Transcripts
1. Welcome!: Hi, my name is Jacob Lam. As crazy as it is to believe, we are back into the
Christmas season. In this course, we're going to take the chords and notes that you know and turn them into
our favorite Christmas songs. Now whether you have
an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar, you can take this course
and play everything, but we're going to
go through chords to our favorite Christmas songs
on the acoustic and tabs, single notes for the melody of these Christmas songs
on the electric guitar. Whether you want
to pick the melody or strum and sing along,
you'll be able to. Now for every song
that we go through, we're also going to have
a chord sheet and tabs so that you can print
them out or look at your screen and follow along. I'm really looking
forward to getting going. I love Christmas music. So let's get started.
2. Angels We Have Heard on High: Our first song together
is going to Be Angels. We have heard on high. Now if you're following along, we're playing this one
at 110 beats per minute, and it's in the key of C. Now the chords we need to
know for this song are A minor minor and finally a seven. Let's take a look
at these in order. And remember you have
the chord sheet in the lesson files to
follow along for. A strumming pattern
will just do down strokes twice per measure. Obviously, during
the chorus, there, there are some quick
chord changes. So if you need to the metronome to get used to those changes, you can absolutely do that
and work your way up to it, or sing at a slower pace. But those are the
chords for our song. The nice thing about Christmas
music is it's repetitive. The sections repeat. So that's the, and the chorus. And then we go through
another verse, chorus. Verse chorus. So let's switch
over to electric guitar, or stay on your guitar,
whatever you've got. And take a look at
the single notes for this song with the
tabs on the screen, da, da, da, da, da, da. All of the Christmas
songs that we work through together
are going to be right down here in the
lower part of the guitar neck, so we never have to worry about bringing our hand up too high. Which means if you know your
basic chords and your tabs, you're going to do
fantastically in this course.
3. Away in a Manger: Our next song is a
way in a manger, if you thought the previous
song was repetitive, this one even more
so is just after. After, which means
there are really only four lines of music to learn and then we know the song. Let's take a look at
what chords we need. For a way in a manger, we need A, A seven, A, C, A D, A D, seven, and finally an A minor. Now, unlike the previous song, we don't need to worry
about fast changes. There are a couple of chords
that last for only one beat, but certainly not as
quick as the other song. So let's take a look at the chords on the
acoustic guitar. And I should mention that
like the other song, we're also going to do this at 110 beats per minute
on your metronome. Then it repeats two really important things
I want to mention here. First, this song is in a three beat form
rather than four beats. We're counting 123123.
The other thing is, you'll notice that
the way I play, my chord shifts depending
on what chord is next. And that can be really
helpful when we're thinking about transitioning
between chords quickly. For example, if I'm playing
A and my next chord is a D, then I'll play it with my second and first
finger and my pinky. Then move to the D. I know my next after
the G is a seven. I'm going to shift my fingers so I'm using my third and second, so I can really easily
move to that seven. It's a lot harder to
play a G and G seven. I'm shifting my fingers
a lot more than if I just move my
pinky to first finger. Now let's take a look at
the single notes for a way in a manger repeat.
4. Deck the Halls: Our third song together
will be Deck the Halls. Again, we want to keep
our strumming hand really comfortable and not have to think too much about it, so we're just going to do single or double strums on
each chord, only going down. Now, the chords that we
actually need for this song are D, E minor, A. There's also a strumming in
this song isn't dificulta, the speed isn't
difficult either. This is a song where
the single notes might be a little bit quicker. Let's start by looking
at the chords together. This song, we're going to speed
up a little bit and do at 120 beats per minute on your metronome. And
it's in the key of, now like our other songs
from that point it repeats. Okay, so we've got
another verse and chorus, and then keeping that going
for the rest of the song. Let's take a look
at the single notes and remember it's a little
quick through those.
5. The First Noel: Our fourth song is going
to be the first noel. Now just like our other songs, we've got repetition, but I want you to notice
what it looks like. This song has a
verse and a chorus, but the chords on each
are exactly the same. In fact, in our verse, the first half and second
half is exactly the same. We're keeping the same pattern and just changing the words, which means even though we've
got a verse and a chorus, we've again, only got
four lines to learn. Let's take a look at the
chords that we need. For the first Nol, we're going
to need A and a B minor. Now, there are two
ways to play A minor. You could use the barord
shape if you know it. I always prefer
playing it like this. A little easier to
get to quickly, and ten times out of ten
replaces the bar chord shape. So let's take a look
at the first noel. For this one, we're going
to 110 beats per minute. And we're in the key of, so
here's what it sounds like. Now we're going to look at our single notes
for the first noel. And something I want
us to notice if you're starting to work on
your modes or scales, is that we're actually
working out of a G, Ionian, our primary major mode. Those are where all of our
notes are coming from. So let's take a look O O.
