Children's Songs for the Guitar

Name: Children's Songs for the Guitar
Rating: 4.7 (19 reviews)

Learn 20 children's songs on guitar. All keys. Beginner to advanced.

Created byDan Dresnok

Last updated 8/2026

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

20 children's songs on the guitar.
Apply theory to your solos.
How to analyze melodies.
Use arpeggios & scales together.
Create more meaningful solos.
Play these melodies in all 12 keys.

Course content

1 section • 24 lectures • 2h 1m total length

Welcome to the Course11:34
Master familiar children's melodies on guitar and transpose them to any key by learning a closed major scale shape and moving melodies across frets.
Guitar Primer17:55
In this lecture, we'll get up to speed on all of our guitar basics, like the string names, how to read tab, the major scale & major arpeggio, and how to count through the time signatures.
Amazing Grace5:59
Explore amazing grace in 3 4 time, featuring a pickup measure and triplets, with chords strummed on beat and transposition by moving frets to keys like C, D, and E.
Bingo2:35
Learn to play bingo on guitar in four-four time, starting with a pickup note and simple fret movements on G, G sharp, and D strings.
Frere Jacques2:21
Learn Frere Jacques on guitar in the key of D, with no pickup measure, in four four time, and practice the tenth fret using steady finger placement.
Happy Birthday3:10
Learn to play happy birthday in 3/4 time with pickup notes on the A string for guitar; the song is in the public domain, so you can play it royalty-free.
Heart and Soul5:21
Learn heart and soul on guitar by strumming the chord progression g, e minor, c, d twice, then playing the melody, while exploring major-scale notes and arpeggios.
If You're Happy and You Know It2:25
Learn to play if you're happy and you know it on guitar using four-four time, a pickup bar, and repeated same-note patterns with alternate picking for a smooth, upbeat performance.
I'm a Little Teapot3:37
Explore playing 'I'm a little teapot' on guitar in 4/4, focusing on major scale notes and arpeggios, starting on beat one and moving through different register with a playful dance.
London Bridge3:37
Explore London Bridge on guitar by using arpeggio notes on the D and B strings and shifting frets. See how major scale notes and hedging notes shape the melody.
Mary Had a Little Lamb3:53
Explore Mary had a little lamb on guitar, starting melodies from arpeggio notes at the fourth fret on the G string, then building with scale notes and arpeggios.
Ode To Joy7:11
Learn to play Ode to Joy on guitar using arpeggio notes and major scales, with beat-aligned chords and a Beethoven's ninth symphony context and chorus variations.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm4:06
Play Old MacDonald had a farm in the high register, using arpeggio notes and the major scale across frets five, seven, and nine.
Pop Goes the Weasel5:44
Learn to play pop goes the weasel on guitar by exploring the melody in e flat, then move to key of a, focusing on arpeggio notes and the fifth interval.
Row Row Row Your Boat4:45
Row row row your boat, a cowboy tune turned children's song, is taught in 6/8 time with dotted quarter notes, starting on G and using chord-tone patterns with alternate picking.
TAPS4:07
Explore taps on guitar by using chord tones from the major scale, starting on the seventh fret and shifting up with strong fingers.
The Farmer in the Dell4:13
Play the farmer in the dell in six eight time, with a pickup bar on the A string fifth fret. Use passing tones from the major scale and hold chords.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider4:18
Learn to play the itsy bitsy spider in 6/8 time on guitar, using arpeggio notes and passing tones to shape melodies.
The Wheels on the Bus6:21
This Old Man4:17
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star4:02
Play twinkle twinkle little star in 4/4 time on guitar, exploring the root note and scale as the melody shares its tune with the ABC song, two songs in one.
Yankee Doodle4:47
Learn Yankee Doodle in 4/4 time by focusing on arpeggio notes and clusters from the major scale around chord changes, with the melody starting on the root note.
Final Thoughts4:33
Here, we'll discuss what to do going forward & how to continue to improve your skills using your knowledge of children's melodies. Thank you for going through this course with me!
Bonus Lecture0:24
Explore the pdf in the video's additional resources for links to more guitar and music courses. Stay updated as we deepen your guitar knowledge and have more fun playing.

Requirements

This course is for all levels - from beginner to advanced.
You only need a guitar - any kind of guitar with six strings.

Description

Welcome to Children's Songs for the Guitar! This is a complete course for you to learn 20 children's melodies in 12 keys. You'll learn each song's melody construction and how to use that in your own solos. You'll learn these melodies in closed (barre) positions so it'll be easy later on for you to play these in any other keys. Children's songs are fun, easy, and a great way to improve your soloing.

Any kind of six-string guitar will work well for this course - electric, acoustic, or classical guitar.

Most of these lessons have a PDF attachment. These PDFs are the chords, tabs, and text lessons. You can download, save, & print these. Be sure to get all the PDFs.

This course starts with a guitar primer to quickly learn all the basics that you'll need to play all 20 songs. You'll learn to read TAB, chords, major scale & arpeggio shapes, counting time signatures, and other valuable things to get you ready.

The main value of this course is to improve our soloing. The secondary value is the joy of adding these 20 melodies to our repertoire.

This course will help you reconsider your soloing choices - one note at a time.

I'm glad you're here - let's begin.

Who this course is for:

Guitarists wanting to improve their soloing.
Guitar players wanting to write better melodies.
Guitar players interested in learning children's melodies.