Play along

Frère Jacques: guitar chords and tab for beginners

France, 18th century

Frère Jacques

by Traditional

Tempo
108beats per minute
Count
4beats in each bar
Key
C majorthe home note
Level
1 of 3easiest
Bar 1:1 of 8Tap play to turn sound on
Key C major
0
Higher or lower, to match a voice.
Tempo108beats per minute right now

Level 1. Strum one chord per beat. Start here.

Chord names above, strum arrows below. Down arrow = strum down toward the floor, up arrow = back up.

0102030405060708CCCCCCG7CG7C↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑
Where your fingers go● press here · the number is which finger
EADGBeopen12345678910111232010

Hold this chord

C×321EADGBe

Numbers are fingers: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky.

Space bar plays and pauses. Left and right arrows jump a bar.

The chords

The chords in Frère Jacques

2 chords, all open shapes: C, G7. 4 beats in each bar, 108 beats per minute, in C major.

About the song

A French round from the 1700s, sung in dozens of languages. It stays on one chord almost the whole way, so it is the first song to try the strum patterns on. Each two-bar phrase repeats, which is how a round works.

More

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