Notalo › Piano songs with letters › Minuet in G
Minuet in G — piano notes with letters
The minuet everyone learns from the Anna Magdalena Bach notebook, first half (16 bars). G major, one sharp. The second eight bars repeat the first with a different ending.
Christian Petzold (from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach), c. 1725 · G major · 3/4 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo
Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 112 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.
Download MIDIAbout the song
For two hundred years this minuet was credited to J. S. Bach, because it appears in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. In 1970 it was identified as the work of Christian Petzold, a Dresden organist. It is still the most-taught minuet in the world, and its melody became the 1965 pop hit 'A Lover's Concerto'. A minuet is a stately dance in three, so count 1-2-3 out loud.
How to play it, phrase by phrase
Bar 1 leaps up from D to G and climbs A B C; bar 2 falls back to G. Bar 3 does the same from E (E C D E F♯) and bar 4 lands on three G's. Bars 5–8 are a longer descending line — C D C B A, B C B A G, then F♯ G A B G resolving to A. The second half (bars 9–16) is the first half again with a new ending (A B A G F♯ then G). The one sharp, F♯, comes from the key signature. Keep the quarter-then-eighths rhythm crisp; that is the dance.
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 A B C |
| 2 | G | D G G |
| 3 | C | E C D E F♯ |
| 4 | G | G G G |
| 5 | Cmaj7 | C D C B A |
| 6 | G | B C B A G |
| 7 | Bm7 | F♯ G A B G |
| 8 | D | A |
| 9 | G | D G A B C |
| 10 | G | D G G |
| 11 | C | E C D E F♯ |
| 12 | G | G G G |
| 13 | Cmaj7 | C D C B A |
| 14 | G | B C B A G |
| 15 | Bm7 | A B A G F♯ |
| 16 | G | G |
Three things to watch
- Bar 3 climbs to the high G — the peak of the phrase.
- Bars 7–8 and 15–16 are the two endings: first to A, then home to G.
- Count “1 2 3” out loud; the quarter-then-eighths rhythm is the whole character.
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. Minuet in G 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.