The Star-Spangled Banner

Francis Scott Key wrote these words in September 1814 after watching the British bombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore. They were sung to “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a tune by the English composer John Stafford Smith. Congress made the song the national anthem in 1931.

The anthem covers an octave and a half, more than most songs. On a C harmonica it fits in holes 1 to 6, but two of its notes, F sharp and A, are not on the harmonica as plain blow or draw notes in that range. You play them by bending:

• -2’ is a draw on hole 2, bent down a half step to F sharp.
• -3’’ is a draw on hole 3, bent down a whole step to A.

If you haven’t learned to bend yet, start with My Country, ’Tis of Thee and come back to this one.

Harmonica tabs

Verse 1

3 2 1    2   3   4    5  -4  4      2    -2' 3
O   say, can you see, by the dawn's ear- ly  light,

3    3  5      -4 4  -3     -3'' -3  4    4       3    2      1
What so proud- ly we hailed at   the twi- light's last gleam- ing?

3     2     1       2   3      4      5       -4  4    2   -2' 3
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the per- il- ous fight,

3    3   5    -4    4  -3       -3'' -3 4    4     3  2       1
O'er the ram- parts we watched, were so gal- lant- ly stream- ing?

5   5   5     -5   6   6      -5  5     -4     5   -5 -5
And the rock- ets' red glare, the bombs burst- ing in air,

-5   5     -4      4   -3    -3'' -3  4    2   -2'   3
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

3 4    4    4 -3 -3''  -3''  -3'' -4   -5 5 -4  4 -3
O say, does that star- span- gled ban- ner  yet wave

3    3   4    -4 5 -5 6    4   -4  5    -5 -4  4
O'er the land of the  free and the home of the brave?

Playing tips

• Practice the two bends on their own before playing the song. Draw on hole 2 while saying “eee-ooo”; the change in mouth shape pulls the note down. Hole 3 bends the same way, but it needs to go twice as far to reach A.
• “Free” on the 6 blow is the high point of the song. Take a breath before “O’er the land” so you have air for it.
• Lines 1 and 3 have the same tab, and so do lines 2 and 4.
• Words: Francis Scott Key, 1814. Music: John Stafford Smith. Public domain.