The classic nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” was originally penned by Jane Taylor as a poem, and later published alongside her sister Ann in Rhymes for the Nursery. Its simple melody makes it a perfect starting point for guitar beginners, providing a solid foundation for practicing basic chords and strumming patterns.

This lesson covers the guitar chords, plus guitar tabs for the melody and the finger-style arrangement for this song.

Grab your guitar and let’s get started!

How to read the guitar chord charts

To clarify how to read the chord charts, the top horizontal line represents the high E string and the bottom horizontal line represents the low E string. The vertical lines separate each fret. The numbers in the blue dots tell you which fingers to use on the fretting hand. 

For example, on the C Major chord, you use the:

• 1st finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret
• 2nd finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret
• 3rd finger on the 5th string, 3rd fret
• Circles represent open strings
• X means to avoid the string

You can check this link for more on how to read guitar notation symbols.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star guitar chords

In the key of C Major, the basic chords for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are C Major, F Major, D minor, and G Major. You can click on the chords with links to learn different ways of playing that chord.

Try the following chords one at a time until you feel comfortable switching between them. These chords will be written above the melody in the next section.

By the way, you can get all the PDFs of this song below.

Here are some other resources on chords:

• What are the first chords you should learn on guitar?
• 6 tips to get better at switching between chords on guitar
• 13 ways to play an F chord on guitar.
  

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – melody with tabs and chords

For the sheet music below, keep in mind that the chords and melody are meant to be played as separate parts. We’ll look at how to connect these parts later in the arrangement section of this lesson.

You can refer to this simple guide to understanding music symbols if needed.

See the following section after the lyrics below to learn the finger-style guitar arrangment.

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star lyrics

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are !
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the trav’ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro’ my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

‘Tis your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the trav’ller in the dark,
Tho’ I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Reference: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. wikipedia

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – guitar arrangement

In this section, we are essentially connecting the melody and chords together using a finger picking method of playing. Some parts of the following arrangement uses chord inversions, meaning that notes other than the root are in the bass.

The numbers next to some notes on the top staff indicate which fingers to use on the fretting hand. If needed, check out this lesson to learn how to finger pick on guitar.

If you like this style of playing, you can check out this lesson to learn how to connect a melody and chords on guitar.

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Want to learn more songs? Check out the sheet music with guitar tabs resource on this site.

Explore Songs with Guitar Tabs