I’ve never done well with Christmas carols. Christmas always seems to sneak up on me, so when the season comes around, I find myself completely unprepared to play any carols once I’m home with the family, or at least I fumble through them. So, now is the time to start getting ready.
Here are the chords and lyrics for “Jingle Bells” on the ukulele (scroll down farther for the chords). First, let’s take a look at what chords are used in this song.
Chords Used in “Jingle Bells”
G major
C major
D7
G7
A7
“Jingle Bells” Chords
G
Dashing through the snow,
C
in a one-horse open sleigh,
D7
O’er the fields we go,
G
laughing all the way
G
Bells on bobtails ring,
C
making spirits bright
D7
What fun it is to ride and sing
G
a sleighing song tonight, oh
G
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
G7
jingle all the way
C
G
Oh what fun it is to ride
A7
D7
in a one-horse open sleigh, hey
G
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
G7
jingle all the way
C
G
Oh what fun it is to ride
D7
G
in a one-horse open sleigh
A day or two ago,
I thought I’d take a ride,
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side;
The horse was lean and lank;
Misfortune seemed his lot;
He got into a drifted bank,
And we, we got upsot.
A day or two ago,
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there
I sprawling lie,
But quickly drove away.
Now the ground is white
Go it while you’re young,
Take the girls tonight
And sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bob-tailed bay
Two-forty as his speed
Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack! you’ll take the lead.
I really love the way you teach!! 🙂 Thanks so much!!
For sure! I’m glad it’s helpful! 🙂
I CANT PLAY THIS BUT HOW DO YOU STRUM????????//
Here is a video lesson on some of the basics and foundations of strumming on the ukulele. See if that helps get you going in the right direction. 🙂
i have the strumming pattern down, but i keep pausing when I switch and i feel like it takes me forever. How can I train my self to go faster when switching notes? Also when I play certain chords the sound doesn’t come out as well am I pushing my fingers to hard or am I not strumming hard enough? Help!
Hey Jess, great questions! The best thing to do is to continue spending time focusing on just practicing switching your chord fingerings without strumming. With some consistent practice and some patience, you’ll notice those chord changes to get easier. Your fingers need time to build up muscle memory. Eventually, it will feel automatic.
I like to practice my chord fingerings by multi-tasking. For example, while I’m watching a movie or something, I might have my ukulele in hand just practicing my chord fingerings. It’s kind of boring just practicing these chords by themselves, so I try to do it while I’m doing something else.
Certain chords might not be ringing out if you’re not pressing down hard enough with your fretting hand. Whenever I notice a chord not ringing out completely clear, I’ll stop and just pluck each individual string of the chord to see what string is not ringing out clearly. Then, I can see if I can adjust my finger position to a position that allows the chords to ring out clearly.
Ok thank you so much! It’s really helping. 😀 I’m pressing down hard and I pluck each string to make sure, but theres like this little squeak or high pitched noise after i strum. It mostly happens with the G major string. It’s kinda hard to explain. Am I doing something wrong or is it my ukulele?
Hmmm. It’s hard to tell. I’m going to take a guess and say it might be your ukulele. Is it kind of like a buzz sound?
Yea kinda like that! Like high and buzzy. haha. 🙂
Ha, right on. It’s quite possible it’s your ukulele’s fault. Depending on the ukulele you have sometimes your strings will got caught on other frets for certain chords. There’s not a lot you can do about this unless you had a luthier “set” your ukulele, but if you have a more budget ukulele, it’s probably not worth all that hassle. 🙂
Ok thank you so much! 😀
I rub some bar soap where the strings are attached to the bridge, I also rub a lead pencil where the strings are on the nut, this acts a graphite and lubrication. Its surprising how often this process fixes the buzz. Good luck/ Bruce
Hey! This is helpful! Thanks for the chords. 🙂 I just got my ukelele recently and I’m learning how to play songs. Christmas is near and this would be helpful. 😀
So what exactly is the strumming pattern????? Is it down down up up down or something else???
Hey Shorty, I like use a down, down up, down up, down up strumming pattern for this song.
Hello Brett (from England),
I’m 70 and have just taken up the ukulele and can I say you are an inspiration! Your lessons, hits and tips are invaluable. As for the Christmas songs and finger picking, they are a knockout.
Thanks a million (+)!
David
Thanks, David!
i am 11 years old and my sister will not teach me how to play so can you teach me
Check out my free ukulele lesson book, Olivia:
http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-lesson-book/
she says that i am a tone deft toad
That’s not very nice! You can definitely learn to play the ukulele. I learn when I was just six. Don’t give up!
HOw can I tune my ukulelee the same as yours so it doesn’t sound bad when I try to play with you. I’m little so make it easy, please.
This is not my email so don’t put it on the page please
Hi Madeline, for ukulele tuning, go here: http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-tuner/
Hi Brett, thanks for your guides, I keep on practicing the strumming and hope will be progressing. Finger picking using the 3 fingers is the other problem to be familiar with but I keep on learning it. I also want to learn about how to make an interesting ukulele melody-intro before start singing a song, hope you are okay to let know the best intro. I really appreciate the step by step methods you teach, thank you. GBU. Merry X-Mas & Happy New Year
Hi Brett – your lessons are a God send! You can’t imagine how helpful they are to beginners like me.
I know you are not working with a mixer but when you play and sign together your voice drowns out the UKe and it’s hard to clearly hear your strumming and picking. Any way to compensate for that?
Merry Christmas!
Hi Brett,
Do you have standard tuning on your uke in the video or is it different as mine sounds very different to yours.
Thanks
Yay, I can play jingle bells now! I was wondering if you could make a tutorial for “Baby, it’s Cold Outside”. I can’t find a tutorial any where on the interent for this song and since you have the best ukulele website there is, I thought you might give it a go.
I would also like a tutuorial for Baby, it’s Cold Outside! I have been looking everyone and haven’t been able to find one 🙂
You have a nice voice, Brett 🙂
Thanks, Hollie!
Brett..just bought a Vintage Spprano Uke and working my way through your lessons and have bought your ‘strumming tricks’….when i watch your videos, I note your music is ‘deeper’ than that produced on my soprano. Are you using a bass uke ?
Hi Henry, welcome! For this song, my tenor ukulele was tuned to low G tuning, which you can learn more about here.
Can you do the last verses please?
Hey Brett. Any chance you can do a quick video teaching where your fingers are for each pluck on silent night? I have mastered the tips and tricks but I don’t know how to read music and just get confused when I try to follow the video… let me know what you think; I would love to play this for my family on Christmas
Hi Brandon, I want to strongly encourage you to read my lesson on how to read ukulele tabs, which is an easy way to read ukulele music and play songs:
http://www.ukuleletricks.com/how-to-read-ukulele-tabs/
It’s a handy skill, and a fairly easy one to pick up with a little practice, and it will allow you to follow along with my “Silent Night” video easier.