The fingerstyle guitar tab (chord melody) for “Frére Jacques” is available for download as a PDF.

Frére Jacques

“Frère Jacques” is a traditional French folk song of anonymous authorship, likely emerging in the late 17th or early 18th century and first printed around the 1780s. It reflects an era when melodies were designed to be easily memorized and shared orally across communities.

Though predating the modern guitar’s popularity, the tune has traveled easily onto fretted instruments as the guitar became central to folk, parlor, and later popular music in the 19th century. Its canon form famously appears in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (third movement), cementing its cross-genre legacy.

Video

In the video below, I perform the piece as transcribed.

Chord Melody Guitar Tabs

“Frère Jaques” is available for download as a PDF in a bundle with 8 other songs.

Happy Birthday – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – Mary Had a Little Lamb – Frère Jacques – Hush, Little Baby – London Bridge is Falling Down – Row, Row, Row Your Boat – Three Blind Mice – This Old Man

Download 9 Nursery Rhymes – Chord Melodies – Guitar Tabs (9 Individual PDF Files)

$7.99Add to cart

An arrangement in C major

Here is another arrangement slightly more difficult arrangement of “Frére Jacques.” This time in the key of C. This arrangement is a bonus in the 9-song bundle (10 arrangements in total).