Mary Had A Little Lamb – Hoedown Variation I

Mary Had A Little Lamb - hoedown variation in D Major
Beginner > Module 2

I recommend first learning the basic version of this tune first: Mary Had A Little Lamb. 

🎯 What You’ll Learn

In this lesson, you’ll take the familiar melody of Mary Had a Little Lamb and give it a rhythmic twist using the hoedown pattern (LONG-short-short). Because the tune is already in your head, you can focus entirely on building your bow control, rhythm, and confidence.

You’ll learn the variation step-by-step in small chunks, with plenty of chances to loop, repeat, and play along. By the end, you’ll be able to jam through this simple tune with a fresh and fiddly groove.

🛠 Key Tips

  • Practice the hoedown rhythm on open strings before adding notes.

  • Break the tune into quarters and loop each chunk until it flows.

  • The first and third quarters are the same—score!

  • Use a play-along track or metronome to lock in your timing.

  • Don’t worry if it’s not perfect—just keep moving forward with a smile.

  • Try playing it on a different string to explore transposing.

❓ Common Questions

Why use such a simple tune?
Simple melodies let you focus on rhythm and bowing. The learning goes deeper when your brain isn’t overloaded.

What if the hoedown rhythm feels weird at first?
Totally normal! Repetition helps. Loop that rhythm on one note or string until your bow hand gets the hang of it.

Can I use this rhythm on other tunes?
Yes! This hoedown groove is a great building block you’ll hear in tons of fiddle tunes.

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Learning chunks 

A part, first quarter

A PART:

First quarter: D2-1-1-0-1-1 2 2-3-2-1-0

 

A part, second quarter

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A part, third quarter

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A part, fourth quarter

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Further Practice

Practice the song at your own pace with this drone track

Once you learn this and can play it with flow, try starting it on G string, which would be the key of G (use G drone):

First quarter: G2-1-1-0-1-1 2 2-3-2-1-0

Practice with a G drone:

Next, see try it in A major.

First quarter: A2-1-1-0-1-1 2 2-3-2-1-0

Practice with A drone:

You can practice at your own speed with a D drone:

 

Full Tabs, Audio & Sheet Music

First quarter: D2-1-1-0-1-1 2 2-3-2-1-0

Second quarter: D1 1-2-1-0-1 2-2-2 A0-0-0

Third quarter: D2-1-1-0-1-1 2 2-3-2-1-0

Fourth quarter: D1-1-0-2-1-0-1-2-1-0

Full Mix

Jam mix – 60 bpm

Jam mix – multi-tempo

 

Continue on to Using Drones to Create Epic Practice Sessions >>

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11 responses to “Mary Had A Little Lamb – Hoedown Variation I”

  1. Hello! This one was interesting. I get that its based off of mary had a little lamb, and the different bow pattern (long,short,short) changes it up, but there is also added notes that are not in original.. which mages it feel like a different song. I know in some trad music grace notes and ornamentation can drastically shape the tune.. but i was surprised to see added notes here. Is it common to add notes with a hoe down shuffle pattern?

  2. Completely agree with Melissa Rice above. My hoedown sounds a bit boring, yours has a great groove to it. I suspect the magic is in loosening up my wrist more, but no amount of practice seems to be getting me there (I’m not a beginner). Any pointers as to how to unlock one’s wrist would be greatly appreciated.

  4. Great exercise for learning to add variations. When you first play the tune, and especially at around 6:08 minutes on the video, it has a stronger hoedown sound which I think has to do with subtleties of timing (a bit of swing?) and maybe which beats are stressed. Can you please give us pointers on how to work up to getting that kind of sound? Maybe a little exercise or something? Playing it straight just doesn’t have the same cool sound. Thanks!

  5. Loved it when playing along .. then when I tried it with the drone I got all Yehudi Manure-urin on myself and lost all timing … Thought my fingers were faster than they are .. or my brain is faster … great fun, although I can’t see when I will ever be able to play hoe down at any kind of hoe down speed.. I’ll stick to hoe down for seniors perhaps 😉

  7. On the 2nd quarter of the tabs the last 3 notes show open string assuming on “D” but sound like “A” string and, not that I know much about reading music, where I think it appears as an “A” or AO.