Notalo › Piano songs with letters › Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne — piano notes with letters
The New Year's Eve song everyone hums but few can name past the first line, in D major (two sharps: F♯ and C♯). A pentatonic Scottish melody — mostly skips, few steps.
Traditional (Scottish), words by Robert Burns, 1788 · D major · 4/4 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo
Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 100 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.
Download MIDIAbout the song
Robert Burns sent the words to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788, saying he had taken them down from an old man's singing; the title means 'old long since' — times gone by. The tune we use today was attached in 1799. It is sung at midnight on New Year's Eve across the English-speaking world, and in Japan the same melody ('Hotaru no Hikari') is played to tell customers a shop is closing.
How to play it, phrase by phrase
In D major (F♯ and C♯). Bars 1–2: 'Should auld acquaintance be forgot' is D G G G, B A G A. Bars 3–4 rise to the high D and E on 'brought to mind'. Bars 5–8 come back down: E D B B, G A G A, B A G, then E E D G. The second half (bars 9–16) is the chorus, 'For auld lang syne, my dear', which is the same shape starting from the high E, with the top note G in bar 13. The tune is pentatonic (D E G A B), so there are no awkward half steps.
Letter notes, bar by bar (right hand)
Read left to right; a | is a bar line. Chord symbols are for the left hand or a guitar.
| Bar | Chord | Right-hand letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | G | D G G G |
| 2 | G | B A G A |
| 3 | G | B G G B |
| 4 | Em7 | D E |
| 5 | Em7 | E D B B |
| 6 | G | G A G A |
| 7 | A7 | B A G |
| 8 | Em7 | E E D G |
| 9 | Em7 | E D B B |
| 10 | G | G A G A |
| 11 | Em7 | E D B B |
| 12 | Em7 | D E |
| 13 | G | G D B B |
| 14 | G | G A G A |
| 15 | A7 | B A G |
| 16 | Em7 | E E D |
Three things to watch
- The tune leans on just five notes (D, E, G, A, B) — very few half-steps to worry about.
- F♯ and C♯ come from the key signature — every F and C in the piece is sharp.
- The last line repeats the second line almost exactly — free repetition.
Have a different version, or a different song? Upload your own sheet music — a photo or PDF — and Notalo writes the letters under every note the same way, plus chords and a MIDI file.
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Frequently asked questions
Is this sheet music free to print and use?
Yes. Auld Lang Syne is in the public domain and this arrangement was written and rendered by Notalo. Print it, share it, use it in lessons.
What do the colors mean?
Red letters are the right hand (treble clef), blue letters are the left hand (bass clef), green is the chord for the bar. This is the same output Notalo gives for any sheet music you upload.
Can I get it with Do Re Mi or numbers instead of letters?
Yes — download the image above, upload it to Notalo, and pick solfège (Do Re Mi), German letters, or numbers (1 2 3) as the label style.