Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is a very popular nursery rhyme in the English-speaking world. But the melody is also known outside the English-speaking world and has been translated into many other languages. Children love this song because it’s very easy to learn, simple and has a very catchy melody. It’s also a great song to learn on the ukulele! You can even play the melody on just one string! Let’s find out more about the history of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and how to play it on one string, multiple strings, and with ukulele chords. We also offer you some free PDF downloads like the sheet music for your practice at the end of the article!
History of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The lyrics originate from the poem “The Star”, written by the English poet and novelist Jane Taylor. Born in 1783, Taylor was known for her contributions to children’s literature and her collaboration with her sister Ann Taylor. “The Star” was first published in 1806 in the collection “Rhymes for the Nursery.” The poem was later set to the melody of the French nursery rhyme Ah! vous dirai-je, maman a tune that dates back to the 18th century and has also been used in several classical compositions, including variations by Mozart.
Tabs for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Every tune can be played in many different ways from very easy to pretty advanced fingerstyle arrangements. But let’s focus on easy arrangements first and then on a more advanced one. We are going to learn both, how to play it by fingerpicking the strings and by strumming with chords. You can choose which you like or prefer and learn the version.
1. Level: Playing only on One Ukulele String
We start with a very easy fingerpicking version first. You can actually play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star just with one string! You find all the required music notes on one ukulele string. This is a very good exercise for young beginners who have started to play the ukulele since they have to focus only on picking one string and moving only one finger of the left hand up and down on this string. So, push down the first string with your index or middle finger of your left hand. Pluck the string with the thumb of your right hand.
Using horizontal lines as strings and numbers on those lines to represent the fret you should play, tablature gives us the guidance we need to start picking away at songs and their melodies. The strings are “upside-down”, meaning that the high sounding E is the highest line on your tablature. A zero (0) means you play the string open without any fingers on any frets. Learn more about reading guitar tabs!
Here are the ukulele tabs for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on one string:
Listen to how it should sound when played on the ukulele on one string! You can also reduce the speed of the recording to play along.
And you can play the same pattern on any other string of your ukulele as well. Try for example the 3rd string to have a pretty low version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
2. Level: Playing on several Ukulele Strings
Playing it on just one string is a good start but you can find the same melody across different strings too. It’s more common and efficient to use the other strings on your ukulele as well. There is a big advantage by doing so: you don’t have to move your left hand too much along the neck of the ukulele. Sure, you now have to use several fingers and pluck different strings, but this is an excellent exercise!
Here are the ukulele tabs for playing the nursery rhyme on the first three strings:
It sounds pretty similar to the first version but you can listen to the recording to check your playing.
Ukulele Chords for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Fingerpicking is a beginner-friendly way to get familiar with the melody of a song. But if you want to sing and play simultaneously the song then you should play ukulele chords. You can play the song in different keys but playing the song in the key of C is pretty common.
The chords that you need for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are the basic chords C, F and G7. You could also play a G chord instead of a G7 but the G7 sounds pretty nice for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Here are the chord diagrams for the required chords:
Guitar Chords are illustrated in guitar chords diagram. They are a simplified illustration of the guitar neck and it tells you where to put which finger on which string. Learn more about how to read guitar chords!
If you already know how to play these ukulele chords and you can change between them easily then you are good to go for playing the song by chords. Otherwise, practice first the chords and try to play the sequence C-F-G7 with simple down strums.
Remember, beginners should start playing it slowly. This means for every chord change we make at first just a simple down strum. This gives us enough time for changing between chords without worrying too much about any strumming patterns. Also, singing is much easier in the beginning if you just do one down strum on every chord change. Once you master it, you can apply a strumming pattern.
Ukulele Sheet Music for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
If you are an intermediate player or ukulele teachers then sheet music might be relevant for you. All the information about a song can be found in the sheet music. It indicates the pitches, rhythms and chords of a song. But for beginners sheet music can be challenging. It requires some understanding of music theory and some practice of reading it. That’s why ukulele tabs or lyrics with chords are rather used for kids and beginners.
Guitar Chords are illustrated in guitar chords diagram. They are a simplified illustration of the guitar neck and it tells you where to put which finger on which string. Learn more about how to read guitar chords!
Here is the sheet music for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:
Free Ukulele Printables for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Feel free to download the Chords, Tabs and Sheet Music for free as a PDF for practicing or for your ukulele lesson!
Interested in instruments other than the ukulele? You can also find a free lesson on how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the guitar, piano and recorder.
