Seasons Greetings! Here is an arrangement I made for Blue Christmas, that classic Elvis Christmas song that is guaranteed to cause all eyes to overflow in the old folks home.
I always use some embellishments that I derive from sliding up or down or over or just lifting one finger off the chord and back on, or adding one finger to a different string for one beat while holding down a chord. The effect I’m going for is a bluesy little slide sound.
I am fond of Gdim and G or G7, and I like to use Em7 with G7 or G. Depending on the song, sometimes I like to turn Am into the Hawaiian D7 by pressing down the second string in the second fret and lifting off, on and off, on and off.
I just found an arrangement of I’ll Be Home for Christmas that uses all of my tricks. You can download it here: I’ll Be Home For Christmas I believe I found it in one of the TBUS Christmas ukulele songbooks (Tampa Bay Uke Society).
And the secret to really making Blue Christmas sound nice and sweet is the smooth progression from the C major chord to the G minor chord. Many people like to avoid this chord and will go so far as to transpose the arrangement into a key with an easier chord to place in it’s place. It’s not always the best singing key though.
Today, I will take all that away by showing you one little trick to get you into position to make that Gm chord seem effortless and add that sweet minor sound to the song. Really, after you look at my cheat sheet you will wonder what you were ever worried about, LOL.
The third song I am sharing today is an Eagles classic, Please Come Home For Christmas C. It’s in the Key of C. I used to hear this song on the radio station in Ottawa in the 80’s. I really loved it.
Enjoy your holidays!
Cat's Ukulele Songs 