Play along

Silent Night: guitar chords and tab for beginners

Austria, 1818

Silent Night

by Franz Xaver Gruber

Tempo
76beats per minute
Count
3beats in each bar
Key
G majorthe home note
Level
1 of 3easiest
Bar 1:1 of 12Tap play to turn sound on
Key G major
0
Higher or lower, to match a voice.
Tempo76beats 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.

010203040506070809101112GGD7GCGCGD7GGD7G↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑↓↓↑↓↑
Where your fingers go● press here · the number is which finger
EADGBeopen123456789101112210003

Hold this chord

G213EADGBe

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 Silent Night

3 chords, all open shapes: G, D7, C. 3 beats in each bar, 76 beats per minute, in G major.

About the song

Written for Christmas Eve 1818 in a village church in Austria, and first sung with a guitar because the organ was broken. Three chords, G, C and D7, and a swaying rhythm: count it in two, each beat a gentle rock.

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