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1All songs / Nearer My God to Thee
Number tabs for the steel tongue drum
Nearer My God to Thee
Free number tabs for Nearer My God to Thee on the steel tongue drum. 28 notes, C Major scale, Easy level — play it instantly in the free Tongue Drum Online player.
The tab
2
23
31
13
35
55
56
65
54
42
24
43
32
21
12
23
31
15
56
6•1
87
76
65
54
43
32
21
11–7 scale note• above = higher octave• below = lower octaveabc = key in the app
▶ Play it in Tongue Drum Online
Open the free player on the C Major scale, then tap the petals or press these keyboard keys in order, following the tab above:
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Nearer My God to Thee is a gentle Victorian hymn set to Lowell Mason's Bethany tune from 1856, made famous by its association with moments of quiet courage and final farewells. On a steel tongue drum the tender, rising melody feels like a spiritual ascent, each phrase moving upward with a serene inevitability that perfectly suits the instrument's singing tone. A meditative, emotionally resonant choice for reflective practice.
How to play Nearer My God to Thee on a tongue drum
The numbers above are the standard tongue-drum number notation. Each digit is a note of the C Major scale, counting up from the lowest tongue. A dot above a number raises it one octave; a dot below lowers it. The small teal letters show the matching key in the Tongue Drum Online player.
Start slowly, one phrase at a time. Let each note ring out fully before striking the next — the long decay is the whole character of the instrument. This is a easy arrangement and a simplified, single-instrument version of Nearer My God to Thee.
About this melody
Bethany, Lowell Mason 1856.