Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the Christmas song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” on acoustic guitar by yourself (no jam track needed).
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I always look forward to your annual Christmas song Brian. This one is so beautiful in it’s simplicity.
Thank you!
Really good!
Great arraignment Brian! I thoroughly enjoy all your lessons. I always love the ones where you talk about your thought process when choosing your notes and chords.
Thank you for another beautiful Christmas classic Brian
The song analise with his chords. Love it. Do this for more songs Brian. Thx
Great arrangement on a classic Christmas Song! Love this one! I always look forward to this time of year to see what Christmas song you will do. Thank you for carrying on this tradition!!
A great lesson as always. Your analysis and your thought processes for how you construct the lesson for the song are invaluable. A wealth of learning. I look forward to each lesson. Have a great Christmas
Such a pretty melody. Great choice. Slow is good. (:
Brian, Great arrangement of this great song . Always look forward to these at this time of year. Thanks and keep up the good works. Dave
Happy Holidays. You are the best, Brian.
The very best after 22 years of searching quality , thank’s so much! Toniy from Austria
Very nice arrangement. Is that Martin a CEO model? Rosewood?
(Love CF Martin and Sons)
Martin CEO-7
Thank you for enlightening this for my next project. Great timing in many ways.
Love it✝️🎶
I love this one too Brian lovely arrangement, wishing you and your family a safe and merry Christmas 😊🇨🇦
Great lesson, beautiful arrangement of this classic Christmas song. I always wonder what Christmas song you will do each year. Wishing you and your family a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. Thanks Brian.
After a few weeks of videos working properly I find that the sign in to demonstrate I’m not a bot looping problem is back. I log out and back in but it still refuses me. I can’t remember the technical solution, nor when it was posted because it the problem seemed to go away without me consciously making any changes, but now it’s back. Can anybody advise please? I’m using a MacBook and I don’t wish to delete all my browsing history.
Try either 1) disabling VPN, or 2) use a browser other than Safari
Hi Brian, this is a lovely arrangement of a lovely melody. In the UK we use a different melody, so I shall have a go at following your method to come up with something similar. Wishing you and yours a happy and peaceful Christmas, Mike
Yes Mike, having finally got the video to play (see above – turned the VPN on) I was befuddled by the tune – not the one I was taught – didn’t recognise it at all! But very nice all the same – lovely arrangement Brian. Must go and listen to a US choral performance!
Great lesson. Love the chord/melody analysis on a familiar song. Brings the composition down to earth.
Thanks Brian
This is a very nice arrangement of this Christmas song. Some great light bulb moments seeing how you get the melody from the chords.
Brian, I love that you honor Christmas every year with a take on a classic Christmas song… while still teaching us no less! A great tradition and another great lesson. Thank you.
Lovely
Another great Christmas song, Thanks! I watched you play it and thought, this is gonna be hard! So many new chords to learn. But after going through it a couple times, it will be easier than I thought.
Thanks for a beautiful arrangement. Hope you and the family had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Your getting close to EP600.
Happy Thanksgiving to you. Thank you for the compelling lesson!
Brian,
Merry Christmas.
I have been a member for a few months but a “player” for decades. Your lessons have been a God send to me as I am enjoying them more than I could have imagined. I’ve read books in the past, learned to read and relearned to read staff notes, tried just using tabs, etc. I think I’ve learned more and have made more progress in the past few months than any time in my lifetime. Being in mediocre cover bands in the 60’s playing what I call bubble gum music I have always wanted to be better at playing more complex works. Maybe, just maybe, your instructional body of work will guide me to what I have been seeking. This year’s Christmas song is great.
SLW…
I’m with you slw. I’m having a similar experience, and every new thing I learn here on the site unlocks even more things. So awesome. Keep playing, brother.
Perfect and right on time. Thank you.
“Easy” for you to say! Merry Christmas to you and yours, Brian!
Hi Brian,
as an early intermediate player, this one is great. Was able to play it entirely through first try! Need to smooth it out a bit, but will be able to add it to my Christmas repertoire along with other of your arrangements. I love the over all simplicity of this, and yet it sounds rich and full! Really enjoyable to play. Thank you, John
This is a lovely piece. Thank you.
