Use these online guitar chords for Christmas carols to learn some festive tunes to play for friends and family. These sites offer great collections of chords for everything from solemn carols to lively seasonal songs.
Christmas Chords for Guitar
Each featured song below is beloved and well-known by almost everyone who celebrates Christmas. The secular songs are appropriate for any Christmas family gathering or party. The traditional Christmas carols focus on the religious "reason for the season," and are a great option for holiday gatherings and any Christmas church service or musical program. Visit these sites to get lots of great chords for all occasions.
Betty Lou's
At first glance, Betty Lou's may not seem like it has much to offer. Dig a little deeper though and you'll see that there are some nice additions here. It provides free Christmas carol guitar chords and lyrics, and a transpose function. With the click of your mouse, you can change chords and keys up to five times. You can also display semitones and capo frets. There is a midi file available for each song to refer to as you learn. Some of the best carol choices here include:
E-Chords
E-Chords has chords for 20 Christmas tunes, including traditional carols and songs that are popular with the younger set. Everyone can view and print the song chords and lyrics and see additional options for each song for free, but premium members get extra perks. With membership you can add songs to an online songbook, edit chords, access backing tracks, and transpose songs. For some songs a video lesson is provided. There is also an online tuner to help you tune your guitar. Membership plans start at $3.95 per month.
Here are some of the most popular Christmas song guitar chords E-Chords offers:
Ultimate Guitar
You'll find free guitar chords for traditional carols and secular Christmas tunes on this site. The site focuses mainly on tabs but you can select a category or search for a title and then choose "Chords" from the menu on the left to get only chords for that song or genre. Once you've selected a song, you can transpose the chords, display the chords, and watch a video of the song. A print button at the end of each page allows you to easily print the chords. You can pay to become a TabPro member and have access to more features such as a metronome, the ability to record yourself playing the song, and a fret board display. TabPro pricing and membership details are only available if you register first.
Highly rated song choices here include:
Traditional Music Library
Based in the UK, the Traditional Music Library site is basic but provides free guitar chords and lyrics for 160 traditional and contemporary Christmas songs. The online lyrics and chords are easy to see and play along with. Each song can be downloaded as a PDF file for printing as well. Some of the better Christmas songs and carols offered include:
Cathy's Chords
Cathy's Chords not only offers free guitar chords for Christmas songs by expertise level, but rhythm and finger picking tips too. Each song is in an easy to download and print PDF format and features chord diagrams and holiday clip art.
You'll find guitar chords at Cathy's Chords for the following Christmas tunes:
Matt Warnock Guitar
You don't just have access to free Christmas guitar chords on Matt Warnock Guitar, you also get instructions on how to play each song. You'll learn tips on choosing keys, rhythm tips, and fingering. Each song comes with a lead sheet and lyrics, open guitar chords, barre guitar chords, jazz lead sheet, jazz guitar chords, a solo guitar arrangement, and a helpful transposition chart. A "click to hear" option allows you to hear what the song should sound like. To print a song or any of its supporting components, click on it and choose your browser's print option.
Fun songs to try from this site include:
- Auld Lang Syne
- Silent Night
- Hark the Herald Angels Sing
- Away in a Manger
Country Tabs
There are a few options that make your experience with the Country Tabs website more enjoyable. Once you've identified the songs you want to learn you can add them to your personal online songbook, show or hide chords with the lyrics, or view a printable version of each song. Users can also give a "thumbs up" to their favorite songs, and you can use those ratings to help you find the best song arrangements.
Country Tabs allows you to view a few songs without registering, but you must create a free account to access their entire library and create your songbook. Highlights of their seasonal options include:
Chords and Carol Books
For players who learn better by having a book in front of them, there are numerous Christmas carol books available complete with guitar chords.
- Christmas For Guitar features 32 pages of carols with chords. The book includes solos, duets, and optional parts for two guitars and C instruments. Lyrics are included for each song. The paperback book costs about $9.
- Christmas Carols Guitar Chord Songbook features 80 carols. Each song includes guitar chords, chord diagrams, and lyrics. The paperback costs around $11.
- 21 Christmas Carols for Easy Guitar: Beginners will love this book which includes guitar chord charts, lyrics, and strumming tips for 21 Christmas carols. Capo suggestions are also included. The paperback book costs about $22.
Learning Christmas Chords
While Christmas tunes may be some of the easier songs to learn on guitar, it still helps to have the chords handy for an impromptu holiday singalong. Pull up your favorite chords or Christmas sheet music and practice so you're ready in time for your Christmas celebrations.
