Traditional · Key of C · Public domain
This chart was made with the free Chord Sheet Maker: write your own charts, transpose in one click, print clean copies.
Opens in the Chord Sheet Maker in this key: change chords, add strumming patterns, and make it yours, with no account needed to start. A free account adds PDF downloads for printing.
Have your own songs? Start a blank chart from scratch, free →
This chart is written in C. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in C with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the A shapes, or capo 5 with the G shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
The ABC song was copyrighted in Boston in 1835 by the music publisher Charles Bradlee, under the long title The A.B.C., a German air with variations for the flute with an easy accompaniment for the piano forte. Nobody knows who first set the letters to the tune, and the air is not German at all: it is the French Ah! vous dirai-je, maman of 1761, the same melody as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.
The song works because the letters rhyme at the ends of the lines (G, P, V, Z) and because L, M, N and O go by twice as fast as the rest, which is why so many children grow up believing in a letter called elemenopee. British singers end on Zed and leave off the closing couplet. The words and the tune are public domain.
Three chords, C, F and G, placed exactly as in Twinkle, Twinkle: C on the first letters, F on E F, C on G, and so on down the page. The one spot to watch is L M N O, four letters in the time of two; keep the strum steady and let the singers rush. The closing couplet ("Now I know my ABCs") is the Twinkle refrain, with F on A B and C on the Cs. Sing it slowly for small children, faster as a party trick, and note that the chord changes land on the rhyming letters, which is a nice way to teach a beginner to feel where a bar ends.
The Alphabet Song in other easy guitar keys: key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A. Every other key is at the top of the chart.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
In the key of C, The Alphabet Song uses 3 chords: C, F and G. The chords sit over the words in the chart above, and tapping a chord name under Chords in This Song opens its diagram.
This chart is in the key of C. The other easy guitar keys for it are the key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A, each with the whole song rewritten. Pick the key whose chords you know, or the one that sits best for the singers: all twelve are one tap away at the top of the chart, with capo options for keeping the open shapes.
Yes. The words and the melody of The Alphabet Song are in the public domain, which is why the full lyrics and chords are published here. You can print this sheet, hand it out, and perform or record the song anywhere without a license.
The tune's original words: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star chords and lyrics
All the kids' song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: The ABC Song (Wikipedia)
