This page features two solo guitar tabs and the sheet music for “Frére Jacques.” The tabs are fingerstyle guitar arrangements, which can also be called chord melodies. The sheet music is a lead sheet that contains the chords, the melody and the lyrics for the song.
Frére Jacques
“Frére Jacques” is a nursery rhyme of French origin. The song tells the story of a monk who has possibly overslept and is urged to wake up and ring the bells for the morning prayers. The melody is first seen in print around 1780 as “Frére Blaise.”
This video below demonstrates the solo guitar arrangement for “Frére Jacques” in D.
Frére Jacques – Guitar Tabs
This is a fingerstyle solo guitar arrangement of “Frére Jacques” in the key of D.
The tab is complete and free as an image. I sell the PDFs as a convenience and to support the website. Thank you for your purchases.
Download the solo guitar tab for “Frére Jacques” as a PDF.
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Frére Jacques – 2nd Version
This is the 2nd of the two fingerstyle guitar tabs of “Frére Jacques.” This time in the key of C. It is a different style of arrangement and could be a little harder to play than the first version. I labeled this version as a”Chord Melody” but the terms are really interchangeable: Solo Guitar, Fingerstyle Guitar, Chord Melody… See my article on Chord Melody and Solo Guitar Explained for more information on that subject.
Below I perform the version of the tune in C.
Tablature
This is the solo arrangement aka chord melody of “Frére Jacques” in the key of C. I’ve included the chord diagrams below the title.
Download “Frere Jacques” in the key of C as a PDF.
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“Frére Jacques” Sheet Music
The sheet music below is a lead sheet with the chords, melody, and lyrics of the tune in the key of C.
This sheet music is free online but also available for purchase as a PDF to support the site. Thank you for your purchases.
Download “Frére Jacques” Sheet Music as a PDF.
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History and Lyrics
The earliest printed version of the melody is on a French manuscript dating back between 1775 and 1785. The melody in this manuscript is labeled, “Frère Blaise.”
The words and melody appear together as sheet musc in Recreations de l’enfance: Recueil de Rondes avec Jeux et de Petites Chansons pour Faire Jouer, Danser et Chanter les Enfants avec un Accompagnement de Piano Très-Facile by Charles Lebouc, which was first published in 1860.
Original French lyrics:
Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Din, don, din. Din, don, din.
Traditional English lyrics:
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John, Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.
For more on the history and lyrics of this ballad see the Wikipedia article on the subject here.
More Tabs and Sheet Music
List of Guitar Tabs
List of Lead Sheets
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