Description

Christmas has always been my favourite time of year and especially for one reason – I love Christmas carols. I have arranged quite a few over the years, you can find them on Spotify etc and there are scores on the usual web sites, but since writing The Art Of Accompaniment On The Guitar which is aimed at students, from beginners onwards, I thought I should do some simple arrangements and here they are. I have used the chords you learn in Volume 1 of The Art Of Accompaniment, so you have Away In A Manger and Silent Night using only A, D and E, both using a simple right hand pattern from the book. Once In Royal David’s City uses an unusual cross string technique, only available to guitarists, to create a simple accompaniment where the bass notes outline the harmony but the chord voicing never changes. O Sanctissima is a Roman Catholic hymn in Latin to the Virgin Mary which has become associated with Christmas thanks to a German carol O du fröhliche (O, how joyful). It has a beautiful tune so I have given the original Latin, which is easy to sing, and the most used English translation of the German carol. Sing We The Virgin Mary is a mediaeval carol, Steeleye Span did a version of this in 2004. Here it is based around the chords of the key of G which you will find in The Art Of Accompaniment. Finally Quanno Nascette Ninno, written in 1744 by a bishop who became a saint. The original version was in Neapolitan Italian but Pope Pius IX created a version in Italian, Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle, which has become a popular Christmas carol in Italy. There is a famous English version with lyrics by Tom Springfield, brother of Dusty, which became a big hit under the title Bambino. This arrangement is based around the original Neapolitan song with a translation by me.