Christmas Time Is Here For Guitar


"Christmas Time Is Here" is a popular Christmas song written by Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi for the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs ever since I was kid and I thought it would be cool to teach a solo guitar version here at GL365.

For those of you familiar with the song, you will know that is a has a very jazzy harmonic foundation that just perfectly recreates that mellow mood that many of us get into that time of year when we all get a little more introspective.

This Christmas Time is Here for guitar arrangement retains that jazzy quality. Because this is a solo guitar arrangement their entire song (melody, chords, rhythm) can all be played on just one guitar.

I would put this arrangement at about an intermediate level. It does contain some unorthodox chord voicings and may present a challenge to the average guitarist, but that is a good thing!

I just love how Vince Guaraldi created such dissonant harmony to compliment the melody lines. When everything comes together it is just beautiful. A very moving piece of music.

There were actually two versions of this popular Christmas hit released. One was an instrumental version played by the Vince Guaraldi trio, and another with the melody sung by the choir of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael California.

If you don't have much experience playing larger jazz style chord voicing ,I urge you to perhaps get your feet wet by learning this arrangement. It is short but sweet and you can repeat it as many times as you want.

In fact, when I was first trying to get these chords under my fingers, I just kept playing through the two sections of the song over and over again for a long time. Not because I thought I needed to keep practicing the song, but instead I just love how it sounds and wanted to hear it again and again!

Be sure to "Grab the TAB" below!

Christmas Time Is Here TAB PDF Download

So I hope you learn something from this solo guitar arrangement of "Christmas Time Is Here" and that it helps brighten up your Christmas just a little. 🙂

Carl...

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Christmas Time Is Here For Guitar

5 Comments

  1. amurray on December 11, 2014 at 11:20 am

    Carl,
    Thanks for this. Nice jazzy tune with lots of childhood memories. Will have to tackle the Steve Vai version from Merry Axemas sometime.
    In the meantime, take a listen to Miraculum on Lincoln Brewster’s Joy to the World Christmas disc. Instrumental with all sorts of fun things going on. Nice mix of basic carol melodic lines plus some advanced speed bursts, harmonics, and finishing with a Trans Siberian frenzy. Might be a good exercise.
    Thanks again,
    Alex

  2. Brian Belsey on November 24, 2015 at 9:37 am

    What a beautiful arrangement, and a good technical workout.

  3. Joshua Nathanson on July 25, 2018 at 8:38 am

    Are there tabs available?

    • Carl Brown on July 25, 2018 at 9:53 am

      Yes just click the TAB link a couple paragraphs above the video. 🙂

  4. Alex on December 10, 2022 at 12:34 pm

    Very nice. That
    8
    5
    5
    4

    breaks me.

    Happy holidays.

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