Amazing Grace

The melody in letters

Bar by bar, as the app’s melody version has it; the small numbers are the fingers.

1. Bar 1C₁
2. Bar 2F₃A₅F₃
3. Bar 3A₅G₄
4. Bar 4F₃D₂
5. Bar 5C₁C₁
6. Bar 6F₁A₃F₁
7. Bar 7A₃G₂
8. Bar 8C₅
9. Bar 9A₃
10. Bar 10C₅A₃F₁
11. Bar 11A₃G₂
12. Bar 12F₃D₂
13. Bar 13C₁C₁
14. Bar 14F₃A₅F₃
15. Bar 15A₅G₄
16. Bar 16F₃

At a glance

It reaches past the staff: see ledger lines explained.

Versions in the app

Practice notes

Amazing Grace is in 3/4: count 1 2 3, with the weight on 1. It starts on a pick-up: middle C on beat 3, "A-", before the first strong beat, "-ma-".

The first line is C, F A F A G F D C: "A-ma-zing grace, how sweet the sound". Octotune writes the tune in F major, but it never uses the fourth or seventh notes of the scale, so no B flat is needed. It has no key signature, and every note is a white key: C D F G A and the C above.

Hand positions. The first and last lines use C D F G A with fingers 1 2 3 4 5. Notice E is skipped, so finger 3 sits on F. The middle line moves up to F G A, with finger 5 on the high C. The hand moves at "that saved" and at "now am found".

Rhythm to watch:

• Long, then short: most bars are a half note and a quarter, "grace, how", "sweet the".
• Pairs of eighth notes, like the "A F" on "-zing": two notes in one beat.
• A dotted half on the high C fills a whole bar. Hold it for three.

Practice plan. Count and clap the first line. Then Wait for me to learn the notes. Then Play along, slowly at first, and let the three-beat swing carry it.

In the path: Unit 7 for grown-ups, played in time after the eighth notes are learned.

Credits and licence

• Music: Traditional
• Arranged for Octotune
• Licence: Arrangement © Octotune; melody public domain