Whilst this arrangement is not quite as straightforward as my beginner arrangement for Silent Night, you can play this with power chords rather than using the 7th and minor chord making it a little easier.
Chords Required For We Wish You A Merry Christmas
The chords you will need are:
You can see that I have given you the charts for the power chords as well as the A7, B7, D7 and Em. Feel free to substitute in those power chords if you find that easier, or even if you just prefer the sound.
Strumming Patterns
This piece is in 3/4 so the strumming patterns from Silent Night will work:
or
Melody For We Wish You A Merry Christmas
The melody uses very similar notes to Silent Night. In that piece I suggested that you used your first finger on the second fret and your third finger on the fourth fret and your pinky for the fifth fret.
In this song we also need to play on the seventh fret. In this case you will need to move your hand up the neck ( unless you can stretch your pinky up to the seventh fret). When you move your hand out of position for this note, make sure you move it back straight away afterward so that you don’t lose you place.
YouTube Lesson
I teach this piece in an upcoming YouTube Lesson where I teach all the chord shapes, strumming patterns and the melody: My YouTube Channel
PDF Download For We Wish You A Merry Christmas For Beginner CBG
Here is the download for you which is provided free for your own personal use:
If you would like more Christmas music arranged for Cigar Box Guitar, check out other titles in this series: