Guitar Music for Beginners
Ode to Joy

Guitar music for beginners that will hone their note-reading... Ode to Joy in two arrangements.

This familiar piece is always welcome to beginning musicians, and they learn to play it quickly!  But check it out... no tablature!  At least, not at first...

Ode to Joy for guitar

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

These sheets are intended to force my tablature-dependent students to get familiar with standard notation.  I have to say that this scheme is working fairly well. 

Here is the next logical step: adding a bass note bit of harmony.  

I tried to make it a separate voice, a whole note, but for some reason my Finale software wouldn't let me do it.  I'm baffled, but resigned to using quarter notes for now.

Ode to Joy with harmony for guitar

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

This arrangement sneaks into the classical style of playing guitar... your students will have to put their picks down and use their thumb and finger to pinch the initial notes of each measure.

Is this EASY?   

No, I won't kid you about this.  For a young guitarist, this arrangement with harmony can be a HUGE step. 

But it is satisfying and important.  Good luck!





The download links for the guitar PDFs:


Download guitar music for beginners with note-reading guide Ode to Joy


Download Ode to Joy with simple harmony

Interested in songs from the Bible for your students or church?  Check out my other website, SingTheBibleStory.com!

SingTheBibleStory.com clickable logo link

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Comments

Do you have a story or a question about teaching guitar? Do you think it is a hard instrument for beginners, or easy? What have been your challenges?
Please note that all comments are moderated, and will not appear until I have approved them. Also, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR MUSIC THAT IS NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, YOUR REQUEST WILL BE IGNORED. That's pretty much any music written in the last 75 years...

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lewis vincent Not rated yet
These guitar papers really help and i advise other people to use them

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About the Author

Dana Thynes

Hi, I'm Dana!  (Say that like "Anna".)  I'm the owner of Music-for-Music-Teachers.com, and a newer site, SingTheBibleStory.com.

Like some of you, I've been playing the piano since early childhood, and have added a few other instruments along the way, plus an interest in arranging and composing music.

You can find out more about me and the reason for this website at my About Me page.