DaddyJ - Posted - 09/25/2013:  11:38:08

Nick’s bluegrass band needs to learn some Christmas music for the season.  I’m looking for suggestions on Christmas tunes that sound good played bluegrass style.  Jingle Bells is pretty obvious, and Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.  Any others?

ryankimm - Posted - 09/25/2013:  12:08:39

Gots to do Silent NIght. A good 3/4 one

guitartil2 - Posted - 09/25/2013:  16:46:52

When looking around on Google Books I found a preview of a great book by Dix Bruce in which he arranged  classic Christmas songs entirely for crosspicking. I forget the title but if you put his name in the search engine it will come up!

Very cool stuff!

DaddyJ - Posted - 09/25/2013:  17:52:02

Good idea on Silent Night.



I know the exact Dix Bruce book you're talking about. I think it was actually Carter Style for solo guitar? I'll look it up. It's bound to have some good songs to pick from.

Edited by - DaddyJ on 09/25/2013 17:54:18

guitartil2 - Posted - 09/25/2013:  18:54:01

There may be a Carter Style one too, but this one is all crosspicking patterns. It is called "Christmas Crosspicking Solos for Guitar." A free preview shows up on Google Books.

DaddyJ - Posted - 09/25/2013:  19:47:41

Ah, ok.  I didn't know he had two Christmas books.  Here's a link to each:

Christmas Crosspicking Solos for Guitar

Christmas Favorites for Solo Guitar

Good stuff!

I just remembered Nick already knows Greensleeves, and so do a couple members of his band.  We'll be doing that one for sure.

DaddyJ - Posted - 09/25/2013:  20:03:53

One of my favorite Christmas songs is the Huron Carol.  It's a Canadian Christmas Carol written in the 1600's by a missionary to the Huron tribe.  I'd never even heard it until a few years ago.  It's strange to be in your thirties and hearing a Christmas carol for the first time, but you just don't hear this one much down here in the States.  Here's a good version of it:

youtu.be/F_cmnxep67k

guitartil2 - Posted - 09/26/2013:  03:19:38

I guess the whole song would be difficult to arrange, but it would be awesome to arrange an intro to "Carol of the Bells"

with each instrument harmonizing on the first 4 notes that are repeated. Maybe leading into a medley?

rhagen - Posted - 09/26/2013:  04:29:58

There is "Flatpicking Guitar Christmas" by Roberto Dalla Vecchia, put out by Flatpicking Guitar Magazine.

It has 10 songs arranged for solo flatpicking guitar, but could probably be adapted for a band context. I got it last year and only worked on his arrangement of Jingle Bells. Some of the arrangements are pretty advanced. I guess it is about time to dig it out again, Christmas will be here before we know it!

Table of Contents

O Christmas Tree

Silent Night

Deck the Halls

Angels we have heard on high

Jingle Bells

What Child is this

Auld Lang Syne

Away in a Manger

We Three Kings

Joy to the world

dianah - Posted - 09/29/2013:  08:46:06

DaddyJ,
Our band released a Christmas CD last year and one of the old songs we bluegrassed up was "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus."
Not all our arrangements are bluegrass, but that one is. :)

Link to our CD "Gift" is here, via CD Baby:
cdbaby.com/Search/c3dlZXQgdGlk...WwgamFt/0

(We found Christmas music, in general, to be more difficult to arrange/perform = it took more practice!! lol)

Good luck to the band!

Jim Yates - Posted - 09/29/2013:  14:34:31

An early McLain Family Band record had a song called Follow The Light  written by Rosemary McLain Ware, their aunt/sister.  It's a great song and has become a part of our Christmas for the last 30 some odd years.

Some other songs are the fiddle tune Breaking Up Christmas or the song Christmas Time's A-Commin'.

dianah - Posted - 11/09/2013:  10:48:32

So, what songs did the band end up choosing, and how is the set coming along? :)

DaddyJ - Posted - 11/09/2013:  18:18:03

We start learning them tomorrow.  Here's what we've tentatively decided on:

Santa Train, Christmas Time's a Comin', Christmas Lullaby, and Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.

And just for fun...here's a little video of the kids warming up at the Jefferson Center from Thursday night.  They got to play out in the atrium prior to the Jerry Douglas/Sam Bush concert, then got free tickets to the show.  What a way to spend an evening!

twayneking - Posted - 12/24/2013:  11:12:10

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

A musical version of the Longfellow poem. John Gorka does a really nice version.

youtube.com/watch?v=fv7dYdW4pHY

DaddyJ - Posted - 12/24/2013:  19:57:52

Forgot I posted this here.  We finally learned some tunes.  Here are a couple vids of the kids playing them on TV:

Santa Train

Christmas Lullaby

Now we're done.  Probably never play these again (they'll be ready for new songs next year).  Sooo much work for songs that only got played a few times.  Worth it though!