“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is a classic English nursery rhyme and lullaby that expresses a child’s wonder at the beauty of a shining star in the night sky. The lyrics describe the star as small yet bright, lighting up the darkness. The song conveys curiosity and admiration, comparing the star to a guiding light high above the world. The melody, derived from the French tune Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, enhances its soothing and simple nature, making it a beloved bedtime song for children.

I recorded this more than 20 years ago in audio only (MP3), so I didn’t do an actual video. After I joined YouTube, I took a few of those MP3s and added a static screen to put them in video format. If you’re playing the song for your 2-year-old, you might want to tone it down and just strum the chords, but it makes a nice little Travis Picking tune, so it’s a good one to learn since everybody knows the melody. I’m including several tablatures that I did back in 2003 when I originally recorded the MP3, and I’ll precede each tablature arrangement with an explanation of what it teaches.

As always, if you need help reading the tablature, watch me video on “How to Read Tablature.”

The song is actually in 2/4 time, but for the sake of Travis Picking, I double-timed it and played 4/4 time. The first tablature shows the melody notes, which should be easy to play. You might want to play it to familiarize yourself with the melody. All of the other arrangements that I did are based on this melody.

This video, labeled “Fingerpicking Arrangement #2,” is what I played on the recording. It’s the most complicated of the bunch, but I wanted to put it close to the top since it’s what I played. With Travis Picking, you alternate your thumb between the 4th string and 3rd string, then the melody is added in on the 1st and 2nd strings. The most difficult portion of these arrangements is barring the 5th fret to play the Bb chord, which takes some practice.

If you need some breathing room from all of the individual notes in the above arrangement, this should help you get the hang of the song in an easier way. Of course, it’s based on the melody notes, and it’s still a fingerstyle arrangement.

I also created this chord melody solo that you can play if you don’t want to play the fingerstyle arrangements. Just strum downward on the notes that are written. It sounds best played slowly, so don’t rush it.