Away in a Manger — Mandolin Tab

Mandolin tab and sheet music with synced audio · Key of G · 120 BPM · 3/4 time · Hymn · Starter

Chords used in this arrangement: G, E, Am, D, Em, A7, D7.

For more than a century, "Away in a Manger" was confidently sold as "Luther's Cradle Hymn," with an 1887 hymn collection flatly declaring that Martin Luther composed it for his children and that German mothers had been singing it to their little ones ever since. Turns out that's almost certainly a myth: no German text for the carol has ever been found from before 1934, and scholars now believe the whole thing is an American invention, probably from Pennsylvania Lutherans in the 1880s. Nobody actually knows who wrote it. The tune you're playing in G sits in a gentle lullaby groove, so lean into that — keep your pick hand relaxed and let the melody breathe a little at 120 BPM rather than pushing it. It's simpler than it looks, and that warmth in the melody is the whole point.

Enjoy this mandolin tab version of Away in a Manger!

This page includes mandolin tablature, standard music notation, and a chord chart — printable as PDF and playable in sync with the original recording. Change the key, slow the tempo down, and loop the bars you want to practise.