Jingle Bells Guitar Lesson

About this lesson

With our guitar tutorial on Jingle Bells, you will learn these guitar skills: Chord changes, Open chords, Strumming patterns.

Jingle Bells is one of the best-known winter songs in the world. The thought of the jingling bells and sleigh has become synonymous with winter and Christmas time in all parts of the world, even though it was originally written for Thanksgiving in 1857.

Our guitar lesson on Jingle Bells will teach you how to play the chords to the song, as well as a simple melody line you’ll be able to play to your friends and family. This is a beginner guitar lesson, meaning that the concepts you’ll be learning are meant for beginner guitarists.

We’ll be learning to play Jingle Bells in the key of G, to make changes in between chords easier, and not have to use any barre chords. To keep things simple, we’ll be learning a I-IV-V chord version of the song, so you’ll be able to transpose the chords to any key you wish. This is especially useful if you are playing along with carolers, and they are not singing in the key of G. Just so you know, the original chord progression is actually I-V-vi-III-IV-I-V-I.

In the first section of the lesson, we’ll go through the chords, and the chord progression you’ll need to play along with carolers. You’ll be able to play along with me listening to real carolers as well 🙂

Make sure you download the tabs though since you’ll find the exact moment you’ll need to perform your chord changes there.

In the second section of the lesson, you’ll be learning how to play the melody line to Jingle Bells on your guitar. This will give you a great chance to practice your major scale as well since all the notes you’ll be playing will be on a single major scale shape. Again, keep in mind that to transpose the Jingle Bells melody to a different key, simply move the major scale shape box we’re using to the key of your choice.

Jingle Bells song details

Jingle Bells was written by James Lord Pierpont in the USA, and published in 1857. The original title was “One horse open sleigh”.

The song is in fact about the sleigh races held in Medford, Massachusetts in the early 1800s.

Skills you'll learn