Twelve Days of Christmas by Misc. Tutorial/Lesson
Twelve Days of Christmas
G, Em, Am, D, A, C
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Video transcript
Hey everyone, my name is Ellen and today I'm going to be showing you guys how to play the 12 Days of Christmas on the guitar. And today I am featuring my Journey Instruments OF420 [music] guitar, which is one of the coolest guitars that I own because it is actually collapsible. You can fold it in half and take it with you anywhere. So if you're looking for a unique Christmas gift to give the guitars in [music] your life, you might have just found it right here. So if you like what you see, I will make sure to link more information about it down below. Here's a quick overview of everything I'll be covering in this tutorial today. And with that being said, let's go ahead and get started. All right, guys. So, you only need to know six different chord shapes to play through [music] this entire song, and they're all beginner friendly. So, we're going to start with our G major, which looks like this, and sounds like this. And by the way, if you don't know how to read these chord charts you're seeing on screen, I do cover how to do that, my free beginner series right here on YouTube. So, make sure to check that out right here. The next chord shape is our E minor. >> [music] >> After that is our A minor. Next is our D major. [music] After that is our A major. And the last chord you need to know is our C major. And those are the six chords you need to know to play through this song. So go ahead and pause the video and take as much time as you need to really memorize these chord shapes as well as practice transitioning back and forth between them because it'll make learning the rest of the song so much easier for you. And if this is a skill you're currently struggling with, I do have a practice with me chord transition series right here on my YouTube channel. So I'll link that in the corner for those of you who need it. But once you have these chords under your belt, then we can go ahead and talk about the strumming that I would suggest for this song. So, if you're brand new to playing guitar or you're somebody who struggles with playing guitar and singing at the same time, the first thing I would suggest doing is to bring up the song and go ahead and go through the entire thing with just a single downstrum on each chord change as you sing through the song. Not only is this a great first step for putting singing and playing guitar together at the same time, but it'll also show you things like what word or what syllable you're on whenever you're changing chords. Not to mention, we also do use the single downstrum a lot throughout this song. So, anywhere you see these little starred chords, that's where I would suggest doing just a single downstrum. So, a good example of that is right here at the beginning. So, let's go ahead and go through it. We're going to start on our G chord. On the first [music] day of Christmas, my dream [singing] came to be a partridge in a pear tree. All right, so just from this really quick example, you can already see how quickly we are going to be needing to change those chord shapes. So, make sure you have those chords memorized and under your belt before you move on. Um, but once you get used to where those chords are going to be transitioning, then we can go ahead and add to this to create more of a full strumming pattern that you can use for this song. All right, guys. So, for strumming for this song, it is going to be a little bit more complicated just because we are going to be changing time signatures throughout the song. Um, but don't worry, I'm going to break down each part for you. Let's go ahead and start with the basic, easiest strumming pattern, which you can see on screen here. We're going to be counting this in an eighth note count. So, it's going to sound like this. We have 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and down up down up down up. All right. And where we're going to use this strumming pattern is right at the beginning of every little section of this song. What I'm going to do here is I'm going to add a vertical line right in the middle. And what this represents is where we're going to change chords. So whenever we use this strumming pattern, we are actually going to be playing two different chords within one measure. So for example, on the very first line, we have our G chord on the first day of Christmas. Okay? So we're going from our G to our E minor. So what I want you to do is play your G chord for the left half, the first down, down, up. Then you're going to quickly switch to your E minor chord. Finish it out. Down, down, up. All right. So on the guide there, if you see these little hash marks next to these chord shapes, that just represents that we're going to split this measure in half. So that's when I want you to use this strumming pattern. Okay? So on our G to our E minor, we have down, [singing] down, up, down, down, up. Then on the next two chords, you can see these little starred notes. So on A minor, we have single downstrum. D single downstrum. And then G has another hash mark. So we have down, [music] down, up. All right. So that first line there goes G down [singing] down down up [music] down down up down down [singing] down up. All right. And that's going to be how you're going to play that first line throughout the entire song. Okay. On the first day. [music] All right. And then on a partridge in a pair tree. You can see all these starred notes. So they're all going to be single downstrums. We have [snorts] G, [singing] E minor, A minor, [music] D, and then G. Okay. A partridge [singing] in [music] a pear tree. Now, on these chords that don't have any markings, so so far we've seen the hash marks and we've seen the starred notes. Whenever I have just a plain chord, that's when I want you to use a full strumming pattern. So, let me go ahead and change the pattern here. As you can see, it's super similar. We're still in an eighth note count. It's going to sound like this. We have 1 and 2 and 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and four and down up up down up down up down up. All right, this is the pattern I want you to use whenever we're holding a chord for a full measure. So, for example, this last G chord, you would just play the whole pattern through on G. Down, [singing and music] down, up, up, down, up. All right. So, back at the partridge in a pair tree line, we've got single downstrum [music] and