Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Jazz Guitar Lessons

This holiday lesson is a solo arrangement of the classic “ Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

Just a few items to note to help you play through this smoothly. The most important aspect is to get the bottom of the chords

to ring through the melody notes. For the ease of reading the tab and notation I didn’t tie the bottom of the chords to each individual melody note.

For example, in the first measure you have a C chord and the first melody note is a C followed by an E. The C triad under those notes should ring through both of them.

For the sake of simplicity, most of the single notes are played with a chord ringing under them. This is can be left up to the individual, in as far as how much you

wish to adhere to that concept. Sometimes, a single note can be grabbed easier, particularly when the melody jumps up or down an octave or there is a wide interval.

There needn’t be a chord under every single melody note in a solo guitar arrangement, but you will hear some players do that from time to time. That requires

a massive amount of knowledge in regard to chord voicings, harmonization techniques, bass lines, etc…

This arrangement can be played in time or rubato, which means free time or out of tempo. The chord names above each measure reflect the basic harmony of the tune,

and are not always a literal spelling of what’s happening in that specific measure. For example, in measure 10 the chord is Dm but the melody is just played in 3rds diatonic to the key of C or D dorian.

Sometimes, there could just be a bass note under the melody note for variety’s sake. The wonderful thing about solo guitar is the freedom to arrange it as you see fit. The masters

improvise these techniques on the spot ! I have utilized some substitutions, slash chords, spread triads, drop 2 & 3’s and even basic triads throughout the piece.

My hope is that this arrangement will be enjoyable to play and provide some ideas for your own solo arrangements.

I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season !