Christmas Carols You Can Play This Christmas With Just 3 Chords! 25
Did you know that there are literally thousands of songs you can play if you know just 3 chords?
It’s true. Songs from “Amazing Grace” to “Cum Ba Ya” to “Happy Birthday” to “On Top Of Old Smoky”, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”, “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”, “God Bless America” and countless others.
But there are also Christmas Carols that you can learn to play this Christmas if you know, or are willing to learn, three simple chords.
So what are these chords?
In any given key, there are 3 “family members” that are residents of that key—the I chord, the IV chord, and the V chord. They are far and away the most likely chords to occur in any given key.
For example, if I am playing in the Key of C, and the first chord is the C chord and I have to guess what the next chord is, I would guess that it would be either the F chord or the G chord. Why? Because those are the other “family members.” So we have narrowed the odds a great deal just by knowing who the members of the family are.
So how could I tell whether it should be F or G?
If the melody is a “B”, then the chord is probably a G chord. Why? Because “B” is in the G chord, but is not in the F chord.
If the melody is a “A”, than I would guess that the chord is F. Why? Because “A” is in the F chord, but is not in the G chord.
You can also just match one of the three chords to the melody to see if it sounds right. If it doesn’t, try another of the 3 chords. It won’t take long before you get the knack of matching chords to the tune of a song.
Does that mean that there are always just 3 chords in a song? No, but there are literally hundreds of songs that are made of just 3 chords.
Here are a few Christmas Carols you can play with just 3 chords:
O Christmas Tree Angels We Have Heard On High Silent Night Away In A Manger Joy To The World Deck The Halls Go, Tell It On The Mountain O Come, O Come Immanuel Star Of The East The First