Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Angels We Have Heard On High – Solo Guitar Composition – Guitar Lesson ML127

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play the classic Christmas Song, “Angels We Have Heard on High” on guitar (with no accompaniment). This is played fingerstyle, but I’ll demonstrate how you can do it with a pick if you’d rather play it that way.

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Comments

  4. Michael Krailo says

    In bar 9 when it goes to the chorus, how are you plucking the melody line with the right hand? I get when a finger is assigned to a particular string, but when there are multiple notes on one string, that part was unclear to me. I don’t do finger picking, so this is all foreign to me.

  8. Daniel H says

    The annual Christmas song right after Thanksgiving is a beautiful tradition you have created in Active Melody. God Bless you Brian.
    … and you have dragged me into one of my less practiced and sorely needed techniques: finger picking! lol
    I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

  12. Robert G G says

    Thanks as always Brian,

    Is it ok if I jazz it up with some Dim7’s and 2-5-1’s from my favorite lessons. You gave me what I have wanted for years in those lessons. Please don’t worry about playing specifically what u have on Tab.

    Loosely translated. You can never step into the same river twice. Besides, it takes years to play what you r feeling. I have trouble with studio recording for that very reason, cold duplication.

    Never change….

    Robert G G
    Blues Bob

  13. Don says

    I love this lesson for several reasons. It’s a beautiful Christmas Carol, and it’s one of the times you teach how to take a song, pick out the melody, and then find the chords and embellishments to make it a beautiful arrangement, which is something I want to learn how to do for myself. THANKS Brian! and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

  15. Andy J says

    I love this song as a full-voiced choral performance, and your simple finger style version is equally as beautiful. Thank you for gifting it to us. Best wishes to you and your family this Christmas season.

  16. Michael Krailo says

    Does anyone here know the exact fingering (which fingers do the plucking) Brian is using to play that Am chord melody line in the chorus of bar 9? I can’t figure out how he is plucking the G F E notes with the right fingers. He did not explain that in the video and I cannot see through his hand to know what he is doing precisely. I’m stuck on this part.

      • Michael Krailo says

        Thanks for replying, I was beginning to think that I would have to go to the YouTube video directly to possibly get a response on this. I might still do that.

        I wish Brian would have clarified this point for those of us that are complete noobs to finger picking. I ended up going to another site to learn more about fingerstyle. My understanding now is that when faster melody notes run in succession on a single string, it’s desirable to use two different fingers to play those notes. Just like walking, you don’t take steps with one foot twice in a row! I had the misconception that index was assigned to the G string, middle to the B string, and ring to high E.

        I have since learned that not everything is played with those rigged rules. The index finger can shift down to B string and middle on high E. The index finger can alternate between G and B string if the pattern is slower and the middle can play high E for the faster notes. In other words, there is a whole variety of ways t pluck the strings. I have a lot to learn in this category of playing.

        So bottom line is: Alternate finger picking in fingerstyle guitar involves using different fingers for a succession of notes on the same string. Bass players do this to create some very fast bass lines just alternating between index and middle fingers.

  25. Andrew K says

    Hi Brian, thanks for a great lesson and arrangement. I picked through the melody trying to figure where I should emphasize notes, and was wondering if perhaps the last notes in bars 14 and 21 could be a “c” (1) rather than an open b string (0). Maybe I am just familiar with a different version of the melody? Thanks! Merry Christmas! Andy

  27. Brian K says

    It’s interesting how we gained so much technology and “lost” the spirit. Thankfully, it was kept as a musical time capsule in melodies like these. Thanks so much for this fun lesson!! God bless!!

  28. Paul T says

    Hi Brian

    Thanks for another great lesson. I have always liked this Christmas carol and your arrangement is beautiful. Simple yet very musical. I will have to check out some of your other arrangements of Christmas carols.

  29. Bob C says

    Hi Brian
    Was sad to hear about the passing of Steve Cropper today. Lots of good music came out of the Stax era. I remember way back when you did a Stax style song. Maybe another would be in order soon?

  30. radtek says

    Hi Brian love the song…Long time subscriber ….my problem with finger picking is I am missing the little and ring finger and I have tried t use the remaining fingers to finger pick but it just doesn’t work for me.

  32. John I says

    Great idea to do this pretty melody in finger style. Once I got the feel of it, it was difficult for me to play it the same way twice. But the more I thought about it that was the best part of the lesson. Playing variations good and not so good is discovery!
    Thanks yet again, Brian.

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