Jean-Baptiste Lully - Au Clair de la Lune - Guitar Tab

Piano Favourites for Young People, Vol. 2

2012 0:34

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About Au Clair de la Lune

Few melodies sit as comfortably under the fingers as "Au Clair de la Lune," and that simplicity is exactly what makes it a smart early study for guitarists. Written in C major, the piece stays almost entirely on open-position notes, so you can focus on clean fretting and even pick or fingerstroke timing rather than navigating difficult chord shapes. The real work is musical rather than technical: keeping each note ringing for its full value and matching the gentle, flowing character that Jean-Baptiste Lully built into the melody. Playing it as a single-note melody first, then arranging the chord accompaniment underneath, gives you two separate but connected challenges. If a particular phrase is coming out uneven, use the Practice Toolbar to loop it slowed down until the fingering feels natural at a relaxed pace before bringing the tempo back up. Classical repertoire at this level rewards attention to tone and consistency, both of which this piece will genuinely test.

• The melody sits entirely in open position on the guitar, making it ideal for building clean fretting-hand habits without stretching across multiple frets.
• Playing it fingerstyle rather than with a pick encourages early control of tone, dynamics, and note duration in the right hand.
• A useful next step is adding a simple bass-chord accompaniment in C major, turning a one-voice melody exercise into a basic fingerstyle arrangement.