Welcome to another edition of Connect The Chords!In this episode, we’ll break downIrving Berlin’s1942 classic White Christmas.The great thing aboutWhite Christmas is you can start out playing it with just three chords.
Keyof C:
I-C Majorii-D minoriii-E minorIV-F Major V-G Major (G7) vi-A minor vii-B di
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| C MAJOR |
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| F MAJOR |
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| G7 |
I I’m dreaming of a IV white V7 Christmas
IV Just like the ones I V7 used to I know
Where the treetops glisten, and IV children listen
To I hear IV sleigh I bells IV in the V7 snow.
I I’m dreaming of a IV white V7 Christmas
IV With every Christmas V7 card I I write
May your days be merry and IV bright
And may I all your IV Christmas-V7-es be I white.
Now let’s spice the arrangement up by adding in some other chords.
To sweeten the song, let’s use the ii minor (D minor). Since D minor is the relative minor of F Major we can use it as a substitute it for F.
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| D MINOR |
I I’m dreaming of a ii white V7 Christmas
IV Just like the ones I V7 used to I know
Where the treetops glisten, and IV children listen
To I hear IV sleigh I bells ii in the V7 snow.
I I’m dreaming of a ii white V7 Christmas
IV With every Christmas V7 card I I write
May your days be merry and IV bright
And may I all your ii Christmas-V7-es be I white.
Now let’s add the I7 and iv minor chords to the arrangement.
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| C7 |
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| F MINOR |
I I’m dreaming of a ii white V7 Christmas
IV Just like the ones I V7 used to I know
ii Where V7 the I treetops I7 glisten, and IV children iv listen
To I hear IV sleigh I bells ii in the V7 snow.
I I’m dreaming of a ii white V7 Christmas
IV With every Christmas V7 card I I write
ii May V7 your I days be I7 merry and IV bright iv
And may I all your ii Christmas-V7-es be I white.
Finally, let’s add in a few other chords not found in the in the CMajor Scale,B Major (VII),F#7 (#IV7), and G Diminished (Vdim). The reason for adding these other chords is to help flesh out the melody in the song and create interest.
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| B MAJOR |
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| F#7 |
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| G DIM |
I I’m ii dream-I-ing VII of I a ii white #IV7 Christ-V7-mas
IV Just like the ones I V7 used to I know
ii Where V7 the I treetops I7 glisten, and IV children iv listen
To I hear IV sleigh I bells ii in the V7 snow.
I I’m ii dream-I-ing VII of I a ii white #IV7 Christ-V7-mas
IV With every Christmas V7 card I I write
ii May V7 your I days be I7 merry and IV bright iv
And may I all Vdim your ii Christmas-V7-es be I white.
Look how quickly we ramped up from a three-chord song to a nine-chord song! Here is a finger-picking arrangement using most, if not all of these chords. Happy holidays!
Thanks so much for this really interesting lesson, Jim. Had you started with all 9 chords, I probably would have passed this by. Now, my uke and I are ready for the holiday!