PlaysoloistStringsViolinSongsFor He's a Jolly Good Fellow

violin song · Strings

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow Violin Sheet Music & Notes

Composer
Traditional
Year
Key
G
Time
6/8
Tempo
132 BPM
Difficulty
Beginner · ★
First note
D4

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow on violin

The phrase Soloist Violin’s lesson teaches — an excerpt of the melody, not the full-length arrangement — rendered as engraved treble-clef staff you can read on screen or print for the stand, free.

68

Trad. (Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, 18th c.) — public domain.

How to practise this on violin

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow is written in G and opens on D4, so tune that string true before you draw a bow — on a fretless fingerboard the whole piece rides on where your first finger lands. Play the opening phrase slowly, one clean bow-stroke per note, and watch the pitch feedback rather than your hand: the app hears which notes drifted sharp or flat, which is the one thing a mirror can never show you.

Keep the bow parallel to the bridge and draw from the middle third for an even tone. Set the metronome well under around 132 BPM and don't raise it until you've been graded clean on two takes in a row. When a bar comes back red, loop just that bar — intonation improves fastest on the phrase you keep missing, not on replaying the whole piece from the top. By the numbers, this setting runs 45 notes across 14 bars, from D4 up to D5 in 6/8 time.

Also playable on

The same melody is graded across 6 Playsoloist instruments. See every version, with difficulty and provenance, on the For He's a Jolly Good Fellow cross-instrument hub.

Keep exploring

Free on the App Store

Play For He's a Jolly Good Fellow — and hear every note graded.

Soloist Violin reads this engraved treble-clef staff under the notation and grades your take on-device, note by note — free on iPhone, no ads, no account.

Get Violin on the App Store