The Twelve Days of Christmas – guitar chords and melody with tabs

This lesson covers how to play the classic English Christmas Carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas on guitar. We’ll go over the chords and sheet music for the melody including tabs.

Grab your guitar and let’s get started!

How to read the guitar chord charts

To clarify how to read the chord charts in the next section, the top horizontal line represents the high E string and the bottom horizontal line represents the low E string. The vertical lines separate each fret. The numbers in the blue dots tell you which fingers to use on the fretting hand. 

For example, on the A Major chord, you use the:

• 1st finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret
• 2nd finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret
• 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 2nd fret
• Circles represent open strings
• X means to avoid the string
  

You can check this link for more on how to read guitar notation symbols.

The Twelve Days of Christmas guitar chords

The basic chords for this song are A Major, E Major, B 7, E sus 4, and D Major. You can click on the chords with links to learn different ways of playing that chord.

Try the following chords one at a time until you feel comfortable switching between them. These chords will be written above the melody in the next section.

By the way, you can get all the PDFs of this song below.

Here are some other resources on chords:

• Master the basic chords on guitar
• 6 tips to get better at switching between chords on guitar
• How to play the essential 7th chords on guitar
  

The Twelve Days of Christmas Lyrics

Opening Phrase (*OP): On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree.

(OP*) Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

(OP*) Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

(The following lines keep getting added after the opening phrase)

• Four calling birds
• Five gold rings
• Six geese a-laying
• Seven swans a-swimming
• Eight maids a-milking
• Nine ladies dancing
• Ten lords a-leaping
• Eleven pipers piping
• Twelve drummers drumming

Reference: The Twelve Days of Christmas. wikipedia.org

The Twelve Days of Christmas guitar tabs and chords

This section shows you the melody of the song with guitar tabs and the chords written above the staff. Keep in mind that the melody and chords are meant to be played as separate parts.

You can refer to this simple guide to understanding music symbols if needed.

📘 Get the free guitar practice guide here!

Want to learn more songs? Check out the sheet music with guitar tabs resource on this site.

All the best,

JG Music Lessons

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