Month 1, Lesson 4: Mary Had a Little Lamb Text
Source: Guitar Lessons – Octave Exercise
Mary Had a Little Lamb – One Octave Lower This one will be quite easy to learn – that is if you remember your first lesson! You are practicing your old songs are’t you? If you you should. Let’s not waste all of that learning time by forgetting what we already have learned.
About This Lesson:
Mary Had A Little Lamb – Revisited. We just will play exactly what we played before, except it is one octave lower. Review your octaves if you don’t remember what I just said.
This will be the first of several revisits to this song. We will take what we already know, spice it up and play it in new and different ways. This is called improvising. That just means doing your own thing to modify a song. The slang term for this is “Noodling”.
In our next experience with Mary, we will be adding additional notes and really making this song sound cool. Watch for that in a few weeks.
Learning Points:
Octaves:
Notice that these are the exact same notes, only played one Octave lower – check out the Music Theory for what that means again.
Tabulation:
Pay very close attention to the TAB in this song. It is a little tricky at first, but once you go through it a few times you will have it down pretty quickly. Try to relate the notes from once octave higher to this version and see what the differences are.
About the Tab Notes:
Not too much to add here, just pay attention to your notes and play smoothly. One good exercise would be to play through the Treble version first, immediately followed by this Bass Version.
Articles You Should Read:
How to Read TAB
Notes on the Bass Strings: Review your notes, fingering etc.
Music Terms: For this first lesson, try to learn all of the terms you see on the notation staff.
Proper Left Hand Position: Note how your hand is positioned on the neck. Keep your fingers right behind the fret.
Note and Rest Timing: Brush up on Whole, Half and Quarter Notes. They are all used in this song.
Music Theory You Should Know:
Measure
TAB
Qctave
Treble Clef
TAB Staff
Goals:
Since this is the second version of the very first song we have learned, I would expect that you know version 1 quite well. If you haven’t been practicing that you should right now. Don’t forget it after working so hard on it. We now can add another version to it with more to come.
Goal #1:
Play the Bass notes on this song very smoothly. With the timing not nearly as much of an issue, because it is exactly like the first version, start working on your memorization skills. See if you can not only memorize the first version of this song but this version as well. If you can’t don’t worry too much as it will start to come naturally.
Goal #2:
Try to pick up some speed with this version. You should be able to play version one (our very first lesson) at a speed of between 70 and 80 in the Guitar Pro file.
Goal #3:
Fire up Guitar Pro for this version. Play along with it and be sure to use the speed trainer to build you speed. Start out very slowly and only gradually gain speed as you go.
What You Should Practice This Week:
Agan, try to play both version of Mary Had a Little Lamb back to back or right after each other. Get the timing right on all of your notes. Tap your foot if you can – at least try to do this.
See our How To Practice article:
If you are having trouble with your practice techniques, or can’t seem to get “in the groove”, review the article on How to Practice and this will help you develop a consistent practice method.
Help Us Out:
Lastly and most importantly, give us feedback, either good or bad. We want to improve this site and we want kids to learn how to play the guitar. If you have suggestions for us, leave a comment. If you appreciate these lessons, leave a comment on that too.
Songs in Downloadable Format:
If you have difficulty reading this score information, we have this score information available free of charge for you with an instant electronic download. Just click on the song title below and you will be taken to our secure server site. You will get a PDF file of the above score complete with the Tab Notes. Be sure to download Adobe Acrobat Reader v6.0 or above. This version will allow you to turn the Tab Layer on or off.
Also you will get the Guitar Pro file. You can download Guitar Pro and get a free trial so you can play along with this song in real time on your computer. If you upgrade to the full version of the song you will have a lot more features available to you.
Mary Had a Little Lamb – Octave Lower – Guitar Pro File
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Mary Had a Little Lamb – Octave Lower – PDF File
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Go to Mary Had a Little Lamb Octave Lower Score
Go to Mary Had a Little Lamb Octave Lower Video Lesson
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