Where to find piano/guitar sheet music for kids' songs?
February 15, 2022 3:06 AM Subscribe
Looking for some easy, catchy songs I can play for my little one. I do pretty well on piano (although not so well with singing and playing at the same time!) and am very amateur with guitar (can play the basic chords and only one strum pattern). Would prefer any free material that's already out there but willing to pay as well, as I don't want to be ripping anyone off or anything like that. Thanks!
I highly recommend Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Ballew, former frontman of Presidents of the United States of America).
He has several kids albums that I genuinely like, and in addition to cool music videos for kids; he provides free fake sheets (chords/lyrics) that you should be able to use to perform passable versions.
Stompy The Bear is a family favorite and a fine introduction.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:22 AM on February 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
He has several kids albums that I genuinely like, and in addition to cool music videos for kids; he provides free fake sheets (chords/lyrics) that you should be able to use to perform passable versions.
Stompy The Bear is a family favorite and a fine introduction.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:22 AM on February 15, 2022 [1 favorite]
Raffi has sheet music for a bunch of his stuff (including Baby Beluga and Bananaphone) on his site. I think a lot of artists writing music for kids really love helping families share music like this!
posted by february at 5:51 AM on February 15, 2022
posted by february at 5:51 AM on February 15, 2022
The chords for Sweet Baby James are super-simple on a piano. Played and sang that one a lot with my oldest when she was a toddler.
posted by saladin at 6:14 AM on February 15, 2022
posted by saladin at 6:14 AM on February 15, 2022
No specific song recommendations but as to your title, if you had a popular song in mind you may find it on Musescore, the score-sharing wing of the Musescore music notation software (the popular open source alternative to the industry giants). They're not just cloud backups of users' scores or anything - if it's on the site it means someone wanted to share their score publically.
posted by womb of things to be and tomb of things that were at 6:21 AM on February 15, 2022
posted by womb of things to be and tomb of things that were at 6:21 AM on February 15, 2022
We are also big Babypants fans here, like SallySaltacid. Current obsession for the 2 year old is 5 White Ducks - listen to the song for the strum pattern and throw in some extra A7s between verses, and it sounds really good fast, even for an amateur guitarist.
posted by february at 8:21 AM on February 15, 2022
posted by february at 8:21 AM on February 15, 2022
I did this for my kids when they were younger. I bought this book which has very approachable songs.
I am self-taught on guitar and mostly played rock. Little kids don't, as a rule, like hard rock, so I took some lessons from a local musician. Here's what I learned:
posted by plinth at 8:22 AM on February 15, 2022
I am self-taught on guitar and mostly played rock. Little kids don't, as a rule, like hard rock, so I took some lessons from a local musician. Here's what I learned:
- Relax
- Play a simple root-5th with your thumb on 1 and 3 (if it's in 4)
- Play a triad with your other fingers on 2 and 4 or arpeggiate
- When the above gets comfortable, learn to play leading tones with your thumb
- Practice when you can. All of the above can be picked up well enough in a month with a simple practice regimen
posted by plinth at 8:22 AM on February 15, 2022
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https://www.singing-bell.com/childrens-songs/
posted by starfishprime at 4:03 AM on February 15, 2022 [1 favorite]