent Night?

1 of the 3 here do. 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.

  • 7-string✕ Cannot play itNeeds C5, D5, E5, F5, which it does not have
  • 10-string✕ Cannot play itNeeds D5, E5, F5, which it does not have
  • 16-string✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–F5 · loaded above

Silent Night: lyre 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.

▶ Play it above

Silent Night — lyre tabs (16-string) · 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.

  • 1str. 4×1
  • 2str. 5×1
  • 3str. 6×5
  • 4str. 7×1
  • 5str. 8×11
  • 6str. 9×10
  • 7str. 10×4
  • 1•str. 11×6
  • 2•str. 12×5
  • 3•str. 13×1
  • 4•str. 14×1

What to expect on a lyre

  • It runs from C4 to F5, an octave and a fourth, using 11 different notes. That leaves 5 semitones unused below and 4 above.
  • 53% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor seventh, E4 to D5, at note 9.
  • It is played on strings 4 to 14 of 16, 11 strings in all.

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 lyre

All 34 lyre songs · Christmas songs for lyre · The online lyre on its own

Playing it on a real lyre?

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

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