Easy Christmas Songs for Guitar

There is so much more to Christmas than the catalogues, merchandise and store displays. Here at Guitar Noise we are proud to share a growing collection of christmas lessons, which includes carols, original arrangements, and full guitar lessons with MP3s. Many of these songs are suitable for solo guitar. We hope you enjoy the songs and lessons on this page, and we wish you all the best for the holiday season.

Silent Night - An Easy Christmas Song for Beginners By David Hodge Silent Night is a classic three-chord song. Here is a simple yet elegant, single guitar arrangement of this beautiful Christmas song. This lesson examines three essential things to playing in solo fingerstyle - melody, bass and accompaniment. You want the melody of the song to ring out, if for no other reason than letting people know what the song is! The bass and accompaniment, usually chord arpeggios, should enhance your presentation - adding color and texture. Included with this lesson is a complete MP3 file.

Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon - Easy Songs for Beginners # 15 By David Hodge As well as being a topical song for the holiday season, John Lennon's Happy Christmas can teach us several interesting things about using guitar chords. In this song we will use chordal riffs in place of a single chord. This will give us several ideas on how to strum this song. We will also throw in some simple basslines to fill out the solo performance. Best of all this lesson comes with MP3 examples to let you know if you are on the right track.

O Come All Ye Faithful By David Hodge Here's a simple chord melody arrangement of this holiday classic. And, as a bonus, it's a great exercise for practicing your chord changes in a timely manner.

Amazing Grace By David Hodge Here's a chance to work on your hammer-ons and pull-offs while playing a Celtic soul arrangement of this lovely song. Plus, you get to learn a lot about chord choices and voicing and even get to play around in Drop D tuning.

What Child Is This - Greensleeves By David Hodge David's arrangement of this much-loved Christmas carol focuses on the use of chord arpeggios rather than using straight chords for an accompaniment. You'll be amazed at how quickly you will pick it up!

Silent Night in Open D Tuning By Mark Yodice Fingerstyle guru Mark Yodice has given us a wonderful arrangement of Silent Night in open D tuning. What a terrific holiday gift! I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I have been doing this past week!

Christmas in June By David Hodge More than anything else, melody defines a song for us. Whether we love or loathe a song, it's the melody that keeps recycling on endless loop inside our heads. Join David Hodge and his special guest Rudolph as they lead us on a tour through the basics of the theory of melodies. It's never too early to get a jump on the holidays!

O Tannenbaum! By David Hodge Our arrangement of this traditional German Christmas carol may only use two notes at a time, but we will learn a lot about how two notes can imply a rich textured harmony. This lesson features MP3 files to help you get the sound just right.

Standard Notation (part 2) By Tom Serb In the second installment of Tom's series on reading notation, you'll learn about ledger lines, repeat signs and other musical traffic signals, as well as delve into accidentals and key signatures. Plus you get an arrangement of Jingle Bells to get you going for the holidays!

The Little Drummer Boy By David Hodge Next in our series of Christmas lessons we are going to work on The Little Drummer Boy. Way too often, guitarists tend to under-use or, worse, ignore the little finger when playing. Many beginners don't start working with it until they absolutely have to and at that point it's almost like learning to play all over again. Includes MP3 files.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas By David Hodge Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is a wonderfully easy introduction to creating a chord melody arrangement and the first of a series of holiday song lessons for our readers.MP3 files are inlcuded.

The Little Drummer Boy By Peter Simms Peter Simms adds his share to the finest gifts we bring with his wonderful chord melody arrangement of this Christmas carol. Using Drop D tuning to create a thrumming bass part, you'll have everyone in your house going pa-rum-pa-pa-pum in no time!

Blue Christmas By David Hodge Our arrangement for this moody piece uses many of the ideas from our O Tannenbaum! lesson. You'll find yourself having a lot of fun even though you're supposed to be blue!

The Huron Carol By Doug Sparling This lovely fingerstyle Christmas carol comes to us from Canada, where it's still sung in churches at holiday time. Doug gives us a little history on The Huron Carol and then walks us through this terrific arrangement, done in open G minor tuning.

We Three Kings of Orient Are By David Hodge Let's wrap up (no pun intended) this season's selection of Christmas carol arrangements with a lesson that uses a little of everything that we've been working on. Also it will give us a chance to start exploring putting the melody further up the neck while still coming up with an easily playable chord accompaniment.

In The Bleak Midwinter By Doug Sparling Guitar Noise welcomes Doug Sparling to our pages, with the first of what will (hopefully) be a series on lessons on Celtic Music for Guitar. This lesson is on the beautiful hymn, In The Bleak Midwinter, arranged for the guitar in DADGAD tuning.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear By Doug Sparling It may be after Christmas, but it's never too late to sing a wish for world peace. Enjoy this lovely arrangement (and a wonderful bit of history) of a favorite American carol, courtesy of Doug Sparling.

Love Came Down At Christmas - A Christmas Hymn By Doug Sparling Here is a beautiful Christmas hymn, wonderfully arranged in DADGAD tuning for us by Doug Sparling. What a great way to kick off the holiday season!

The Sussex Carol By Doug Sparling Doug brings us another beautiful Christmas carol, arranged in standard tuning. This one is quite catchy and Doug also gives us a fascinating bit of history concerning the history of Christmas carols in Britain.

Infant Holy Infant Lowly By Doug Sparling Doug Sparling graces our pages once again with this beautifully arranged Polish carol, also known as W Zlobie Lezy (Lying in the Manger). It's in standard tuning and it's a delight for the holidays!

The Christ Child's Lullaby By Doug Sparling Here's a wonderful simple and sparse arrangement of this traditional song from the Outer Hebrides. It's a beautiful song and. like Doug, you'll be thrilled to add it to your holiday repertoire.

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