Shortnin' Bread Easy Guitar Tabs & Free Fiddle Sheet Music

Shortnin' Bread easy guitar tabs and fiddle sheet music, free!

This is a traditional American song. A very easy guitar chord song with a melody easy even for beginners, Shortnin' Bread is a toe-tapping tune! 

This song was MADE for group playing!

Here's a cute little bluegrass band playing this old-time song, very nicely indeed... it looks like they have a home-made bass: 

The easy guitar tabs for Shortnin' Bread: 

Shortnin' Bread American traditional song, with easy guitar tabs & free fiddle sheet music, FREE!

Please scroll down the page for the free PDF downloads!

Lyrics & fiddle/guitar rhythms are different

Don't worry about the lyrics and how they don't really match the rhythm of the notes! The kids will not care.

This easy version with simple timing is much easier to play than would be a version where the rhythm changed with each line (and maybe with each verse) to match words, which with this and other folk songs, can be notoriously changeable anyway!

Try Shortnin' Bread as part of a medley

My favorite key to play this song in with my students is the key of A, because it goes nicely with Boilem' Cabbage Down, as a medley.

We play Boilem' Cabbage, then Shortnin' Bread, then last of all Cripple Creek as written in Brian Wicklund's American Fiddle Method Book 1. (We add singing, too -- and a bass!) 

Shortening Bread - or Shortnin' Bread is perfect for fiddle

Here is a version of Shortnin' Bread for violin in A.   I decided I need an arrangement for my beginning violin players that doesn't have chord symbols over the tops of notes, because some kids will be confused by these.

Shortning Bread song for violin or fiddle

Please scroll down the page for the download links.

Transposing on the violin

Once fiddle players can play Shortnin' Bread in the key of A, they can easily move it down to the other strings and play the same pattern in the keys of D and G.

Now here is one more version of Shortnin' Bread - this video by "The Tractors" is WILD!  (I always show it to my students, and I don't mind watching it multiple times!)



The links for the guitar & fiddle PDF sheets:




Download Shortnin' Bread for guitar and fiddle in the key of A



Download these easy guitar tabs in the key of C



Download Shortnin' Bread free fiddle sheet music and guitar tabs in G



The link for the violin melody, no chords:



Download easy fiddle song Shortnin' Bread for violin, with no chord symbols



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

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Wendy:
Hi Dana!  I really enjoyed being at your site! 

You have offered so many versions of each tune.  This is a lovely thing to provide for students and teachers, Dana.
Thank you!

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Lin:
Thank you for a most excellent site. I am a classical guitar teacher, who endeavors to cover chords and finger style as well.

I especially liked the printable Celtic music, as some of my teenage students enjoy it! Thank you, again.

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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!

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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.