Row, Row, Row Your Boat (a round)
A round, in 6/8 — so it rocks in two, like the boat. The whole tune is eight bars; once it's steady, play it against the playback a bar behind, the way you'd sing it in a round. In G major, first position, on the D, A and E strings.
Count it "1 2 3 4 5 6" while you learn each line, then feel just the two big beats.
Line 1 — "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream"
How to play it
'Row, row,' — two dotted-quarter beats, two slow full-beat bows on the 3rd finger G. 'Row your boat' — a quarter, an eighth, a dotted quarter, climbing G–A–B. 'Gently down the' — lighter, quicker eighths. 'Stream' — the D held a whole bar, one long even bow. Feel the two beats a bar the whole way; don't let it turn into six.
Line 2 — "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily"
How to play it
Four 'merrily's, each three quick even eighths on one note, stepping down the G-major chord: high G, then D, then B, then low G. Short brisk strokes in the upper half of the bow. Keep them dead even — this is where a round drifts. Lean lightly on the first eighth of each group (beats 1 and 4).
Line 3 — "life is but a dream"
How to play it
'Life is but a' — a quarter, an eighth, a quarter, an eighth, walking down D–C–B–A on the A string. 'Dream' — G held a whole bar, home to the tonic. Slow the bow into it and let it ring in tune before you lift.
The one thing this tune is for
Compound time. Two beats a bar, each a dotted quarter, each dividing into three. Once your foot taps twice a bar and the eighths flow between, 6/8 has clicked. Then play it as a round against the playback — start a full bar after it and hold your own two-beat pulse.