This Old Man

This Old Man is an English language children's song, counting and nursery rhyme Presented here in two keys. The key of C Major in the open position and the key of D Major in position II. This is a simple melody that can be used as a reference fingering and position with the Playing by Ear series of lessons.

Author(s): Publisher: Code: UL583

Main Category: Accessories Main Instrument: Any

Subjects: Children's

2026-08-19

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This Old Man

Melody Roadmap @svg('map-marker-alt')

5 3 5 5 3 5 6 5 4 3 2 3 4 3 4
P5 @svg('arrow-alt-down') m3

The melody starts on the Perfect Fifth and descend down a minor third. is entirely taken from a major scale of the key.

Chords

Here are the chords in the Nashville Number System (NNS)

    1 1 4 5
    1 1 5 5 1

For the key of C Major the chords are: C, F, and G. The 1 4, and 5.

Basically the NNS is simple using "Arabic" number and a few specifics for standardizing the format of charts written out using the NNS format.

Lyrics

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played two,
He played knick-knack on my shoe;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played three,
He played knick-knack on my knee;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played four,
He played knick-knack on my door;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played five,
He played knick-knack on my hive;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played six,
He played knick-knack on my sticks;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played seven,
He played knick-knack up in heaven;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played eight,
He played knick-knack on my gate;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played nine,
He played knick-knack on my spine;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, he played ten,
He played knick-knack once again;
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.