We Wish You A Merry Christmas — Chords, Tab & Sheet Music

▶ Learn it in the Melody Trainer See every note of We Wish You A Merry Christmas on your banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, ukulele or piano — then play along: the music listens and waits for you. Open We Wish You A Merry Christmas →

About We Wish You A Merry Christmas

We Wish You A Merry Christmas is a carol in G major — beginner-friendly, running from D to d and staying in first position on banjo, mandolin and fiddle.

Type: Carol, each usually played twice
Key: G major · 3/4
Range: D to d · first position
Notes used: C D E F♯ G A B
Level: Beginner-friendly

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — sheet music

G major · 3/4

The notes

Letter names, bar by bar · capitals up to C in the third space, lower case from the D on the 4th line

D | G G A G F♯ | E E E | A A B A G F♯ D D | B B C B A | G E D D | E A F♯ G D | G D | G G G | F♯ F♯ G F♯ E | D D | B B C B A | d D D D E A F♯ | G

▶ Play along in the Melody Trainer

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — tab

Tenor banjo · mandolin · fiddle · guitar · ukulele — tap one to open it

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — Tenor banjo tab

G D A E (Irish tuning) · open position

E|---|-----------|-------|-----------|
A|---|-----0-----|-------|-0-0-2-0---|
D|-0-|-5-5---5-4-|-2-2-2-|---------5-|
G|---|-----------|-------|-----------|

E|-------|-----------|---------|-------|
A|-------|-2-2-3-2-0-|---------|---0---|
D|-4-0-0-|-----------|-5-2-0-0-|-2---4-|
G|-------|-----------|---------|-------|

E|-----|-----|-------|-----|
A|-----|-----|-------|-----|
D|-5-0-|-5-0-|-5-5-5-|-4-4-|
G|-----|-----|-------|-----|

E|-------|-----|-----------|---------|
A|-------|-----|-2-2-3-2-0-|-5-------|
D|-5-4-2-|-0-0-|-----------|---0-0-0-|
G|-------|-----|-----------|---------|

E|-------|---|
A|---0---|---|
D|-2---4-|-5-|
G|-------|---|

Numbers are frets. Tenor banjo sounds an octave below the written notes.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — Mandolin tab

G D A E · open position

E|---|-----------|-------|-----------|
A|---|-----0-----|-------|-0-0-2-0---|
D|-0-|-5-5---5-4-|-2-2-2-|---------5-|
G|---|-----------|-------|-----------|

E|-------|-----------|---------|-------|
A|-------|-2-2-3-2-0-|---------|---0---|
D|-4-0-0-|-----------|-5-2-0-0-|-2---4-|
G|-------|-----------|---------|-------|

E|-----|-----|-------|-----|
A|-----|-----|-------|-----|
D|-5-0-|-5-0-|-5-5-5-|-4-4-|
G|-----|-----|-------|-----|

E|-------|-----|-----------|---------|
A|-------|-----|-2-2-3-2-0-|-5-------|
D|-5-4-2-|-0-0-|-----------|---0-0-0-|
G|-------|-----|-----------|---------|

E|-------|---|
A|---0---|---|
D|-2---4-|-5-|
G|-------|---|

Numbers are frets. Same strings as the fiddle, so the same notes fall in the same places.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — fiddle fingering

G D A E · first position — finger numbers

E|---|-----------|-------|-----------|
A|---|-----0-----|-------|-0-0-1-0---|
D|-0-|-3-3---3-2-|-1-1-1-|---------3-|
G|---|-----------|-------|-----------|

E|-------|------------|---------|-------|
A|-------|-1-1-L2-1-0-|---------|---0---|
D|-2-0-0-|------------|-3-1-0-0-|-1---2-|
G|-------|------------|---------|-------|

