Song 1 - O Christmas Tree

Welcome to this Christmas song series where we're checking out in this video how to play O Christmas Tree. With the arrangement that I've got here, this is basically the easiest Christmas song that we can go for. It just uses two chords, the A major and the E major chords. Let me give you a quick demonstration so that you know what we're going for and be sure to download the free e-book that's included with this course. Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree. How lovely are your branches, or Christmas tree. Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches. So that's what we're going for in this video. I'll be sure to have a full play along at the end of this video. But let's have a look at those two chords first of all. So we have the E major chord. And the A major chord, and the A major, I encourage you to have a go at playing it in this fashion, though some people will be more familiar and be more comfortable using this A major chord. And this can be better for people with bigger fingers who struggle to kind of get their fingers all in at the uh second fret like this. So whichever. Option you're most comfortable with, you go for that one. But I just want you to have a quick warm up now with your guitar, so make sure you have your guitar with you. Just between that E and A major. And then we're going to be looking at the structure and uh having a play along of this beautiful song. So each chord written on the chord sheet that's available with this video uh represents one bar of that chord. But each bar in this case is made up of 3 beats, not 4. We can think of this as 3/4 time or waltz time, and that's the way that I've arranged this song, so we're doing 3 strums per bar or per chord written. So here's our A major chord and we have two bars of that A chord before the change of chord. So we'd have 123123. And then change to E 123. And then back to the A 123. Let's have a go at that first line together, and the best way to go about this is just to try and feel the pulse of that 3 beats but only be really paying attention to the first one and paying attention to how many you've done. So num a number of bars is what we're thinking about with these simple chord progressions. So let's have a go at this together, ready from that ear chord, join in with me if you can. In 12. Oh, Christmas tree, oh, that's the 2nd bar, then to E major. E major now, how lovely. Ah. And then back to the A major chord. It's exactly the same as that again, so let's go for that again. 1, 20 Christmas tree. Oh, Christmas tree. How lovely are your branches. Again, oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree. How lovely are your branches. We have exactly the same as that again on line 4, there's just line 3 that is different. And we move to the E major chord earlier and for longer. It's 1 bar of the A chord, 2 bars of the E chord, and 1 bar of the A chord. Glance at your chord sheet uh just to be aware of that as a prompt. But let's make sure we've got good changes in time and we want to be going for the 3rd line. The green when. the days are bright. They're green when winter snow is white. That's the 3rd line. So a little bit different, so we've gotta watch out for that change. Let's go for that 3rd line again and then finish it with the 4th line so we're aware of that slight change. So from line 3, they're green when summer days are bright. 12 they green when sun. On the days are bright. They're green when winter snow is white. Oh Christmas tree, so this is the final line, and then Echod, how lovely are your branches. And that gets us through all of verse one, and each verse is exactly the same chord progression wise, it's that third line that is different. And this is the reason I've got the chords written out per bar. You want to be paying attention to the chords and the bars, how many there are, and just using the lyrics as a prompt to know where you are. It's quite dangerous at this point actually to just follow which chord happens on which word because we forget about the rhythm. And this right hand throughout, ideally what we're looking for is it just to be ticking away like this. Cause that's the underlying rhythm. And we'll be covering this again in the other videos and and giving you some help with that where needed. But for this one, let's go for all of verse one and then we'll do verse 2 and 3 as a playthrough. And you join in where you can, but also watch for. How we're making these changes and feel free to pause this video just to have a little practise and uh give your fingers a little bit of a rest but then practise just changing chords between the E and the A if you're still needing help with that. You do what you need to do to get the most from this video. Join in with me if you can in 12. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, E major, how lovely ah back to A. Third line, they're green when summer Echo days are bright. They're green when when back to the 8 of snow is white. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches. Let's go for verse 2 and 3 now, but this might not all fall together at once. It might take a few attempts, you might need to practise on your own a little bit and then go for the play alongs. Again, you use whatever's working best for you, double down on what's working. And let's work towards being able to play this full song and let's look at the rest of it now. So join in if you can. 120 Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree. Of all the trees most lovely, oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely, each year you bring to me delight gleaming in the Christmas night. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree. Of all the trees, most lovely, verse 3120 Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your leaves will teach me also, oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your leaves will teach me also that hope and love. Love and faithfulness are precious things I can possess. 00, your lips will teach me. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches, Oh Christmas tree. Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches. They're green when summer days are bright. They're green when winter snow is white. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees, most lovely, oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely. Each year you bring to me delight gleaming in the Christmas night. O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, of all the trees, most lovely. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your leaves will teach me also, Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your leaves will teach me also that hope and love. Love and faithfulness are precious things I can possess. 00, your lips will teach me.