What Wondrous Love
What Wondrous Love, one of my favorite old gospel hymns, for voice, piano and guitar.
Download:
- free lead sheets of the famous hymn melody, or
- a less-well-known pentatonic version, hauntingly beautiful, with free guitar tabs.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
A home-grown hymn from America?
What Wondrous Love is apparently an entirely authentic American hymn.
Almost 200 years ago, William Walker wrote it down as he journeyed through the Appalachian Mountains. It appears, along with other hymns and songs he wrote down, in his compilation book The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1835).
The chords in What Wondrous Love
I have to admit that these are ALMOST the same chord choices you generally find for this hymn... but perhaps tweaked just a little.
The chords are MY favorites, not necessarily any standard choice (though they're not very different).
A pentatonic tune
This alternate melody I mentioned above is entirely pentatonic, so it doesn't wander around much, and the guitar tabs are super-easy in all of the three keys, so it will be fun for beginners!
First, you have to hear this different melody
Listen to Blue Highway singing this bluegrass-style gospel music:
Just one chord
This blue-grass version is a one-chord song; when playing it in the key of Em, for example, you can have the backup instrument just play an Em chord all the way through.
I have provided guitar tabs for several keys, including the key of Fm, which may seem strange, but it makes a very fun tab -- almost like a finger exercise.
Please scroll down the page for the download links.
A 4-part harmony arrangement
If you are interested in a beautiful, easy-to-sing arrangement of this bluegrass-style version for 4-part harmony, go to What Wondrous Love, the ensemble version.
Old song books, Southern Harmony & Sacred Harp
"The Southern Harmony," says Wikipedia, "is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note singing."
The Sacred Harp is another collection, slightly more contemporary, with much overlap.
Humankind cut off
Like many other old gospel hymns, the hymn lyrics focus on the soul's separation from God because of sin.
How could God and mankind be reconciled?
Though humankind deserved God's "righteous frown," yet because of His great love for those He made, those who were like lost lambs, God took the curse of sin upon Himself.
Death was the cost
By becoming man -- the God-man -- and dying for sin like a sacrificed Lamb Himself, He freed those He loves (all of us, says the Bible). It is the story of a Great Rescue.
A 4-part choral arrangement
The above video features the easy-to-sing version for 4-part harmony I wrote for my students. If you are interested in buying this arrangement (a great deal! $5.00 for unlimited copies) go to What Wondrous Love, the ensemble version.
The free downloads of What Wondrous Love:
The lead sheet links:
Download free printable sheet music What Wondrous Love in Fm
Download free hymn sheet music in Em
Download free piano sheet music for Shape Note hymn in Dm
The lead sheets for the bluegrass-style music:
Download free bluegrass gospel music What Wondrous Love in Fm
Download free guitar tabs for shape note hymn in Em
Download free online guitar tabs for hymn from The Southern Harmony in Dm
Dianna:
Your website is a light in the darkness. THANK YOU for all you do in helping to spread the love of music. It matters!
Recent Articles
-
Gospel Song Jesus Loves Me: Beginner & Easy Piano, Plus Lead Sheets!
Gospel song "Jesus Loves Me" is well-known to many children. Here are easy arrangements to learn the music & each word to Jesus Loves Me, for early piano. -
Easy Piano Sheet Music Swan Lake -Beginners & Intermediate Pianists!
Easy piano sheet music Swan Lake, lovely solos & duets, with lyrics in the beginner arrangements for dreamy students who love imagining. New arrangements! -
The Wellerman Sheet Music: Easy Piano & Lead Sheets!
The Wellerman: Tabs, sheet music & lyrics for piano, guitar, & more! Such a fun, high-energy song to sing & play - learn it fast with letters in the notes! -
Christmas Carol Lyrics Song from the Bible: Free SATB and Guitar Tab
Christmas carol lyrics from the Bible and an old-fashioned carol-like tune combine in this free Christmas song for SATB choir or a solo vocalist with guitar. -
Traditional Irish Song "Galway Piper" with 3 Piano Arrangements!
Traditional Irish songs tend to be either bouncy, or tender & sweet. Galway Piper falls into the bouncy, fun-to-play camp!
Interested in songs from the Bible for your students or church? Check out my other website, SingTheBibleStory.com!
All the first-year material I give my beginner students.
Piano keyboard sheets, scales, chords, note-reading exercises, and over 256 pages of music!
This beautiful song book for piano & voice "Esther, For Such a Time as This", available as a digital download, tells the riveting story of the time when Jews in ancient Persia faced a foe named Haman, and how a brave young queen risked her life to save her people.
A good choice for a singing story-teller, an operatic group, a short theater production, or a class of children!
This book is also available from Amazon as a paperback.
This book is available as a digital download from this site. Visit this page to see some free examples from the book.
It is also available from Amazon as a paperback!
This is the perfect easy start for little pianists.
And when they start reading white-key notes on the staff, this is a fun easy resource to say each week, "Choose a new black-key song at home this week and figure it out to show me next lesson!" They will be spending more time at the piano.
A perfect read aloud storybook
for little boys or girls.
The Adventures of Tonsta highlight the travels of a very young boy with a good heart, who goes about helping folk in trouble.
With a red cap on his head and a sack of tools slung over his shoulder, Tonsta seems to meet people in distress wherever he goes.
Lots of trolls in this book - including one who gives him a Christmas gift!
Deb:
... I watched your video "Wondrous Love" with your eight gals - Magnificent! So refreshing to see good harmonies sung a capella these days; it seems to be rare!
Audrey:
I just wanted to tell you that I have found your website EXTREMELY helpful!
I have a young group of children that I have started a youth choir with and I was searching for music ideas and I came across your website. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
Comments
Do you have a funny story about this music, or does it remind you of something you'd like to share with other readers? Do you have a question? I'd love to hear it!
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...
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Pentatonic Alternate Tune for What Wondrous Love -- More Verses?
I love this tune! I'm so glad I found out about it. I'm wondering if there is a name for the tune by which it is distinguished from the traditional (Walker) …
About the Author
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.
Recent Articles
-
Gospel Song Jesus Loves Me: Beginner & Easy Piano, Plus Lead Sheets!
Gospel song "Jesus Loves Me" is well-known to many children. Here are easy arrangements to learn the music & each word to Jesus Loves Me, for early piano. -
Easy Piano Sheet Music Swan Lake -Beginners & Intermediate Pianists!
Easy piano sheet music Swan Lake, lovely solos & duets, with lyrics in the beginner arrangements for dreamy students who love imagining. New arrangements!