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β€Ή Ukulele songs
SongsOld MacDonald Had a Farm
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3 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the ukulele brings some of them into reach.

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Traditional, published 1917 in this form. Public domain.

4 strings Β· C4–A5 Β· G–C–E–A with the high, re-entrant G: soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles.

Tap a string, or tap a chord and drag across them to strum. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press β€” Q, W, E and R are the four strings, A first; 1 to 7 hold the chords of the key, Space strums, and 0 lets go.

UkuleleFree Β· printable Β· plays in your browser

Old MacDonald β€” Ukulele Tab

Old MacDonald Had a Farm, written out for the ukulele as easy melody tab with the string and fret for every note and set up above on the Standard. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time β€” the ukulele waits for you β€” or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes25, 5 pitches
  • RangeC4–A4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo116 bpm Β· about 15 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a ukulele play Old MacDonald?

Yes β€” 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.

  • Standardβœ“ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 Β· loaded above
  • Low Gβœ“ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 Β· load it
  • Baritoneβœ“ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 Β· load it

Old MacDonald: ukulele tab

The large line is the fret β€” 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.

β–Ά Play it above

Old MacDonald Had a Farm β€” ukulele tab (Standard) Β· tonalics.com

Old MacDonald ukulele tab as text

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

A|---------0-0-------------------------0-0----|
E|----------------0-0-------------------------|
C|-0-0-0--------------2-2-0----0-0-0----------|
G|-------0-----0-------------0-------0-----0--|

A|------------|
E|-0-0--------|
C|-----2-2-0--|
G|------------|

Are there chords for it?

Not on this page. The chords here are chosen by rule β€” the three chords of the key β€” 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.

  • 0CΓ—8
  • 2CΓ—4
  • 0EΓ—4
  • 0GΓ—5
  • 0AΓ—4

What to expect on a ukulele

  • It runs from C4 to A4, a major sixth, using 5 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 12 semitones of range are left above it.
  • 75% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, C4 to G4, at note 4.
  • The whole tune sits in first position: nothing above the 2nd fret, one finger per fret.
  • It is played on 4 strings (G, C, E and A), and 21 notes are an open string.
  • The picking hand changes string 12 times.

About the tune

A cumulative farm song with 18th-century English ancestors; the version sung today, with this tune and this farmer’s name, was printed in 1917 in a collection of songs from the First World War.

Traditional, published 1917 in this form. Public domain. More about Old MacDonald β†’

Old MacDonald on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation.

More songs for the ukulele

All 36 ukulele songs Β· Christmas songs for ukulele Β· The online ukulele on its own

Playing it on a real ukulele?

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

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