Silent Night: Cigar Box Guitar TAB for Beginners

In this lesson I’ll show you how a simple Christmas song can help us to learn to pick out a tune and play chords and I’ll also use it to explain a bit more about I, IV and V chords.

This is the first in a series of lessons because I’ve done 3 versions of this song- this one which is very easy for beginners, an intermediate one and a more advanced one.

The TAB can be downloaded at the bottom of the page:

This song could be played by many of you even if you are just starting out with playing either chords or melody on Cigar Box Guitar. You could even teach it to your children.

However when I say steady, you will see that the notes are actually played with a bit of a swing. The first 3 notes are not all equal, the 1st note has a dot after it and the 2nd note is actually a quaver. Hopefully learning this familiar song will help you to learn to read music a bit.

Chords Used In This Song

As this song arrangement is aimed at complete beginners, I will assume you want to use the easiest chord shapes possible. These are the one-finger power chords for G,C and D:

G C and D power chords for Cigar Box Guitar

These are the easiest way of playing the three chords:

The G chord is played with no strings fretted
The C chord is played with the strings fretted at the 5th fret
The D chord is played with the strings fretted at the 7th fret

You can play with a 1-finger barre, meaning you place your forefinger across all 3 strings just behind the metal wire of the fret. Try to get a clean sound. I have tips and photos in this article if you are struggling:

Power Chords On A Guitar With 3 Strings

I also like to tell players that you can use 3 fingers lined up across the strings if that is easier for you, especially if you have dexterity problems or find it hard to press hard enough with the 1-finger barre.

You can play this with or without a pick/plectrum. The choice is yours. If you want guidance on choosing a pick, read this article:

Which Pick Is Best For Beginner Cigar Box Guitarists?

As far as a strumming pattern goes, I think either a plucked bass note followed by 2 down strums works well.

If you’d rather just strum, then down, down, up, down works well, playing the up strum on the “and” of the 2nd beat.

More Advanced Chord Shapes You Could Use

However if you are already familiar with those chords and want to try something a little more involved, try these:

A First Look At The Music For Silent Night

I have written the TAB in G for a 3-stringed guitar in G D G tuning, but you could use this TAB to play in another key if your guitar is tuned differently. e.g. In D A D tuning, the song would be played in D; in E B E tuning, the song would be played in E

The time signature is 3/4 which means 3 crotchet beats per bar so you will need to keep that steady 3 beats per bar.

I think it’s easier if you use your first finger to play on the 2nd fret and your 3rd or 4th finger to play on the 4th ( and 5th) fret. This can be referred to as 2nd position- just meaning that your hand is based at the 2nd fret rather than the 1st.

You’ll notice that the 2nd 2 bars are the same as the 1st 2 making it very easy to play.

The 2nd Line Of Silent Night On 3- string Cigar Box Guitar

This line has a repeated rhythm for the 2 halves, but the notes are different. We are also introduced to a new chord. Make sure you can move smoothly from the open strings of the G chord up to the 7th fret. If you find that a difficult jump, you could try this version of the D power chord which is on the 2nd fret and much less of a jump:

The Third And Fourth Lines Of Silent Night On 3-Stringed Guitar

The 3rd and 4tyh lines are the same as each other, making that double the gain:

The C chord is introduced, so make sure you remember which fret this is on.

The Fifth Line Of Silent Night On Cigar Box Guitar

This includes our first stretch up to the 5th fret- you may find this quite a stretch to start with, but you will get used to it. Try not to move your whole hand up the fretboard as you will lose your positioning for the 2nd fret.

The Last Line Of Silent Night

You don’t have to finish with the repeated note on the open top string if you don’t want to. You could strum across all 3 open strings instead.

What This Song Has Taught Us

Well done if you’ve managed to get all the way through and put the lines together, whether you are playing the melody or the chords or both!

These are the skills that you have learned:

Three chords that are all in the same “chord family” which you can use in countless other songs
Playing in a 3/4 time which is a useful skill. It’s a more unusual time signature.
2 strumming patterns- one with a picked note and strums; the other with down and up strums
Stretching up to a higher fret without moving your hand too much

When you are confident playing this, you might like to try one of my other Christmas songs or a more tricky version of this song which will be coming soon.