Notalo › Piano songs with letters › Greensleeves
Greensleeves — piano notes with letters
Verse and chorus in A minor, 6/8 time. The G♯ and F♯ accidentals give it the old modal color — watch for them, they are written in the bars where they happen.
Traditional (English), 16th century · A minor · 6/8 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo
Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 92 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.
Download MIDIAbout the song
'Greensleeves' was registered in London in 1580 and Shakespeare mentions it twice in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The legend that Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn is almost certainly false — the style is Italian and later than his reign. The same tune carries the carol 'What Child Is This' (words by William Chatterton Dix, 1865). It is in A minor with a raised G♯ and F♯ in the old melodic-minor manner.
How to play it, phrase by phrase
Pick-up A, then the verse: C D E F, E D B G, A B C A, A G♯ A B, G♯ E E A — the G♯ and F♯ are written where they happen. Bars 7–10 repeat that with a different ending (A G♯ F♯ G♯). The chorus (bars 11–21) starts high on 'Greensleeves was all my joy' — A A G, G G F, E D B G — and shares its second half with the verse. Count 6/8 as two swinging beats per bar. The G♯ is always a black key; everything else is white.
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 | A | |
| 2 | Fmaj7 | C D E F |
| 3 | Em7 | E D B G |
| 4 | F | A B C A |
| 5 | E | A G♯ A B |
| 6 | E | G♯ E E A |
| 7 | Fmaj7 | C D E F |
| 8 | Em7 | E D B G |
| 9 | F | A B C B |
| 10 | E | A G♯ F♯ G♯ |
| 11 | Am7 | A A G |
| 12 | C | G G F |
| 13 | Em7 | E D B G |
| 14 | F | A B C A |
| 15 | E | A G♯ A B |
| 16 | E | G♯ E E G |
| 17 | C | G G F |
| 18 | Em7 | E D B G |
| 19 | F | A B C B |
| 20 | E | A G♯ F♯ G♯ |
| 21 | Am | A |
Three things to watch
- The verse (bars 1–10) and chorus (bars 11–20) share the same second half.
- G♯ appears in bars 4, 5, 9, 14, 15 and 19 — always a black key.
- 6/8: two big beats per bar, three eighths each. Sway, don’t march.
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. Greensleeves 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.