Free ABC Format Music Sites

ABC2Win
Use this shareware package to convert ABC notation to standard musical notation. As an extra nice touch, it can also optionally play the tune for you!

John Chamber's Collection
A great collection of "abc" music. Lots of stuff here. Loaded into subdirectories much like OLGA. (Told you I was a guitar player)

Chris Walshaw's ABC page
The ABC guy. Links to gazzillions of abc collections. This stuff will keep you busy for years. Also lots of general "abc" information.

Richard's Web Tunesearch
Searches several "ABC" collections -- great if you're looking for specific tunes.

Henrik Norbek's Tune Index
Another massive storehouse of "abc" tunes.

Morris Tunes
More Morris style tunes; a library in ABC format. Sorted by English village!

Fiddle Tunes from Sweden.
Much of this site is in Swedish, but this is an English link. ABC's and midi's of Swedish tunes from the vicinity of the rivers of Ljungan and Ljusnan in the "midnorth" part of Sweden. You will also find tunes from some other parts of Scandinavia, though the emphasis is on the regions of J.mtland, H.rjedalen and Medelpad, with their rich and varying - but perhaps not so well-known - folk music traditions. Tune names appear to be in Swedish.

Stephen Klein's Fiddle Tunes
A number of fiddle tunes in ABC format. The abc tunes are actually shown on the HTML web page, so you'll have to cut-and-paste to put them into text files.

The Fiddle-L Archive!
This is great! I never knew it existed! Here's an archive of all those incredible fiddle ABC's that have been floating around on the FIDDLE-L list. This is a great resource -- check it out!!!

Download Bulk Tunes
In ABC format, organized by time signature, also Winter Holiday tunes, plus Finnish, Celtic, English, Swedish/Norwegian, Eastern European, American, Australian, and "others"!

The Donegal Fiddle Pages
Lots of information about the fiddle music of Co. Donegal, Ireland. Among the goodies is an On-Line Fiddle Tutor with ABC's of increasing difficulty/complexity.

Contemporary Compositions (in abc notation)
Links to original composers who've put their compositions in "abc" format. Currently has two fiddle players who've posted their work (although I got 404's on the first one!)

Northumbrian Traditional Music
Fiddle, Guitar, and Song! Sheet music, tabs, and ABC's of "the unique traditional music of Northumbria, an area encompassing the modern counties of Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland."

Stephen Klein's Fiddle Web Page
Nice site dedicated to Canadian Celtic fiddlers. Contains a number of ABC tunes.

Tony's Celtic Music Page
Great Site! Check out his "Music" link to find many of Tony's personal compositions (in MIDI and GIF), plus his collection of about 2,500 celtic ABC tunes. LOTS of information about Celtic music, intruments, artists, etc, PLUS many many wav samples of artists and tunes.

Net ABC's
A nice, large selection of ABC's. Organized nicely, then presented in text form so you can cut and paste easily.

Wild Dismay
Check out "Wild Dismay's" set list in ABC format!

Northumbrian Traditional Music
"This webpage will examine the unique traditional music of Northumbria, an area encompassing the modern counties of Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland. The site includes sheet music, guitar tabulature, abc notation and midi files. There is also a page which looks at the issue of performance anxiety."

Bits Plucked from the Air
ABC tunes

Cliff's Tune Page
Many ABC's, GIF's, PCX's (remember those!) of traditional Irish tunes. Hammered Dulcimer oriented, but'll work for most instruments.

Knoxville Scottish Music Club
Goals: "To learn, teach, play and otherwise enjoy music in the Scottish style, including music from Cape Breton. To be accessible to musicians of all levels. To be a place to meet other musicians with similar interests." Maintains a page of club ABC tunes.

The Trad Society
Great ABC's and Midi's. The " Trad. Soc " is a student society at Dublin City University which promotes all aspects of Irish music. We organise weekly sessions and have many lunch time concerts. Our web site is intended as a resource tool for both members and those interested in research into Irish music.

Pay the Reckoning
Find neat original mandolin ABC's, standard notation, and MIDI's.

All Things Scottish - The Highland Bagpipe Page
Midi's, ABC's, and articles on all things bagpipish. The ABC's would also work for violin, mandolin, etc.

Scales and Modes in Scottish Traditional Music
Large text file discussing use of modes in Scottish music, very interesting stuff. Lots of ABC tunes and samples illustrating the discussion.

James Aird's tune collection
All 200 tunes from volume 1 of James Aird's tune collection, originally published in 1782. Tunes are in an ABC file.

Joseph Mitchell's ballad opera "The Highland Fair", 1731
"The music from Joseph Mitchell's ballad opera of 1731, The Highland Fair. This is a little-known and never-reprinted work, the earliest or one of the earliest sources of many Scots tunes, in simple and folk-like versions."

George Skene's manuscript of 1715
"The bagpipe tunes from George Skene's manuscript of 1715, the oldest written Scottish pipe music."

Tunes Learned from the Fairies
Five tunes in ABC format said to have been learned in Shetland from the fairies

American Colonial and Civil War Fife Tunes
More than 100 fife tunes in ABC format from American colonial and Civil war times.

Scottish Guitar Music
About a dozen 18th century Scottish tunes in ABC format intended for the guitar of the time (tuned CEGceg )

G.S. McLennan Bagpipe Tunes
"The Compositions of Pipe Major George Stewart McLennan (1883-1927)"

Sixteen Highland Dance Tunes
More ABC tunes from an early 19th century collection by Alexander McKay.

Atalanta Fugiens
ABC format; "fifty three-part vocal fugues from Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens of 1617-18, a musical commentary on the alchemical process."

More listings

These resources include theory lessons, ear training tools, music software, and more. A useful hub for those seeking to expand their musical knowledge and skills beyond the sheet music available on the website.

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