This video is an arrangement of The First Noel – my favourite Christmas carol. Playing this tune takes me back to my childhood and listening to the church congregation singing this beautiful melody.
I’ve incorporated a few jazz guitar arranging techniques but tried not to overdo it – sometimes the simplest techniques work best.
Here are some notes about the arrangement:
- To get some low bass notes, I tuned the 6th string down to D, and the TAB reflects this.
- The arrangement has an intro section with cascading harmonics, an idea I’ve been playing with lately. Lenny Breau often added these to his chord melody arrangements and it’s a really neat effect.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy listening to this one – let me know what you think! It reminds me a little bit of Ted Greene’s solo guitar arrangements.
Thank You!
Finally, a huge thank you for being part of the FretDojo journey this year.
I’d never conceived that my website would become so popular in such a short space of time. It’s only been up and running for little over a year and there are now thousands of FretDojo readers just like you, learning jazz guitar and chord melody from all over the world.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!
Happy playing,
Greg O’Rourke
I have been following you and your fellow musicians for some time now. You make and share incredible music with a great generosity for spirit. Good luck in the new year and I hope you continue to teach jazz guitar.
Hi Leslie, thanks so much for your kind feedback, I really appreciate it. Yes I’ll still be teaching jazz guitar in 2017 for sure – I have some big things to be announced soon, watch this space… :-)