Here are 5 Easy Christmas Songs For Acoustic Guitar To Get Everyone Singing including Jingle Bells chords, We Wish You A Merry Christmas & more classics
With the help of Leigh Fuge, we've put together the 5 of the best, easy Christmas songs for you to play on guitar.
These are some of the easiest Christmas guitar songs for those who want to get the whole family singing. In this easy to play guitar lesson, we show you how to play Jingle bells, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Deck The Halls, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is Coming to Town on acoustic guitar.
Everyone loves a sing song at Christmas so why not busy out the acoustic and make it happen this year! Yes, it's time to stand up in front of the whole family and play some tunes before Auny Sandra tries to get the karaoke on youTube!
In the accompanying video we break down the chord structures of each one and below you’ll find the tabs for the melodies so you can even grab a jam partner and create your own Christmas duo this year!
Check out the video on below for recommended strumming patterns for each track, or just create your own!
Watch Our 5 Easy Christmas Guitar Songs video
Jingle Bells Chords & Melody Tabs
Video section: 1:24
One of the best easy guitar songs is the widely known Jingle Bells. The chords for Jingle Bells are pretty easy to learn and it's a really great singalong Christmas track as it uses just a handful of chords.
The chords for Jingle Bells are mostly based around an A, E and D chord pattern but there is a B major thrown in for good measure later in the track.
The recommended strumming pattern for this is an off beat country style where you play the root of the chord on the beat and strum the whole chord on the “&”.
Take care when learning this as some bars contain two chords, but overall this is one of the best easy Christmas songs that you should be able to pick up easily.
We Wish You A Merry Christmas Chords & Melody tabs
Video section 6:05
The next song in our easy Christmas guitar songs is 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas'. As far as easy Christmas songs go, this is a little more off bea, but very rewarding when you nail it.
This track is in 3/4 time and has a lot more changes in than the previous track. Each bar here contains a new chord except one bar every repeat which has an F for the first two beats and a G for the third.
This has a bit of a waltz feel so keep it loose and keep the rhythm swinging.
Deck The Halls Chords & Melody Tabs
Video section: 9:05
A great song to play on guitar is the classic 'Deck The Halls'. This is an easy Christmas guitar song that sounds great played on an acoustic guitar.
This track is pretty upbeat so you can get away with playing straight quarters or eighths here, whatever suits you best. The whole progression is a bar of G followed by a bar with a different chord on each of the 4 beats. All the changes are on the beat.
Follow along with the 'Deck The Halls' chords in the video above and see why this is relied upon as one of the best easy Christmas songs for families to sing along to.
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Chords & Melody Tabs
Video section 10:23
This is the longest out of the five tracks but the chords for Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer are pretty straightforward for the most part. It may be a little more difficult to learn at first but it's still one of the best easy Christmas songs for acoustic guitar. If you have children, they'll love it!
The majority of the song is based around an 8 bar rhythm which is 3 bars of A, 1 bar of E, 3 Bars of E, 1 bar of A.
There is a change in the middle which also contains a C#7 and F#min chord. Take your time with the C#7 change as this is quite quick and you’re not sticking around on that chord for long.
Santa Clause is Coming to Town Chords & Melody Tabs
13:35
The last song in our best easy Christmas songs for acoustic guitar is the classic 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town Chords'. This is an absolute must-know song especially if you have children!
The chords for 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town' are fairly easy, it's just teh timing you need to get right.
This one has a swing triplet feel, it’s very loose and upbeat. Think of the rhythm as “1 & a 2 & a etc..” but with swing.
There are a lot of changes in this but take your time with any tricky changes and it’ll fall into place quickly for you.
In the middle section, there is a G7 chord introduced. If you find the G7 a bit tricky (Many players find the stretch difficult) you can substitute it for a regular G Major chord instead.
About the Author:
Leigh is a professional guitar teacher based in Swansea who has created many articles and resources to help you develop your guitar playing. He is one of the guitar teachers who works with musicteacher.com, an online platform where you can find your ideal guitar tutor.
It is a platform that is growing rapidly, with the exciting launch of Guitar Lessons Liverpool during 2020, as well as many new learning hubs planned throughout the UK.
