Joy to the World Guitar Lesson

About this lesson

With our guitar tutorial on Joy to the World, you will learn these guitar skills: Chord changes, Open chords.

Joy to the World has been a popular Christmas Carol ever since the 1800’s, it’s a favorite of millions of people across the world.

Our guitar lesson on Joy to the World will teach you how to play 2 versions of the song:

1. A simple rhythm guitar picking pattern, so you can provide backing guitar to singers;
2. A detailed melody version, which will get you playing a nice base+melody cover as well.

Each version has its own merits and can be used on different occasions, so you’ll want to learn both.

We’ll start out by learning the chords to Joy to the World, as well as the chord progression. We’re learning the carol in the key of G, so our chords will be centered around chords you typically find in that key.

Once we’re finished with the chord progression, you’ll already be able to play along with a singer 🙂 But you won’t want to stop there, since the melody part of the lesson is just coming up. If you’re not that into singing, or just want to practice fingerpicking, you’ll have a chance to learn a rich melodic guitar cover of Joy to the World in the second section of the video tutorial. The chord progression will stay the same, but you’ll be plucking the melody line as well along the higher strings.

Joy to the World song details

The words to Joy to the World were first published in 1719 by the English Hymn writer Isaac Watts. Only the second half of Watts's lyrics are still used today. The music was published over a century later by Lowell Mason in 1839.

Skills you'll learn