Do you want to learn guitar, starting with easy guitar songs while possibly feeling festive?
The greatest christmas songs are one of the best ways to start! With the following easy Christmas songs, you’ll be able to celebrate the holidays while perfecting your guitar skills.
Christmas Songs on Guitar – List
Get ready for some festive music with the following songs! If you just have a couple of chords in your repertoire, these songs will be a perfect fit for you. A few may even stretch your skills a bit with new, slightly more complicated fingerings with barre chords.
1. Jingle Bells
One of the most classic Christmas songs is Jingle Bells, the first song ever to be broadcast from outer space!
You’ll sometimes hear the music played in the key of Bb due to a horn section. However, this classic tune can also be played in the key of G or in the key of C, making it easier for beginner guitarists to learn.
Next: The best Kids Christmas songs of all time
2. Feliz Navidad
Despite this classic holiday song being of Spanish origin, it is considered one of the most beautiful Christmas songs in the English-speaking world. Even more so, it’s easy to play on your guitar! Like the composer, Jose Feliciano, you can play this song in the key of D.
However, you can make it easier on yourself by playing in the key of G. It’s one of the easiest chords due to having no barre chords. Also, you can then progress to use a capo to elevate it up one to the key of A.
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3. Joy To The World
Another classic holiday favorite is Joy to the World. The words in the song are inspired by the second half of Psalm 98 of the Bible. The original key to the song is C major and it is popular for the guitar for many reasons, one mainly due to the various ways you can approach playing it. You can also use a pick, not just your fingers.
4. Winter Wonderland
The Michael Buble version of this classic holiday hit will surely inspire you to practice to perfection. Just like him, you can also sing and play this song in the key of C but ‘Winter Wonderland’ is mainly easy on the guitar because it requires the use of only one chord in most of the sections – an open G major. You’ll just need to hold the G for four measures and speed your strumming for each measure.
5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
No holiday party is complete without playing this enchanting and nostalgic holiday hit. Since you can strum to this song in the key of G, it makes the guitar practice routine less daunting. You can also apply the fingerstyle technique and we recommend playing it through slowly, at a low volume.
6. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
This song about our beloved reindeer character is one that can quickly get stuck in many people’s minds for days. As one of the easiest Christmas songs here, it suits those comfortable playing in the key of G and C chords. Also, the song should be played with enough volume and enthusiasm. The nature of this song is rather playful and joyful and is meant to get everyone in the room to sing.
7. Let It Snow
The song can be in the key of Db, but that may be challenging for most. Instead, what makes the classic easy is that you can play it in the key of G to make the chords sound friendlier. Also, it’s another AABA-structure Christmas song with the A part being for “Oh, the weather outside is frightful.”
8. Carol Of The Bells
As another easy Christmas song for the guitar, you merely focus on making an A minor shape without adding the 4th finger. Also, you might want to use a guitar pick to highlight its choral tone by strumming the strings with enough pressure to produce a harsh tone.
Next: The greatest Christmas Carols of all time
9. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Thanks to artist Brenda Lee, this song undoubtedly puts a smile on even your Grinch neighbor’s face. You can play it in the key of A flat or in G, making rehearsal fairly easy. For singing along, consider placing a capo on the first fret.
10. Silent Night
Silent Night is as sweet and serene as your granny’s holiday eggnog. It’s easy mainly because you’ll only be needing your second or third fingers.
Try to alternate between them in reasonable ways when going between the 8th and 10th frets of the second string. Then, simply move your third finger over to the 9th fret when needed. In turn, your guitar playing will be smooth and grant you control over the fingerpicking style. Not to mention, the main goal is to produce quiet, soft sounds.
11. Last Christmas
Last Christmas by Wham is a relatively easy song to consider learning. The song contains only four chords that are repeated throughout its entirety. So, consider starting on D major. Then, progress to Bm, Em, and ending on the key of A. That’s it!
12. All I Want For Christmas Is You
Mariah Carey’s own contribution to her favorite time of the year comes through this next piece. Although, it might be more easy to strum to than to sing, what with her high-note vocals and all. Overall, the song is relatively more challenging as a whole. However, her main chorus line, “all I want for Christmas is you,” is the easiest to achieve on your guitar.
Simply go from A minor to D major. Then, strum the G major and E minor after the ending of the vocal line. Even when perfecting this one bit, many listeners will likely not mind since they also might likely recall only this chorus line, if not the whole song by Carey.
13. We Three Kings
As another top easy Christmas guitar song, ‘We Three Kings’ basically requires repeating one melody line various times. Also, with this song, most of the notes are close to one another, so you won’t have to develop any challenging positions and sometimes might barely move your hands.
14. Fairytale of New York
In this piece, many people get quickly used to the repeating chord sequence as it remains the same throughout the majority of the song. The intro is first slow, using a chord sequence that opens with a D chord. This chord hits at the “eve” part. Then, the song sequentially moves through G-D-A before turning back around until you’re at the faster verses that occur the rest of the way.
15. Good King Wenceslas
Notoriously easy, this Christmas song is also very repetitive. It contains a simple melody line that is repeated multiple times and mostly changes lyrics, not tunes. The opening few notes is quite simple and repetitive to get used to quickly. It just requires your hand position in a way that your second finger will be able to easily press down on the second fret of string 3.
16. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
This holiday song contains a very recognizable melody that is built almost only on a single phrase, which repeats itself with some variation. To make it even easier on yourself with your guitar, you can consider first creating a shape on your fretboard so that your third finger is around the third fret of string 5 and your second finger lingers above the second fret of string 4. In turn, you should be in the exact hand position needed to easily play the song.
17. Frosty The Snowman
It’s not hard to over-sing to this song with the kids running around chanting it day in and day out! With such popularity, it’s an easy Christmas song for you to play it in the key of G. You’ll need three parts to play it entirely, and the song’s central part has an AABA structure.
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