Notalo › Piano songs with letters › Scarborough Fair
Scarborough Fair — piano notes with letters
The English folk ballad in A minor, 3/4 time — the old modal tune with its raised F♯ (the Dorian sixth) in bar 5. Fourteen bars: the question, “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme”, and the answer.
Traditional (English), 17th century · A minor (Dorian) · 3/4 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo
Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 96 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.
Download MIDIAbout the song
A ballad about a lover who sets impossible tasks — a shirt with no seams, an acre of land between the sea and the shore — sung in Yorkshire since at least the 17th century; Scarborough's fair itself ran for 45 days every summer from 1253. The tune is in the Dorian mode, a minor scale with a raised sixth, which is why it sounds older than most folk songs. Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 recording is a copyrighted arrangement; the traditional melody on this page is public domain.
How to play it, phrase by phrase
“Are you going to Scarborough Fair” is A A E, E B C B, A. “Parsley, sage” leaps up E G A; “rosemary and thyme” is G E F♯, D — the F♯ is the Dorian note that gives the tune its colour. “Remember me to one who lives there” is A A G, E E, D C B, A. “She once was a true love of mine” is A D C, B A G, E and a long A. One chord per bar in the left hand: mostly A minor, with C, G and D chords where the melody rests on those notes.
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 | Am | A A E |
| 2 | Am | E B C B |
| 3 | Am | A |
| 4 | Am7 | E G A |
| 5 | Gmaj7 | G E F♯ |
| 6 | D | D |
| 7 | Am7 | A A G |
| 8 | Em | E E |
| 9 | G | D C B |
| 10 | Am | A |
| 11 | Am | A D C |
| 12 | G | B A G |
| 13 | Am | E A |
| 14 | Am | A |
Three things to watch
- The F♯ in bar 5 is what makes the tune sound ancient; play it as written, not F.
- “Parsley, sage” (bar 4) leaps up to the high A — the peak of the melody.
- The last line, “she once was a true love of mine”, ends back on the A you started from.
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. Scarborough Fair 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.