E|-----|-----|-------|-----|
A|-----|-----|-------|-----|
D|-3-0-|-3-0-|-3-3-3-|-2-2-|
G|-----|-----|-------|-----|

E|-------|-----|------------|---------|
A|-------|-----|-1-1-L2-1-0-|-3-------|
D|-3-2-1-|-0-0-|------------|---0-0-0-|
G|-------|-----|------------|---------|

E|-------|---|
A|---0---|---|
D|-1---2-|-3-|
G|-------|---|

0 = open string · 1–4 = finger · L = low (half step back), H = high.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — Guitar tab

E A D G B E · open position

e|---|-----------|-------|-----------|
B|---|-----------|-------|-----0-----|
G|---|-0-0-2-0---|-------|-2-2---2-0-|
D|-0-|---------4-|-2-2-2-|-----------|
A|---|-----------|-------|-----------|
E|---|-----------|-------|-----------|

e|-------|-----------|---------|-------|
B|-------|-0-0-1-0---|---------|-------|
G|-------|---------2-|-0-------|---2---|
D|-4-0-0-|-----------|---2-0-0-|-2---4-|
A|-------|-----------|---------|-------|
E|-------|-----------|---------|-------|

e|-----|-----|-------|-----|
B|-----|-----|-------|-----|
G|-0---|-0---|-0-0-0-|-----|
D|---0-|---0-|-------|-4-4-|
A|-----|-----|-------|-----|
E|-----|-----|-------|-----|

e|-------|-----|-----------|---------|
B|-------|-----|-0-0-1-0---|-3-------|
G|-0-----|-----|---------2-|---------|
D|---4-2-|-0-0-|-----------|---0-0-0-|
A|-------|-----|-----------|---------|
E|-------|-----|-----------|---------|

e|-------|---|
B|-------|---|
G|---2---|-0-|
D|-2---4-|---|
A|-------|---|
E|-------|---|

Numbers are frets; the bottom line is the low E string.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — Ukulele tab

G C E A (high G) · open position

A|---|-----0-----|-------|-0-0-2-0---|
E|---|---------2-|-0-0-0-|-----------|
C|-2-|-----------|-------|-----------|
G|---|-0-0---0---|-------|---------0-|

A|-------|-2-2-3-2-0-|---------|---0---|
E|-2-----|-----------|---0-----|-0---2-|
C|---2-2-|-----------|-----2-2-|-------|
G|-------|-----------|-0-------|-------|

A|-----|-----|-------|-----|
E|-----|-----|-------|-2-2-|
C|---2-|---2-|-------|-----|
G|-0---|-0---|-0-0-0-|-----|

A|-------|-----|-2-2-3-2-0-|-5-------|
E|---2-0-|-----|-----------|---------|
C|-------|-2-2-|-----------|---2-2-2-|
G|-0-----|-----|-----------|---------|

A|---0---|---|
E|-0---2-|---|
C|-------|---|
G|-------|-0-|

Numbers are frets; the top line is the A string, the bottom line the high G.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas chords

G major · 15 chords: G, C, E7/B, A7, D, D7/C, B7, Em, E7, Am, D7, Bm, Am7, D/A, Em7

pickup

C E7/B

D D7/C

Em E7

Am D7

Am7 D/A A7

D D7/C

Em7 E7

Am D7

One box per bar, in the same order as the sheet music. A faded chord carries on from the bar before. A slash chord like E7/B means play E7 with B as the lowest note.

Guitar chords for We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Strings E A D G B E, low to high · o = open string, × = don't play it

Ukulele chords for We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Strings G C E A, low to high · o = open string, × = don't play it

Tenor banjo & mandolin chords for We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Strings G D A E, low to high · o = open string, × = don't play it

More carols and tunes like it

Jingle Bells God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen O Little Town Of Bethlehem Silent Night Deck The Halls Joy To The World O Tannenbaum Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

This melody comes from The Public Domain Song Anthology (David Berger & Chuck Israels), released CC0. The song is in the public domain. Tabs and letter names worked out by The Music Arcade.