Easy Guitar Songs
The Water is Wide

Easy guitar songs that are as beautiful and well-known as The Water is Wide are true treasures. Download these free printable easy guitar songs for yourself or your students. 

This is one of those pieces of folk sheet music that it seems everyone I know sang in high school! 

One arrangement we sang employed an echo effect, like this: "The water is wide (the water is wide), I cannot get o'er (I cannot get o'er)..." This is very pretty and not too hard. 

Download free guitar sheet music The Water is Wide in the key of G 

Download folk sheet music The Water is Wide for guitar in the key of D 

Something I like to do with my guitar students when reading the tablature is to hunt for all the eighth notes, by looking in the staff above. When we spot the "fast" notes, we take a pen or pencil and "hook" the tab notes beneath together to make them look like the eighth notes in the staff.

The Dsus (D suspended) and Asus (A suspended) chords are interesting and beautiful -- quite unlike other beginner chords -- and it is usually in this song that my guitar students are first exposed to them. 

The way I have illustrated the suspended chords may be different from how you have seen them shown in other chord charts:

I tell my students that the basic root of the chord is still there, plus one finger added that will lift off when the chord "resolves" into the root chord.

That's why you see one string with two fingers on it: just build a regular D or A chord, then add your pinky (finger 4 for guitarists) to add the sound of "suspense." The longer this chord is held, the longer the listener is waiting with expectation for the beauty of the resolution into the regular chord. 

I own two great folk song books that include this song, except the name given in both of the books is "O Waly, Waly."

Both books, Folk Songs by William Cole ("Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales" edited by William Cole with music arrangements by Norman Nomath), and One Hundred English Folksongs by Cecil Sharp, have 8 verses of lyrics, of which 3 verses are almost identical to the lyrics I have used here.

The book by William Cole is especially handy, because it has simple piano accompaniments, and chord symbols for guitarists, giving you lots of easy guitar songs!

The book edited by Cecil Sharp has some wonderful songs in it, but no chord symbols, and the piano accompaniments tend toward being a bit heavy, even difficult, and maybe somewhat "Romantic" in flavor. Not so suitable for playing along with a fiddle, for example. 

If you have never sung or played this English folk song before, get ready for a treat for yourself and your students. A little secret: GIRLS LOVE THIS SONG! 

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Becky:
A thousand thanks for your beginning piano and guitar songs. I've already printed several for my children, including the Pretty Little Horses TAB and Carol of the Bells for piano. What a wonderful resource!

Lori: 
I will be returning to this site over and over again from here on out and am excited to present some of the tools I found today on here to my voice and piano students later this week! My thirteen-year old son is happily, as I type, working with the guitar chord sheets I just printed for him! Wish I'd found you earlier! Thanks a million, and God bless-

Bob:
I am a "retiree" and brand new guitar student. I have used your guitar tabs for Shenandoah and Amazing Grace, and find it exciting to hear real music coming out of my guitar for the first time.

Lin:
Thank you for a most excellent site. I am a classical guitar teacher, who endeavors to cover chords and fingerstyle as well. I especially liked the printable Celtic music, as some of my teenage students enjoy it! Thank you, again.

Kelly-Ann:
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you....I have a lot of books on graded pieces but not a lot of beginner pieces. I use material I have written myself together with books I encourage my parents to buy... but sometimes parents just can't afford a book- and as a teacher you sometimes do find your self searching for material....Thank you thank you thank you once again!

Christine:
Thank you so much for this site! I have just started teaching some really keen Y6 boys who want to play Scarborough Fair, and your version is perfect. I will now go and look at what other goodies you have!

Matt:
THIS SITE IS AMAZING!!I've been teaching guitar for about 5 years now, and I've only just found your website! (I could really have used it 5 years ago) :-)  I teach at primary schools every week day for about 4 hours, so the beginner tabs you have are ideal. Thank you so much for your hard work getting these on the web, you have made many children very happy!!

Cheryl:
AMAZING site! Helps me a lot as a music teacher too. I'm a violin and piano teacher, and I think this is an incredible site!