Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Children song
First published in 1806
Words by the English poet Jane Taylor

First verse:
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, / How I wonder what you are! / Up above the world so high, / Like a diamond in the sky.

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Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star guitar tab and notes (pdf)

tabs tabs & notes

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Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star instrumental guitar (mp3)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star - guitar tab, notes, chords and lyrics

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is a traditional children song and often the first song to learn on an instrument. The song titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is based on the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", first published in 1761.

The music transcriptions of the song with tabs and notes are available for download as PDFs. It's free for personal use only.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (full accompaniment)

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for guitar with full accompaniment. Free download in pdf-file and audio.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star guitar accompaniment

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star for ukelele

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for ukelele in the C tuning. Free download in pdf-file and audio.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star ukelele

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star for flute

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for flute in the key of C. Free download in pdf-file and audio.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star flute

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (only melody)

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" standard and tablature notation for guitar.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star notes and tabs

Tips on how to learn this song

There are only naturals notes in this song, meaning notes without flats or sharps. Playing the song in the key of G Major suits well for the guitar since open strings can be used to a high degree. Notice that only the three highest (thinnest) strings are involved for the melody.

The next thing to observe is the ABBA structure. The bars 1-4 are identical with the bars 9-12 and the bars 5-6 are identical with the bars 7-8. This means that you only need to focus on two parts and repeat these twice according to the ABBA structure.

Lyrics and chords

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (short version) in the key of G
(G)Twinkle, twinkle, (C)little (G)star,
(C)How I (G)wonder (D)what you (G)are!
Up (C)above the (G)world so (D)high,
(G)Like a (C)diamond (G)in the (D)sky.
(G)Twinkle, twinkle, (C)little (G)star,
(C)How I (G)wonder (D)what you (G)are!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (short version) in the key of C
(C)Twinkle, twinkle, (F)little (C)star,
(F)How I (C)wonder (G)what you (C)are!
Up (F)above the (C)world so (G)high,
(C)Like a (F)diamond (C)in the (G)sky.
(C)Twinkle, twinkle, (F)little (G)star,
(F)How I (C)wonder (G)what you (C)are!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star chords in the key of G
(G)Twinkle, twinkle, (C)little (G)star,
(D)How I (G)wonder (D)what you (G)are!
Up (C)above the (G)world so (D)high,
(G)Like a (C)diamond (G)in the (D)sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the trav’ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro’ my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

‘Tis your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the trav’ller in the dark,
Tho’ I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

The last version is the complete song with all four verses. It is otherwise common to only sing the first verse and repeating the first two lines in the end.

Some possibilities for changing the key by using a capo, based on the chords in the G major version above:

The song can also be played in the key of D, E or F with capo as follows, now based on the chords in the C major version above:

Key, time, tuning and tempo

Information about "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" considering musical key, time signature, tuning and bpm.

Key signature music symbol

Key

The presented version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is played in the key of G.

Time signature music symbol

Time signature

The song is played in 4/4 tempo (counted one, two, three, four for each measure)

Tuning overview

Tuning

The song is normally played in standard tuning (EADGBE).

BPM symbol and numbers

Tempo (BPM)

The tempo in beats per minute is 100 for the presented version, for which the tempo marking Moderately also can be used.

Tags: Flute, Ukulele