Brian, every week I look forward to the lessons, but every year starting in October I start looking forward to to your Christmas lesson. Thank you for continuing sharing your talent with us.
The 6th above the root as the13th is a nice touch!
Enjoy the Holidays Brian🎄and thank you for all your efforts!
Kind of fighting back a tear. That was truly wonderful. Thank you.
John H.
Brian… Merry Christmas to you and your family. Love your instructional videos and especially “O little town of Bethlehem “. I will begin practicing this first thing tomorrow morning!
Mike
Thanks Brian. This one is a bookend to your arrangement of What Child is this? Now, I’ve got 2 Christmas instrumentals I can play for Christmas. Now, that’s a great present! Thx.
Hi Brian,
Merry Christmas from Australia where you could say this is a hot lesson.
Tom
Merry Christmas Brian! Love the shirt!
Nice. Thanks. I’m having a great time with this and reviving earlier Christmas tunes from Active Melody.
Okay, so you pick out the melody and choose the key of C. But how do you know which underlying chords in the key of C to play (in this case C, F, G, E and Am) and when to play them?
i just worked it out by ear
Lovely arrangement Brian. Thank you, and thanks for all the past 596 lessons.
Very useful cord shape embellishments. Nice lesson! Thanks, Brian.
Thanks Brian – Am putting together a mini solo show for my wife on Xmas eve – Am finishing with a Christmas medley and this fits in PERFECTLY !! I’m hoping you’ll make 1000 !!! I know you have become so much a part of many of our weekly routines – Thank you !!
Beautiful
One of my favorites.
I hope Santa leaves a CEO 7 under the Christmas tree for me!
Merry Christmas Brian
This was an excellent help in picking out (playing) the melody notes while strumming cords. And ending the strum on the melody note of the cord being played. This will help me tremendously in arranging songs in the future.
Great arrangement, Brian. I too want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. I am looking forward to your 2025 lessons!
This is a beautiful Christmas song. Great ideas to find melodies within chords moving forward…. Thank you !!!!!! And Merry Christmas !!!!!
I bought a Martin CEO7 a couple of years ago after watching one of Brian’s lessons. So glad I did. It is a wonderful instrument.
I love the Xmas lesson yet again. Merry Christmas to all!
CEO-7 is a beautiful guitar. Maybe next Christmas.
Outstanding arrangement and so satisfying to play.
Love that G13 chord.
Desde Cádiz (España) Feliz Navidad a todos los amantes de la música
From Cadiz (Spain) Merry Christmas to all the music lovers
This is beautiful! Thanks Brian!
Yet another amazing style and technique to hear–coming out of my guitar! Maybe not quite as slick as your sound, Brian, but hey.
Is the C Cm7 C7 run your little Christmas song tricky bit?
Thanks for all your wonderful effort all year round.
Merry Christmas to you and to all my fellow students.
Tom
Love you man! You are making my life so much happier. I have always wanted to be the guitarist that you are making me. Can’t thank you enough! Playing this Christmas song at this level makes me feel like I received my Christmas gift early!
Hi Brian Thanks for the pretty arrangement of “Little Town of Bethlehem” and for the tips on arranging Christmas carols for guitar. As usual, you make things so easy. I’ll have to experiment with some arrangements of my own. I hope you enjoy the holidays.
Paul
As is with most of your lessons, the songs get easier to play with repeated effort. This is a truly delightful rendition, and I’m prepping to play it at my folk club’s Christmas party next week!
You are correct, this is a beautiful song. For me it came at a propitious time. I have really struggled with the song but it is improving my guitar playing immensely. I just can’t get the Fm chord. Any options? Love your teaching style. I am less than a year into guitar, but am excited about learning “O Little Town in Bethlehem “.
Hey Brian,
I’ve been watching your lessons for a while and really appreciate the way you teach. I just signed up for the lessons and really enjoying them. I really like the different voicing you use in “oh little town of Bethlehem” thank you
Merry Christmas! You are a fantastic instructor! I have learned a great deal through your melodies. Thank you! Michael