White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin in 1940, is one of the most popular Christmas songs. The title track of the featured movie “Holiday Inn”, starring Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby, has become a standard tune for Christmas. In this lesson, you will learn how to play a chord melody arrangement of this great song.
In this arrangement, I was searching for a balance between melody, guitar chords, and walking bass notes.
It’s a nice study to learn how a melody line sits in the chords without the chords obscuring the melody too much.
Adding walking bass lines here and there opens up a simple way to accompany yourself while playing a melody.
What I noticed while I was working on this arrangement is the importance of the second finger in these chord forms. It works as a guide finger to move the chords up and down the neck.
Enjoy and have fun with this White Christmas lesson, and try this system on other jazz tunes you like.
Video & Guitar Tabs
Audio
White Christmas Guitar Pro File
Hey, I love this arrangement – fyi the 2nd bar Dm chord is voiced differently between the chord box on top and the tab underneath.
Nice Dirk. Thanx so much.
Beautiful Dirk thanks!
Learned this last year… excellent composition… had to work at it for a while to get it to flow nicely… Love the lessons… Thank You.
Vielen Dank für dieses wunderschöne Weihnachtslied, noch kämpfe ich mit meinen Fingern bei diesem Arrangement. Mit Jazz Guitar habe ich ja erst angefangen, dafür habe ich mir das Jazz Bundle von Ihnen gekauft. Und ich bereue es keine Sekunde im Gegenteil ich hätte dies schon sehr viel früher machen sollen.
Ich wünsche Ihnen und allen anderen für das Jahr 2023 viel Glück Erfolg und natürlich auch das wichtigste Gesundheit.
Thank you for sharing this lovely arrangement. Sounds great on my Taylor nylon also. Merry Christmas and a pleasant New Year!
Thank you for sharing this excellent arrangement! I like this Christmas song and it sounds great on my Taylor nylon. I wish you a pleasant Christmas Holiday season and a Happy New Year!
I really love these lessons. Thanks.
Is it possible to get a Band In A Box file for this lesson?
hallo excuse me but i am new on Jazz course and I have a question:
CMAJ7 with Root on A but it miss the 5° ?
1°on A , 3° on D , 7° on G, 3° on B.
where is th 5°?
Hi Pietro, the root and the 5th are often omitted in jazz voicings, you don’t have to play every chord note in your voicings.
Thanks vero much happy christmas holiday
Great…
Thank you, and a merry Christmas Dirk to you and your kin folk!
This is a great balance between chords and melody! Nice one.
my computer doesn’t recognize the guitar pro file, I have Guitar Pro on my computer but it doesn’t recognize (gp file)
Sorry my version of Guitar Pro is not advanced enough, it needs to be at least a Guitar pro 7, it’s my problem!
Tim
Tuxguitar is free. It will open gp files and will also save to an earlier version ie, gp5 or gp6
This is great, thanks! At my level it’s a good challenge. Shifted bars 23-28 onto A and D string roots, makes it a bit more manageable\compact, if a little brighter, which not all will prefer. Took the beginning of bar 31 lower too, to save going from the 3rd fret to 12th. Again, perhaps the original is a tonal choice, which I understand, but I’ve not got your chops so trying to make it a slightly simpler fingering! Thanks again!
Merci beaucoup & bonne fêtes à venir !
Nicolas
Gracias por esta aportación, es magnífica, saludos
Thank you, Dirk, for the arrangement. The demo is just fabulous.
Cheers,
Keith
Very nice arrangement, thank you!
All the best!
Formidable!! Muchas gracias maestro.
wow! Thank you~
Wonderfull thank you so much
Happy holidays
Hello! Thanks for providing this great arrangement, however I do have a question. At the second measure, it appears the chord box does not match the tab. The only difference is the chord box (for Dm7) shows 7th fret on the D string but the tab shows 3rd fret on the D string. The chord box has all the notes of the Dm7, whereas the tab looks like its a Dm7 without the A note. I noticed the person in the video is playing what’s provided in the tab, so I’m guessing that is correct…but still confused as to why the chord box does not match the tab. Anyway, I’m fairly new to guitar, so not sure if this is mistake…or more likely I’m missing something. Thanks again!
After doing some more research…I think I may have figured it out….shell voicings!
Thanks for sending this! Happy Holidays!
Very Tasty, Thank You…! B-)
Gostei muito desse arranjo. obrigado!
Thanks, Jo (& Dirk)! Having lots of fun with this. Happy Holidays to everyone.
Awesome!
Thank you for your continued, generous contributions.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
This is awesome. I don’t See the PDF though. Just the Guitar Pro file?
Hi Wayne, use the “PDF & Print” button at the bottom of the lesson.
This is a fantastic lil jam
bellissima grazie e buon natale.
This is brilliant, thank you and merry Christmas!
Yippee! I was just looking for a nice, jazzy arrangement of White Christmas, and this hits my inbox. It will no doubt stretch my playing ability, but that’s a good thing!
Got it, Dirk. Many thanks, and Merry Christmas!
Awesome, very cool Dirk, thank you, and a very Merry Christmas.
Thanks Rolf and merry Christmas to you as well!
anybody figure out a way to print the arrangement or am I missing something. It is free? is it not? What is this business about guitar pro? I have the program and I have purchased from dirk in the past. What am I missing
Hi John, click the “PDF and Print” button at the bottom of the lesson. The Guitar Pro file is optional, many people use it as a guitar practice aid.
Thanks for this, great season song played with pleasure. Wishing you and all a Merry Christmas.
Thanks Guys. Worked for me. Maybe I can get in the mood.
Thank you for this really nice jazzy arrangement. Walking bass is very cool. I hope I will get it under my fingers until 24th of December (this year).
😉 I would like to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (hopefully with more social contacts)!
Happy holidays to you as well, Tadeusz!
love it!