How to Play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on Guitar

Introduction

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is a classic nursery rhyme that is often used to teach beginners how to play the guitar. It is a simple and catchy tune that uses only a few basic chords. In this article, we will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on guitar.

What You’ll Need

An acoustic or electric guitar
A guitar tuner (optional)
A pick (optional)

Step 1: Tune Your Guitar

Before you start playing, you need to tune your guitar. You can use a guitar tuner to help you do this. If you don’t have a guitar tuner, you can tune your guitar by ear using the following steps:

Play the open E string (the thickest string).
Compare the pitch of the open E string to the pitch of the A string (the second thickest string).
Turn the tuning peg for the A string until the pitch of the A string matches the pitch of the open E string.
Repeat this process for the D, G, B, and e strings.

Step 2: Learn the Chords

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” uses only three chords: C, G, and F. Here is how to play each chord:

C Chord: 032010
G Chord: 320003
F Chord: 133211

Step 3: Strumming Pattern

The strumming pattern for “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is very simple. It is a down-up-down-up strumming pattern. Here is how to do it:

Downstroke on the first beat of each measure.
Upstroke on the second beat of each measure.
Repeat this pattern for the entire song.

Step 4: Putting It All Together

Now that you know the chords and the strumming pattern, you can put it all together and play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on guitar. Here is the sheet music for the song:

C  G   F  F
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb
C  G   F  F
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow
C  G   F  F
And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went
C  G   F  F
And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go

Play the C chord on the first beat of each measure, the G chord on the second beat, the F chord on the third beat, and the F chord again on the fourth beat. Use the strumming pattern described above.