6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Our next song is God
Rest you Mary gentleman. Now for this one, again, our right hand is just
doing single strums. But we've got a
tricky chord in here. We've got a B seven chord. It's on the screen, but if
you're not familiar with it, take a moment, get
it comfortable, and then let's look at all
of the chords we need. We're going to be
playing an E minor, C, D, and that B seven. We've also got an A
minus in our chords. Now we're going to drop
our tempo down to 75. And let's take a look at the
chord progression together. Again, we've got a
verse and a chorus, and this time the chords
in each are different. Now we can take a look
at the single notes, the tabs for God Rescue
Married Gentleman. Now I want to pause
and mention that we're just playing the tabs, the single notes
for these parts. Right? It would be a lot
to stop and say, okay, we're going to play
this for it and this for it, and this for it. We're showing how it sounds. You can slow it down, repeat it, listen as many
times as you need to. But the best way you're going
to learn it is to look at those tabs and take
it at your own pace. All right? So use the example here and then use the
tabs to really learn it.
7. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing: Okay, we're coming up to hark. The Herald Angels sing. Obviously I'm holding
an acoustic right now. We're going to do the chords, but I want to mention
right at the start that the melody for this one is
a little bit difficult, not because it's fast
or hard to play, but just because the melody is so different from
section to section, or rather line to line, if you're aiming to memorize the melody instead of just
read it off the chart. It might be a little
bit difficult, but we know as well
that you can do it. Let's take a look at the chords that we need for this tune. We're going to need a G, D minor seven, a D seven, and finally an seven. Now, there are a lot of
cords here that go back and forth just with
one beat each, right? A minor minor, and four. We'll get really comfortable, especially with the
transitions between those Ds. I've got my metronome set at 120 beats per minute if
you're playing along. So let's take a look here. In the key of G. Pause right there. That was fast G. D.
G is really fast, so if you're having trouble
going back and forth, then we can skip that first G and hold the D. Here's real quick what it
would sound like. So that's also an option,
but let's go back. We can always find a way to get around those
quick changes, but let's start from the top and play it with all the
changes included. So again, really quick
changes back and forth. But let's go take a look at the single notes. Do
8. Jingle Bells: Okay, let's look at a
classic Jingle Bells. Pretty straightforward for
both chords and notes. Nothing too difficult,
but we do have a verse and a chorus that are
very different. All right? The verses are dashing
through the snow, the chorus is jingle bells. Let's take a look
at each of those, starting with the chords. For the chords we need A, an A, D minor, and those are all the chords we
need for this one here. We're going to stick with
single strums in each measure, and we're going to play at 80 beats a minute
on your metronome. So here are the chords
for jingle bells. Now let's take a look at the single notes
for jingle bells.
9. Joy to the World: We are making great
progress through these songs and we've only
got a handful of them left. Our next one is Joy To the
World Now, really cool. This one works off of a
mode for the single notes. And there's only three chords
through the whole song. The three chords we need
here are D and A, C. Now we're in the key
of G, and once again, I'm doing just simple
downstrokes in my picking hand. And we've got our metronome
set to 85 beats per minute. So here's what the
chords sound like. Now you'll notice
that a huge portion of that song is a G chord. It's always best to play
this one with a melody, whether singing or
playing on your guitar, because that really rings out. Speaking of a melody, let's see what that
sounds like on the electric guitar again, remember we are working our
way down a ionian scale, Da, da, da, da. Really simple. All the notes we need y.
10. Silent Night: Our second to last
song is Silent Night. Here we're in the key of G, and we have another song that's three beats rather
than four beats. We only need five chords. We need a G chord, a D, a D7ac, and an E minor. Now I've got my metronome
set here to 95. By the way, the times are
all written on the sheets if you haven't noticed or
you haven't been using them. But again, remember that we
want you to slow that down to be able to play first before
you can play up to speed. Let's take a look
at how these go. And remember this
song is one that repeats again verse
after verse after verse. So if we can get one verse down, we know the whole song. It's one of the reasons
Christmas music is great to start learning
with so silent night. Here are the chords, now let's take a look
at the single notes for a Silent Night that
fit over those chords. This one is a little
bit all over the map, but again we're keeping
it nice and low. There's just a lot
of changes going on.
11. We Wish You a Merry Christmas: Our last song on this list is We Wish
You a Merry Christmas. Now we've got our metronome
set to a whopping 130, and we've got a bunch
of different chords. We're in the key of C and we've got some seven
chords in there. Let's take a look at
the different chords we need to play this song. We need a, an A D, a seven, and an A minor, and an E minor. These are the
chords in our song. Now, those were almost in order, so let's take a look. And again, with our strumming hand,
we're only hitting once, especially since there are
so many different chords. So here we go. Both the chords and the single notes in
this song are tricky. So we can kind of consider
this our final boss for these. Let's take a look at the tab for we wish
you a merry Christmas.
12. Final Project / Congratulations!: You've done it and made it
to the end of the course. Congratulations,
hopefully by now you have ten Christmas
songs that you enjoy playing and can play for friends around Christmas time
or on Christmas morning. Now as a final project, we're going to pick
one of these songs that we learned and
we're going to play it whether you want to show off the chords or just
the single notes, or even both together. If you've got a
way to record over yourself, I'd love to hear it. If you have any
questions at all, you can always e
mail me at Jacob, at Lamb Lessons.com and I'll be happy to
answer them there, or in the comments
of this course. Have a great time playing
and Merry Christmas.
Jacob Lamb, Musician, photographer and videographer
