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Jingle Bells: guitar chords and tab for beginners

United States, 1857

Jingle Bells

by James Lord Pierpont

Tempo
120beats per minute
Count
4beats in each bar
Key
C majorthe home note
Level
1 of 3easiest
Bar 1:1 of 16Tap play to turn sound on
Key C major
0
Higher or lower, to match a voice.
Tempo120beats per minute right now

Level 1. Strum one chord per beat. Start here.

Chord names above, strum arrows below. Down arrow = strum down toward the floor, up arrow = back up.

01020304050607080910111213141516CCCCFCG7G7CCCCFCG7C↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑↓↓↑↑↓↑
Where your fingers go● press here · the number is which finger
EADGBeopen12345678910111232010

Hold this chord

C×321EADGBe

Numbers are fingers: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky.

Space bar plays and pauses. Left and right arrows jump a bar.

The chords

The chords in Jingle Bells

3 chords, all open shapes: C, F, G7. 4 beats in each bar, 120 beats per minute, in C major.

About the song

James Pierpont published it in 1857 as a sleigh-racing song, not a Christmas one. The chorus melody repeats the same note three times over and over, so your left hand barely moves. A great song for practising the strum.

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