Christmas Song Idea's .. Get The Jump on it!

[CASD57]

I know it's early, but I'd like to attempt to put together a set so I could start playing at retirement homes this Season....

So what Christmas Songs...Arrangements Do you have

[Coler]

Hey Cas. I always recommend member Doug Young’s DADGAD book of Christmas songs. It had loads of great traditional tunes, and many of them are provided with two arrangements, the second one being more complex. Great value and you can download it as a PDF.

Here is my attempt at Oh! Holy Night last year (played on my McNally OM 6er, recorded into a couple of condensers going into a zoom. No fx/eq just the guitar.



I also like this arrangement of Silent Night, the first part of which is Pete Huttlinger’s arrangement:



Played (guitar) on a martin SC13E plugged into a Yahama THR amp and I recorded the piano with a couple of small diameter condenser mics. I mixed them on a BR-800. I didn’t do a great job syncing the audio to the video here (probably didn’t on the other either but it’s not as obvious!)

Both these arrangements are pretty accessible and go down well. I also do a host of other stuff. Fairy Tale of New York is a real favourite to sing. I like the traditional and the tacky in equal measure (Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin Stevens…)

[CASD57]

Thanks!!
Nice sounding Martin SC !!

[hubcapsc]

It is easy to fingerpick basically this same thing, and Bing Crosby sings
it real straight, so... model your own version after this...

-Mike

[TBman]

I have Doug's DADGAD book also and another one that I open up is Mark Hanson's Fingerstyle Christmas Guitar - it's not all standard tuning btw.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Coler

Hey Cas. I always recommend member Doug Young’s DADGAD book of Christmas songs.

Hi Coler, nice job on O Holy Night! I enjoyed hearing that.

I also have a standard tuning book of Christmas tunes, designed around the idea I first messed with in the DADGAD book - minimalist arrangements intended to be easy enough to pull out and sight read when someone asks for tunes at Christmas, and also structured to allow you to add your own enhancements on the fly - basically playing the tune thru multiple times adding variations each time. All the arrangements fit on one (or two facing) page(s), unlike the multi-page arrangements like O Holy Night in the DADGAD book. I pull it out myself all the time for holidays.

[Methos1979]

Here is our Christmas setlist which we integrate with our regular assisted living setlist as needed to fill the hour:

Please Come Home For Christmas
All I Want For Christmas Is You
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
White Christmas
Have A Holly Jolly Christmas
Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Jingle Bell Rock
Silent Night
Oh Holy Night
Santa Baby
Christmas Time Is Here
Blue Christmas
I'll Be Home For Christmas
Silver Bells
Jingle Bells