Silent Night in Open D Tuning

Happy Holidays everybody, I hope the season offers you good health, a peaceful heart and a warm pair of vegan gloves.

Here’s a short excerpt from my arrangement of Silent Night, a tune you will no doubt be familiar with and hear countless times over the next month or so.

First note, the arrangement calls for the guitar to be tuned to an open chord, I prefer D (DAD F#AD) given it’s so close to standard but any will do as long as from low to high you have (6)Root- (5)5 th -(4)Root 8ve – (3) 3 rd / 10th- (2) 5 th /12 th – (1) Root 2 8ve.

Play the melody very espressivo, the dynamic contour should move in waves, avoid playing at a fixed tempo as this will make the performance sound a bit starchy and uninspired. The powertab software is a bit limited when it comes to dynamic indications and specifics of standard notation (for example, the F# in bar two should be a dotted half note) so much of which would otherwise be included has been left out; just use your best musical judgment. Be sure to let all the notes ring together like a piano with the pedal depressed.

The melody, of course, should be the most prominent voice with the arpeggiations and counterpoint being played just a degree or two lower in volume.

I hope you have a great time playing through the tune. I plan on having a full book of holiday tune arrangements available for next year, if you’d like to know when it’s all ready to go feel free to contact me at myodice@excite.com and I’ll send you a notification letter specifically for that project.

Be well and happy.

Silent Night composed by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber. Arrangement copyright 2004 Mark Yodice