Skip to content
7-day free trial

Oh! Susanna - Piano Sheet Music (Easy Version, Verse and Chorus)

Stephen Foster (1826-1864) 1848 C major 2/4 Beginner 0:17 Both hands

Loading the score…

Oh! Susanna is one of the happiest tunes ever written, and one of the easiest to play: the verse climbs C D E G and walks back down, and the chorus opens on two long notes, "Oh, Su-san-na". This easy version gives you the verse and the chorus in C major, white keys only, with the melody in the right hand and one bass note per bar in the left - C, G or F below middle C. The tune starts with two pickup notes, C and D, before the first full bar. Keep a light, bouncy beat, as if a banjo were playing along.

How to play it

How to play Oh! Susanna on the piano

Right hand

Pickup C D, then E G G A, G E C D, E E D C, and D with C D leading on. The second line is the same, ending E E D D, C. The chorus: F F, A A, G G E C, D, then the second line of the verse again.

Left hand

One note per bar, held for two beats: mostly C below middle C, G under the D at the end of each line, and F under "Oh, Su-san-na". Rest during the two pickup notes.

Tricky passages

The pickup. Count "two-and" before the first bar and play C D on "and", so the first E lands on the strong beat. The chorus is the opposite: two long notes on the beat.

Fingering

Thumb on C: C D E with 1-2-3, G with 4 and A with 5, the whole verse in one position. In the chorus, F with 4 and A with 5.

Notes

Oh! Susanna piano notes

The right-hand melody of this version, bar by bar, in letter names and in Do Ré Mi. Sharps are written #, flats b; a note held across a bar line is written once.

Melody: C D E G G A G E C D E E D C D C D E G G A G E C …

BarNotesDo Ré Mi
Pickup C D Do Ré
1 E G G A Mi Sol Sol La
2 G E C D Sol Mi Do Ré
3 E E D C Mi Mi Ré Do
4 D C D Ré Do Ré
5 E G G A Mi Sol Sol La
6 G E C D Sol Mi Do Ré
7 E E D D Mi Mi Ré Ré
8 C Do
9 F F Fa Fa
10 A A La La
11 G G E C Sol Sol Mi Do
12 D C D Ré Do Ré
13 E G G A Mi Sol Sol La
14 G E C D Sol Mi Do Ré
15 E E D D Mi Mi Ré Ré
16 C Do
Chords

Chords in Oh! Susanna

The chords this arrangement holds for at least two bars, read from the score with the root in the bass. Each one opens its page: the notes, every inversion and the fingering, playable on a piano.

The piece is in C major: all the chords of the key

About the piece

About Oh! Susanna

Stephen Foster published Oh! Susanna in 1848, when he was 21 and working as a bookkeeper in Cincinnati. A year later it became the unofficial song of the California Gold Rush, sung by the thousands of people travelling west.

Foster wrote more than 200 songs, including Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home and Beautiful Dreamer, and he is often called the father of American music. He sold Oh! Susanna for very little money and died poor in New York in 1864.

This transcription: Stephen Foster, Oh! Susanna (1848), the tune as published and sung today; verse and chorus in C major, left hand by GOONS Studio. Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.

On guitar: Oh! Susanna guitar chords and lyrics, with a guitar that strums along.

For kids: Oh! Susanna by colors, on a rainbow piano that lights the next key and waits.

An old upright piano and a banjo beside a covered wagon and campfire under a starry sky in the American West
Oh! Susanna, as imagined by GOONS Studio (AI illustration)
Keep playing

More piano sheet music

An upright piano on a colonial village green at dusk with a feathered tricorn hat, a toy pony, a drum and a fifeEasy Version, Verse and Chorus · G major

Yankee Doodle

TraditionalBeginnerPlay the score Neon-lit New Orleans street at night with an upright piano and a trumpet and trombone resting on a benchEasy Version · C major

When the Saints Go Marching In

TraditionalBeginnerPlay the score A grand piano on a rocky headland facing a golden sunrise over a calm seaEasy Version · G major

Amazing Grace

TraditionalEasyPlay the score Red barn at dusk with cow, pig, sheep and hens around an upright piano by the open doorEasy Version · G major

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

TraditionalBeginnerPlay the score

All piano sheet music

In the studio

Practise with your MIDI keyboard, record your take, export MIDI

The full piano studio opens this score with your MIDI keyboard and sustain pedal, records what you play and exports it as a MIDI file. It comes with the GOONS Studio subscription - start with the 7-day free trial, no card required.

Open Oh! Susanna in the studio Free online piano
Questions

Oh! Susanna on piano: frequently asked

What are the notes of Oh! Susanna on piano?

In C major: C D E G G A G E C D E E D C D, C D E G G A G E C D E E D D C. Chorus: F F A A G G E C D. All white keys.

Who wrote Oh! Susanna?

Stephen Foster, an American songwriter, published it in 1848. It became the song of the gold seekers heading for California in 1849.

Is Oh! Susanna good for beginners?

Yes: level 1 of 5, white keys only, with the right hand in one position and one bass note per bar.