then a full pattern. All right. So, let's go ahead and go through that first section all together cuz we're going to repeat that throughout the song. On the first day of Christmas, [music] my true love gave to me a partridge [singing] in a pear tree. >> All right. So, we're mixing a lot of different strumming uh rhythms in this song, but once you get used to it, like you like I said, we're going to repeat it throughout. So, now let's go to the next little section on the second day of Christmas. Things are going to change just a little bit here. Okay, so again, we have our split measure. G E minor single single [music and singing] G. Now we have our D chord. This is not marked. So, we're doing our full strumming pattern. Down up down up. And then our last line, G [singing and music] E minor, A minor, D G. All right. On the second [singing and music] day of Christmas, my dream gave to me two turtle doves [singing and music] and a partridge in a pear tree. [music] All right, so just keep an eye out for all of the markings. Again, I do have all of this marked on my guide that's on my Patreon page, which you can download right now for free. So, make sure to print that out so it's a little bit easier to follow along. Let's go ahead and go to the third day of Christmas. From this point on in the song, we do have a third strumming pattern. So, let me go ahead and break that down. So, the first line is the same as we've been doing. We've got split, split, [music and singing] single, single, split on three French hens. This is the first time we're seeing a time change in this song. Okay? So, we're going from 44 time to 34 time only for this line. So, whenever you're seeing a three four time signature, I'm going to mark those chords with that little three. And what that means is I want you to do the full strumming pattern, but we're going to cut it off early. Okay? So, instead of down, down, up, up, down, up, we're just doing three beats. So, we have down up. All right? So, we're ignoring that last down up fourth beat. And that's what I want you to use whenever you're doing your chords marked with the three. So, on three French hens, we have our D chord. down, down, [singing and music] up, up, and you're going to go straight into the next line, which is a full measure. Down, down, up, up, down, up. All right, it'll make a lot more sense when you put the singing in with it. So, let's go ahead and do that. On the third [music] day of Christmas, my dream to me, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge [singing and music] in a pear tree. All right. So, it can be a little tricky rhythm-wise to get that right, but just remember to have all of this marked. So, anytime you see a chord with a little three in the corner, that just means we're going to be doing our down up pattern. Okay. So, now let's go ahead and fast forward to the fifth day of Christmas because again, things are going to change here. The first line is the same. We've got G, E minor, [singing and music] A minor, D, G. Here on Five Golden Rings, we're going to have a different melody line here. So, we're going G, single downstrum, single [music] downstrum [singing] on A, single downstrum on D. Okay. Five [singing] golden [music] rings. Then we're going to go back into the 3 four time. So, the little threes in the corners and the chords are going to change here. So, we're starting on our G. We have down, down, [music] up, up to C, [singing] down, down, up, up to D. [music] Full pattern. down, down, [singing] up, up, down, up. All right. [music] And then [music] All right. So, this is the last time things are going to change, I promise. So, let's go ahead and do the fifth day. On the fifth [music] day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five [singing] golden rings, [music] four calling birds, gave me two wings, and [singing] a partridge in a pair. [music] All right. So, from this day on, sixth day through the end, we're just going to be seeing a mix and match of the split strum patterns, the single strum patterns, and those three four time strum patterns. So, let's just go over the sixth day as an example, and then from there, you'll be able to play through the whole song. Okay? On the sixth [music] day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. Six be [singing and music] five golden rings. Four calling birds [singing and music] and a partridge in a pear tree. All right. [music] So, I promise from this point on to the song, you can play the rest. It's all going to be a mixture of all the different strum patterns that I've taught in this section. All right, guys. So, I know that was a lot of information, especially if you're a beginner, that might be a little confusing. So, just make sure to pause the video and take as much time as you need to really look over all of these strumming rhythms and understand where to play them and what my little symbols and everything on my guide mean in order to play in the correct time and everything like that. Um, but once you have this under your belt, we can go ahead and put everything we've learned in this tutorial together to play through the song. On the first [music] day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in [singing and music] a pear tree. On the second day of Christmas, my true [music] love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. Happy birthday. Christmas to me. Three, two, [singing] and a partridge in a pear tree. On the fourth day, Christmas [music] to me. Four calling birds, three French, two turtle ducks, and a partridge in a pure. [music] On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love to me, five [singing] golden rings, four birds, three, two, [music] and a partridge [singing] in a tree. On the sixth [music] day of Christmas, my true love came to me. Six piece away. Five [singing] golden rings. Four gold. [music] Three. Two. And a partridge and a tree. On the [music] seventh day of seven, five [music] golden [singing] rings. Four calling. Three [music] part [singing] eight came to me eight million seven golden [singing] rings four and a partridge and a merry >> [music] >> On the night is my dream to be nine dancing eight. Seven songs six [music] golden [singing] rings. Your dream partridge 10 [music and singing] golden [singing] rings [music] four Baby [singing] 10 golden [singing] rings [music] four golden and a partridge in [singing] a [music] tree. 12 Six [music] Easter five golden [singing] rings, four [music] colors, three and a partridge [singing and music] in a pear >> [bell]