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Yankee Doodle — piano notes with letters

Verse and chorus in C major, 2/4 time, all white keys. The verse sits on C, D, E, F; the chorus (“Yankee Doodle keep it up”) drops to the A below and swings between A and C.

Traditional (American), 18th century · C major · 2/4 · public domain · arranged and labeled by Notalo

Yankee Doodle easy piano sheet music with the letter name written under every note and chord symbols above each bar — Right-hand letters in red, left-hand letters in blue, chords in green. Download the image.

Hear it. A MIDI file of exactly these notes at 116 BPM — open it in any music app, or slow it down to practice.

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About the song

The tune was known in England in the 1750s and was first sung by British soldiers to mock the colonial troops during the French and Indian War; the Americans adopted it as their own and played it at the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. The “macaroni” of the lyric was a slang word for a fashionable young man. It is the state song of Connecticut and one of the first tunes American children learn.

How to play it, phrase by phrase

“Yankee Doodle went to town” is C C D E, C E D. “Riding on a pony” is C C D E, C B. “He stuck a feather in his cap” is G C C D E, F E D. “And called it macaroni” is C B G A, B C C. The chorus drops to A: “Yankee Doodle keep it up” is A B A G, A B C; “Yankee Doodle dandy” is G A G F, E G. “Mind the music and the step” repeats the A B A G phrase, and “with the girls be handy” is A G C B, D C C. Two beats a bar, brisk and cheerful.

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	C	C C D E
2	Em7	C E D
3	C	C C D E
4	G	C B G
5	C	C C D E
6	Dm7	F E D
7	G	C B G A
8	Cmaj7	B C C
9	F	A B A G
10	Cmaj7	A B C
11	G7	G A G F
12	C	E G
13	F	A B A G
14	Cmaj7	A B C
15	G	A G C B
16	C	D C C

Three things to watch

2/4 time: two beats per bar, mostly in pairs of eighth notes — count “1 and 2 and”.
Bar 7 dips to the low G and climbs back through A, B to C.
The chorus starts on A (bar 9): the first note that is not part of the C–F run of the verse.

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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More songs with letters

Jingle Bells · Silent Night · We Wish You a Merry Christmas · Deck the Halls · Happy Birthday · Für Elise · Twinkle Twinkle Little Star · Canon in D · Ode to Joy · Amazing Grace · Moonlight Sonata (1st movement, easy) · Minuet in G · Greensleeves · Mary Had a Little Lamb · Old MacDonald Had a Farm · Chopsticks · Joy to the World · The First Noel · Auld Lang Syne · O Holy Night · The Twelve Days of Christmas · Ave Maria (Schubert, easy) · Eine kleine Nachtmusik (opening) · God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen · In the Hall of the Mountain King · Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9 No. 2 (easy) · O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) · The Star-Spangled Banner · Spring (The Four Seasons, opening) · Wedding March (Mendelssohn) · Hark! The Herald Angels Sing · London Bridge Is Falling Down · Itsy Bitsy Spider · Scarborough Fair · The Blue Danube (waltz theme) · Symphony No. 5 (opening motif) · Prelude in C major, BWV 846 · Morning Mood (Peer Gynt)

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Frequently asked questions

Is this sheet music free to print and use?

Yes. Yankee Doodle 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.